Mater Dolorosa Cemetery in Bytom

Locals call it Bytom's Powązki, after Warsaw's famous historic cemetery, and the comparison fits: beneath old trees lie a mayor who ran the town for 37 years, a priest who fought for the Polish language in Upper Silesia, Bytom's best-known architect and several Polish international footballers. Mater Dolorosa Cemetery at ul. Piekarska 71 was founded in 1868 and has kept its historic layout, a neo-Gothic chapel and an ensemble of family mausoleums. In 2009 it was voted one of the Seven Architectural Wonders of the Silesian Voivodeship.

History: a town that ran out of room

In the 19th century industry made Bytom (German: Beuthen) grow at breakneck speed, and the old parish graveyard – where Holy Trinity Church stands today – ran out of space. In 1866 the Ad Sanctam Trinitatem Cemetery Society began buying up plots between today's Piekarska and Kraszewskiego streets, and the land was consecrated. The first burial at Mater Dolorosa I took place in 1868; in 1886 a second cemetery, Mater Dolorosa II, was opened next door.

Under communism the necropolis was threatened with closure. In 1973 the authorities moved to shut three cemeteries on Piekarska and Kraszewskiego streets – and most of the graves at Mater Dolorosa II were indeed removed. Mater Dolorosa I survived and on 26 November 1987 was listed as a historic monument in its entirety: the avenues, boundary wall, old trees, chapel, mausoleums and gravestones.

What to see

• The Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows, built in 1881–1882 with funds from Julianna Garus of Rozbark to a design by the Viennese architect Hugo Heer – brick, neo-Gothic, with a tower and pointed-arch windows.
• The avenue along the west wall – a row of 19th-century burial chapels and mausoleums of prominent Bytom families: the Garus, Schastok, Goetzler, Hakuba, Kaller and Peikert families.
• The brick wall and gate on Piekarska Street, built in 1938, with decorative metalwork.
• Graves of notable people: Father Józef Szafranek, the priest-poet Norbert Bonczyk, Lord Mayor Georg Brüning (in office 1882–1919), the architect Paul Jackisch, Bytom's first Polish mayor Piotr Miętkiewicz, and the footballers Edward Szymkowiak and Kazimierz Trampisz.

Interesting facts

Since 2000 the Society of Friends of Bytom and the local paper "Życie Bytomskie" have held annual collections for the cemetery, and the money has restored its most valuable chapels and mausoleums. Also buried here is Ernst Oderski, owner of a café on the Market Square that was the first in town to make sweets for diabetics.

Tripto tip

This is a working cemetery, not a museum – keep your voice down and be respectful of mourners. According to the Holy Trinity parish regulations, the gates are open 7:30–20:00, and from 1 December to 31 March until dusk. The cemetery office at ul. Piekarska 71 is open Monday to Friday, 11:00–14:30 (as of October 2026). Cycling and driving are not allowed inside. Allow 45–60 minutes to walk the avenues and see the chapels; the light is best in early autumn, when the old trees start to turn yellow. The cemetery lies close to Bytom's town centre, so it is easy to combine with a stroll around the Market Square.