Katowice: Top 10 attractions in the city of music, culture and art nouveau

Silesian Museum

The very location of the museum attracts attention! After all, the museum, visited by thousands of tourists, is located in a former mine. This mine was closed in 1999, having worked for about 180 years.

After that, four horizons of underground tunnels were turned into galleries, where paintings, photographs, ethnographic and ethnological exhibitions and other events are now exhibited.

An exhibition of Polish fine art from 1800 to 1945 displays works by such famous names as Jan Matejko, Piotr Michalowski and Józef Chelmonski.

Nikišivets neighborhood

This pristine urban neighborhood of about 800 inhabitants was built for the miners of the local Geshe mine. What adds to the uniqueness of the Nikiszwiec neighborhood is the fact that it looks almost the same as it did 100 years ago!

Nowadays, movies and events are often filmed here, and antiquity lovers will rush here from everywhere.

Katowice History Museum

For those who want to explore Katowice in more depth, there is a museum dedicated to the history of the development of the city of Katowice, with a collection of photographs, documents and paintings by famous artists.

The museum has a total of about 100,000 exhibits, including a series of 27 pastels by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz.

Another permanent exhibition of the museum is created in the form of two apartments. One shows the life of a wealthy industrialist and the other the life of an average wealthy member of the new bourgeoisie. Both apartments are furnished with furniture of that period, personal belongings and household appliances, and their decoration corresponds to the fashion of those days.

The opening of the Katowice History Museum took place on August 21, 1976. The museum is located in a four-story Art Nouveau house built in 1908 by entrepreneur William Biger.

Kosciuszko Park

With an area of 72 hectares, Kosciuszko Park is the largest park in Katowice. It is partly designed in the English style, which is emphasized, for example, by a luxurious avenue of roses. There are more than 90 species of trees and shrubs. Sports enthusiasts will love the petanque court, the city's bicycle station and winter ski slopes.

The 35-meter parachute tower located in the park is the only object of its kind preserved in the country. It was built in 1937 and at that time it was the highest parachute tower in Poland. Now it is a memorial to the inhabitants of Katowice who were killed by the Germans in 1939.

Also worth seeing here are the small wooden church of St. Michael the Archangel from the early 16th century, a cemetery of Soviet soldiers and a gallery of field sculpture.

Silesian Uprising Monument

There is a giant monument in the city dedicated to the participants of the three Silesian Uprisings in 1919, 1920 and 1921. The cause of the uprisings was the forced annexation of Upper Silesia to the Polish state created after the Treaty of Versailles.

Poland is made up of 60% of the population of Upper Silesia, which went head-to-head with the German armed forces three times.

The monument is made of 350 individual parts and reaches a height of 41 meters, so the place is truly striking and thought-provoking.

You can book a hotel in Katowice with a discount of up to -65% on the website.

Cathedral of Christ the King

The Cathedral of Christ the King in Katowice is a majestic sacral building in the Classicist style. The interior of the church is executed in the Art Deco style. It is the largest cathedral in Poland.

The church deserves special attention for its unusually rich main altar and the figure of Christ the King of the Universe towering above it, as well as the colorful stained glass windows decorating the windows of the cathedral. The cathedral in Katowice took almost 25 years to build and was completed in 1955. Its walls are made of dolomite quarried nearby, and it was built on the territory of a former brick factory.

St. Mary's Street

Located in the city center, the pedestrian zone of St. Mary's Street is the main artery of Katowice's nightlife. In 2008, the street was converted into a pedestrian promenade and closed to cars. Later, 30 cherry tree saplings were planted on the street, which now eagerly color it in the spring.

There are many restaurants, cafes, stores and nightclubs, and house facades are decorated along the entire route.

St. Mary's Church

St. Mary's Church is located on the square of the same name, which we have already described above. Many famous artists worked on the decoration of the church. The charming stained glass windows were created by Adam Bunsch, and the murals were painted by Joseph Unejski.

For lovers of antiquity, there is a late Gothic altar in the chapel located in the transverse nave.

The Valley of the Three Ponds

The Valley of Three Ponds in Katowice is a picturesque sports and recreation park covering more than 86 hectares, 9 of which are covered with water. Despite the name, there are not three, but 11 ponds.

Here you can sunbathe as much as you like, go cycling or hiking, enjoy the coniferous forest and cool ponds.

Silesian Philharmonic

Connoisseurs of culture may know that Katowice is home to one of Poland's famous orchestras. The Silesian Philharmonic was built at the end of World War II and gave its first concert on May 26, 1945.

The performances of its artists are astonishing and exciting, so be sure to include a visit to the Philharmonic in your Katowice itinerary.