Palaces

Palace in Bytom-Miechowice

On Dzierżoń Street in Bytom-Miechowice, near the Church of the Holy Cross, stands the restored outbuilding of the former Tiele-Winckler palace. The palace itself — so grand it was called a castle — is gone: it burned in 1945, and the gutted walls were blown up in 1954. The surviving outbuilding has enjoyed a second life since 2019 as a cultural centre.

A gift for a daughter

Construction began in 1812 on the initiative of the merchant Ignatz Domes, who had bought the village of Miechowice; the classicist residence was completed in 1817 as a gift for his daughter Maria. After her husband's death Maria married Franz Winckler — a miner who rose from the ranks to the top of Silesian industry. After the tornado of 1844, which tore the roof off, the palace was extended in the neo-Gothic Tudor style, and around 1860 the wings were added.

Mother Ewa

The palace was the childhood home of Ewa von Tiele-Winckler, known as Mother Ewa; today the Mother Ewa Trail leading through Miechowice carries her name.

Fire and demolition

In 1925 the family sold the palace to the Preussengrube AG company, which ran the Preussen colliery. On 27 January 1945 Soviet troops looted and burned the residence, and in 1954 the burnt-out walls were blown up. Only the outbuilding and the park survived.

The outbuilding lives again

A decade ago the outbuilding was still a roofless ruin. After the revitalization of 2019 and the reopening in September 2021, the Bytom Cultural Centre operates here: exhibitions, concerts and theatre performances. During the works a small stone turret, fragments of cornices, portals and balustrades were uncovered, and also the palace chapel with a crypt — called an archaeological sensation of Bytom. Beside it stretches the park, bearing the Tiele-Winckler name since 2024.

In practice

The outbuilding stands on Dzierżoń Street next to school no. 33; visiting is tied to the cultural centre's programme — check the open days and the events calendar.