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Photo: Galeria Szyb Wilson, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Vast hall that once held the headworks for a mine shaft (szyb). It's now an art gallery and hosts events, but they're dwarfed by the space.
Szyb Wilson Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Katowice, Poland, located at 1 Oswobodzenia Street in the Janów-Nikiszowiec district. It was opened in 2001 in the revitalized building of the pithead and bathhouse of the Wilson shafts of the Wieczorek Coal Mine, whose history dates back to 1826.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Nikiszowiec is a city neighbourhood built 1908-12 to house workers of Giesche (later Wieczorek) coal mine, all in a distinct red-brick style. It has the neo-Baroque Church of St Mary, several galleries, a branch of the Museum of Katowice History, and a modern hotel.
Zinc ores are widespread though the local mines are worked out; zinc is used for corrosion-proof coating of steel, and is alloyed with copper to make brass. This large, chilly industrial hall displays the process plus a collection of motorcycles.
Dolina Trzech Stawów
Detached north section of Forest Park. You can bathe or boat in the lake.
Giszowiec was similarly built 1907-10 for the Giesche miners. Here the idea was a self-contained "Garden City" so the housing resembled chalets. But more housing was built for later generations of miners, the unity of style was lost, and there are now the same shabby high-rise flats as in other dreary suburbs.
Biblioteka Śląska
Large modern regional library.
Muzeum Śląskie
Remarkable building of 2015 in a former coalmine, with galleries underground. Excellent display of life and history in Silesia down the ages, plus religious artworks. The former museum within the old Grand Hotel closed in 2018.