Wooden Church of St Michael the Archangel in Katowice

The oldest building in Katowice was not built in Katowice. The wooden Church of St Michael the Archangel stood in Syrynia near Wodzisław Śląski for more than four centuries, and in 1938 it was taken apart beam by beam and reassembled on Beata Hill in Kościuszko Park. Today it is both a place of worship and a branch of the Katowice History Museum.

History: a church on the move

The date 1510 comes from the German art historian Hans Lutsch, who saw it carved on a beam – that beam no longer exists. Yet a church in Syrynia is recorded much earlier: the first wooden church there was built in 1305 and consecrated a year later. So it is unclear whether a new church was built in 1510 or an older one was simply remodelled. The building took on its present shape in the mid-17th century.

When the Syrynia parish became independent in 1925 and built a new church, the old one was sold to the city of Katowice for 5,000 złoty. The move was initiated by the then mayor, Adam Kocur – the church was to be the first building of an open-air museum of Upper Silesian timber architecture planned for the park. The church was set up on the site of the demolished Bismarck Tower and blessed on 11 June 1939. The open-air museum never materialised, and a wooden granary brought here alongside it later burned down.

What to see

• The "Silesian layout": separate pitched roofs over the nave, chancel and porches, covered walkways (soboty) from the mid-17th century around the walls, and a wooden fence with three gates.
• The free-standing 17th-century bell tower, a post-built structure moved here together with the church.
• A Gothic stone holy-water stoup under the gallery, a late Gothic Madonna and Child from the early 16th century and a Baroque pulpit.
• An oak chest with iron fittings in the porch, standing on the original sandstone floor.
• The lapidarium opened in 2009 – including a mining boundary stone, a granite road marker and a slab from the mass grave of Silesian insurgents in Janów.

Interesting facts

The old church survived in Syrynia partly thanks to Emperor Wilhelm II, who after a visit in 1913 forbade its demolition should a new church be built. In the 1980s the little church was an informal meeting place for the opposition, commemorating the miners killed on 16 December 1981 at the "Wujek" colliery, when martial law was in force in Poland. In 2024–2025 it was restored for PLN 9.6 million: the shingles were replaced, the floor strengthened and a fire-protection system installed. About 35% of the original material survives.

Tripto tip

The church stands on the highest point of Kościuszko Park, at ul. Kościuszki 112. The easiest way to get there is by tram along Kościuszki Street, then up the park paths to the hill. Mass is held on Sundays and holidays at 12:00 – you can see the interior then, but not tour it. Guided tours can be booked through the Katowice History Museum. Allow 30–45 minutes for the church and lapidarium, and spend the rest of the day in the park, by the parachute tower.