FREE WALKING TOURS OF KATOWICE, POLAND
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ITINERARY
Tours last two hours. We start on the steps of the Silesian Theatre in the main square of Katowice and finish on the roof-top car park of the 'Supersam' shopping mall. There are ten key attractions which the tour is based around:
(1) The proto-modernist Silesian Theatre building (1905-1907), known as the 'German Theatre' between 1907 and 1922 and as the 'Polish Theatre' between 1922 and 1939. Marshal Józef Piłsudski attended open-air mass here in 1922.
(2) The 125-metre-tall Altus building (2001-2003), the tallest building in Upper Silesia and the tallest building in a 150-km radius (which includes Kraków). Its design echoes the classic (unbuilt) Walter Gropius skyscraper of 1922.
(3) The Evangelical Church of the Lord's Resurrection (1856-1858) is the oldest surviving building in Katowice. Built in the distinctive rundbogenstil 'Round Arch Style' in what was then the outskirts of town. Józef Lompa predicted in 1855 that Katowice "will grow like an American city".
(4) The Old Train Station, opened in 1859. This was the year that Katowice emerged as an important European rail hub at the junction between the Upper Silesian Railway and the Warsaw-Vienna Railway. Historically important hotel buildings can be seen on the opposite side of the street.
(5) The Silesian Parliament Building (1925-1929), added to the list of Historic Monuments [Pomniki Historii] in 2012. Facing the entrance is a statue of Wojciech Korfanty (1873-1939), the leader of the Polish national cause in pre-WWI and post-WWI Upper Silesia and a leading Christian Democrat in interwar Poland.
(6) The Polskie Radio Building on ul. Ligonia (1937), interwar modernist architecture at its very best. This was Poland's first purpose-built radio station headquarters. The bench statue of Juliusz Ligoń (1879-1954), the station's former director, is a great place for a group photo!
(7) Drapacz Chmur (1929-1934), one of the tallest skyscrapers in Europe when it was built and a symbol of Katowice's status as interwar Poland's second city. Welding pioneer Stefan Bryła was its chief construction engineer. With its tapered setback design and its shadowy balconies, it has a dark, dystopian 'Gotham City' feel.
(8) Katowice City Hall on ul. Młyńska (1930) has a curved facade which matches the line of the street. We would almost expect the streets of Katowice to be laid out in a grid pattern but of course they aren't, this close to the centre. The effect is that this interwar modernist building has a graceful Gehry-esque quality.
(9) The site of the Old Synagogue at the corner of ul. 3 Maja and ul. Słowackiego, built 1861-1862, extended 1882-1883. This was once the Jewish district of Katowice. This borderlands city hosted many refugees from the Third Reich from 1933 onwards and in the years before the war, the British Embassy on Plac Wolnści struggled to cope with the demand for visas.
(10) The Market Hall on ul. Piotra Skargi was built 1936-1937, with Stefan Bryła again supervising its construction. Later re-branded as 'Supersam', four of its original steel girders were restored and exposed during a daringly postmodern 2012-2015 re-build. But the reason we end our tour here is the magnificent panoramic view from the rooftop car-park.