PABIANICE

town and suburb of Ldz city, in Ldz wojewdztwo (province), central Poland, in the Ldz highlands on the Dobrzynka River. The second most important town in the Ldz industrial region, it lies on the LdzWroclaw rail line and is a major textile centre. The oldest community in the region, it was first settled in the 11th century and was granted town rights in 1297. Because it lay on the trade route between Krakw and Gdansk (Danzig), it prospered. A late 16th-century Renaissance castle in the town now houses a museum. Pop. (1985 est.) 72,600.