The Silesian Museum, Katowice

When the Katowice coal mine closed, the museum was rebuilt into it rather than beside it. Almost all the galleries are underground, in halls dug below the old pit yard, and daylight comes down through plain glass boxes that stand above ground like a small settlement of lanterns. The collections cover Polish painting from 1800 to 1945, Silesian sacred art, and an unusual holding of non-professional art made by miners and their families. The winding tower of one shaft has been fitted with a lift and a viewing platform, from which the whole culture quarter and the ring of housing estates around it can be read at a glance.

History

The Silesian Sejm founded the museum in 1929, and between the wars it was one of the largest museums in Poland. It was re-established in 1984 in the former Grand Hotel in Katowice, and in 2015 it opened its new main site on the grounds of the former Katowice coal mine (Wikipedia, Silesian Museum (Katowice)).

The main sights

• The underground galleries - exhibition halls dug beneath the pit yard, lit from above.
• The glass lanterns - the row of lightboxes standing on the surface over the galleries.
• The non-professional art - painting and carving by miners and their families.
• The shaft tower platform - a lift up the old winding tower for a view over the city.

When to go

Any time of year; this is a good wet-weather half day and the underground galleries make weather irrelevant. The museum closes on Mondays and has one free day, which is busy with school groups. Concerts at the hall next door can make parking and trams crowded in the evening. Allow extra time for the shaft tower queue.

Things to know

Katowice is not a pretty city and the walk in from the station crosses a lot of road and rail. Underground galleries with no windows tire some visitors quickly. English labelling covers the main lines but not the detail. The shaft tower platform is glazed and often has a queue, and the view is a working industrial city, which is the point but not to all tastes.

Nearby

The concert hall and the Spodek arena stand alongside, and the brick miners' estate of Nikiszowiec is a short ride east.

Key facts