Katowice
Attractions in Katowice
Attractions in Katowice range from a historic miners' district to a landmark concert hall and a domed arena. You can walk the red-brick streets of Nikiszowiec, catch a performance at NOSPR, the home of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, or see the saucer-shaped Spodek arena that has become a symbol of the city. The Silesian Insurgents' Monument marks the region's history in bold sculpture. Use the list below to group nearby sights into a single day, since several sit close to the centre. Evenings suit a concert at NOSPR, while daylight hours are better for exploring Nikiszowiec on foot.
All Attractions in Katowice
Attraction
Nikiszowiec
A complete early-twentieth-century miners settlement of red-brick courtyards, now a protected monument and the most atmospheric corner of Katowice.
Attraction
Spodek
Katowice's 1971 saucer-shaped arena is the city's best-known building and its main venue for concerts, sport and trade fairs.
Attraction
NOSPR (Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra)
The purpose-built home of Poland's National Radio Symphony Orchestra, with acoustics by the designer of some of the world's leading concert halls.
Attraction
Silesian Insurgents' Monument
Three great steel wings honouring the Silesian Uprisings, frequently described as the largest and heaviest monument in Poland.
Attraction
Cathedral of Christ the King
The largest cathedral in Poland by volume, built in monumental Neoclassical style and crowned by a tall central dome rising high above the interior. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Katowice.
Attraction
Market Square (Rynek w Katowicach)
Katowice's central square, rebuilt in a modern form between 2015 and 2016, is the main pedestrian gathering point downtown, combining three linked public spaces with greenery, fountains and open room to sit.
Attraction
Kościuszko Park
Kościuszko Park is one of Katowice's oldest and largest green spaces, home to a 1510 wooden church and Poland's only parachute tower.
Attraction
Parachute Tower (Wieża Spadochronowa)
The Parachute Tower in Kościuszko Park is the only surviving parachute training tower in Poland, a 1930s landmark tied to Katowice's defence in September 1939.
Attraction
Mariacka Street (ulica Mariacka)
Mariacka Street is Katowice's pedestrian nightlife strip in the city centre, lined with bars, restaurants and cafes and shaded by cherry trees that flower in spring.
Attraction
Silesian Park (Park Śląski)
Silesian Park is one of Europe's largest urban parks, spread over roughly 535 to 620 hectares on the Katowice-Chorzów border, with a zoo, planetarium, cable car and open-air museum inside its grounds.
Attraction
St. Mary's Church (Church of the Immaculate Conception)
A richly Neo-Gothic Catholic church on Mariacka Street, and the oldest surviving Catholic church in central Katowice, marked by an octagonal tower and spire reaching about 71 metres.
Attraction
Superjednostka
Superjednostka is one of Poland's largest residential blocks, an 18-storey concrete slab in central Katowice completed in 1972 and celebrated as a landmark of Polish Brutalism.
Attraction
Silesian Theatre (Stanisław Wyspiański Silesian Theatre)
The largest theatre in Silesia, a Neoclassical building on Katowice's Market Square with a history stretching back to 1907 and more than a thousand premieres to its name.
Attraction
Giszowiec
Giszowiec is an early 20th-century garden-city housing estate in southeast Katowice, built for miners as detached cottages set among gardens and tree-lined streets.
Attraction
Rondo Sztuki Art Gallery
A round glass-and-steel gallery on Jerzy Ziętek roundabout in central Katowice, showing contemporary art, concerts and events in association with the Academy of Fine Arts.
Attraction
Wilson Shaft Gallery (Galeria Szyb Wilson)
Wilson Shaft Gallery is a large private contemporary art gallery set inside the former buildings of the Wilson coal mine near Nikiszowiec in Katowice.
Attraction
Silesian Centre for Freedom and Solidarity (Wujek Mine Memorial)
A museum beside the Wujek Coal Mine in Katowice that commemorates the nine striking miners shot dead by riot police on 16 December 1981, and tells the wider story of Solidarity's fight against communist rule.
Attraction
Basilica of St. Louis and the Assumption in Panewniki
A large Neo-Romanesque Franciscan basilica in Katowice's Panewniki district, known across the region for one of Poland's biggest Christmas nativity scenes.
Attraction
Beboki Figurines
A trail of small bronze goblin figurines scattered across Katowice, based on Silesian folklore, that visitors hunt down street by street.
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Altus Skyscraper
Altus is one of the tallest buildings in Katowice, a roughly 125 metre mixed-use tower on ul. Uniwersytecka holding offices, shops and a hotel.
Attraction
Church of the Resurrection (Evangelical Church)
A mid-19th-century Lutheran church on Warszawska Street, widely regarded as the oldest monumental building in central Katowice.