Piotrków Trybunalski, Piotrków, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland

🇵🇱 Piotrków Trybunalski, often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland. It is the second-largest city situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. It is now the capital of Piotrków County.

Founded in the late Middle Ages, Piotrków was once a royal city and an important place in Polish history; the first parliament sitting was held here in the 15th century. It then became the seat of a Crown Tribunal, the highest court of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The city also hosted one of Poland's oldest Jewish communities, which was entirely destroyed during the Second World War. The old town in Piotrków features many historical and architectural monuments, including tenements, churches, synagogues and the medieval Royal Castle.

Piotrków Trybunalski is situated in the middle-west part (Piotrków Plains) of the Łódź Uplands. The population of the city is approximately 80,000 and its area is nearly 68 square km (26 sq mi). The landscape of the Piotrków region and its geological structure was formed during the glaciation of 180,000–128,000 years ago. There are hardly any forests on the Piotrków Plains.

Two rivers cross the region, the Wolbórka and the Luciąża, which with their tributaries flow into the Pilica River and belong to the catchment area of the Vistula River. The watershed of Poland's two main rivers, the Vistula and the Oder (Odra), runs along the meridional line three km west of Piotrków. Two small rivers, the Strawa and the Strawka flow through the city, and it is between their valleys that the first settlement of Piotrków was founded in the early Middle Ages. Recently two more rivers have been included within the boundary of the city area—the Wierzejka, which in the western part of the city forms a reservoir, and the Śrutowy Dołek to the south of Piotrków.

From 1949–1970, Piotrków was transformed into an industrial centre.

Piotrków remained a district capital in the Łódź Voivodeship, until 1975. Then, following the changes in the administrative division of the country, the city became the capital of the new Piotrków Voivodeship, thus regaining the status of an important administrative, educational and cultural centre of Poland. In 1999, the Piotrków Voivodeship was dissolved and Piotrków became the capital of Piotrków County within the Łódź Voivodeship.

Economy Piotrków, thanks to its location, is known as the second largest "logistic centre" after Warsaw. There is a high concentration of warehouses and distribution centres around the city. The biggest distribution centres are:

• Prologis Park Piotrkow I and Prologis Park Piotrkow II owned by ProLogis

• IKEA Distribution Centre owned by IKEA

• Logistic City – Piotrków Distribution Centre owned by local concern Emerson

• Poland Central

In Piotrków are also located:

• Emerson Polska – self-copying computer paper

• Häring – facility producing fuel injection equipment (for Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, Volkswagen)

• Metzeler Automotive Profile Systems – car profiles

• Kiper brewery

• FMG Pioma S.A. – mining machinery, conveyor belts

• Sigmatex Sp. z o.o. – knitted fabrics

and many small and medium textile processing factories.

Transport Piotrków lies almost in the centre of Poland. It has a train station on the line from Warsaw to Częstochowa. Direct trains go among others to Cracow, Zakopane, Katowice, Bielsko-Biała, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin, Świnoujście, Gdynia, Olsztyn and Białystok.

Transport: Road One expressway and two national roads cross Piotrków:

• Kudowa-Zdrój – Budzisko, part of European route E67

• DK 1 Gdańsk – Cieszyn, (planned motorway A1) part of European route E75

• DK 12 Łęknica – Dorohusk.

Airports There is a small airfield for light passenger aircraft in Piotrków. The nearest airport is Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport in Łódź. Two large international airports are Warsaw Frédéric Chopin Airport about 133 km (83 mi) from Piotrków and Katowice International Airport about 137 km (85 mi) from Piotrków.

Education • Wyższa Szkoła Handlowa in Piotrków Trybunalski

• Wyższa Szkoła Kupiecka in Łódź, branch in Piotrków

• Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, branch in Piotrków

• Bolesław I the Brave High School in Piotrków Trybunalski.