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Photo: Marek Mróz; Christophorus ex Silesia; Durski; Klaumich49, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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.
Giszowiec is a historic company town, a part and an eastern district of the city of Katowice, created as a coal miners' settlement in 1907. Initially consisting of about 3,300 miners and their families, the district's population have grown over the years to over 18,000. Although Giszowiec's architectural originality suffered major damages in the 1970s and 1980s due to large scale urbanization, its early unique character can be still felt in the surviving miners' housings, the marketplace, numerous individual buildings and structures, as well as the relatively well preserved general design of a "Garden city".
© 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.
Dolina Trzech Stawów
Detached north section of Forest Park. You can bathe or boat in the lake.
Large park and forest complex, the largest green area in the city, with hiking and cycling trails.
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.
Biblioteka Śląska
Large modern regional library.
Muzeum Organów Śląskich
Part of the University Dept of Music, these pipe organs have been collected or cannibalised from around the region. Hours erratic, and you need to be here when an organist plays them.