Górnik Park in Siemianowice Śląskie

Górnik Park in Michałkowice, a district of Siemianowice Śląskie, is a former manor park surrounding a palace known locally as the Zameczek (Little Castle). On its edge stands a neo-Gothic forester's and gardener's house, anglers sit by the pond, and above the trees you can see the headframe of the Krystyn shaft of the former Michał coal mine. One walk here takes in both the landed-gentry and the mining history of Upper Silesia.

From the Mieroszewski manor to a cultural centre

The original manor in Michałkowice was a timber house on masonry foundations, owned from the 16th century by the Mieroszewski family. In 1741 the last of them, Jan Krzysztof, married his daughter to a second lieutenant of the Schwellengröbel family, and over time the estate passed to the Rheinbaben family, who built the palace – sources give either 1836 or 1870. In 1892 Michałkowice was bought by Prince Hugo zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen, and in 1906 the architect Louis Dame designed a winter garden for the palace.

After the Second World War the Zameczek was taken over by the coal mine and turned into a workers' cultural centre, and the grounds were named Górnik Park ("Miner Park"). In the 1970s the Siemianowice mine built a kindergarten and a clinic from concrete panels in the park – the kindergarten is still running, while the clinic was demolished in the 1990s. Since 2009 the palace has belonged to the town, since 2016 it has been a branch of the Siemianowice Cultural Centre, and in 2017–2018 its façades, roof and windows were restored.

What to see

• the Zameczek – a single-storey palace with projecting bays, an ornate cast-iron canopy over the entrance and a terrace facing the park; inside are a mirror hall for 130 people and an orangery,
• the neo-Gothic forester's and gardener's house of 1909, designed by Louis Dame – it stands at the far end of the park, where there were once also stables, a greenhouse, a boiler house and a barn,
• the Michałkowice pond with its anglers; from the bank you can see the Krystyn headframe in the background,
• avenues of old trees with benches – the park is still the main place for everyday walks in this part of town.

Tripto tip

Allow 45–60 minutes for a walk round the park. Combine it with a visit to the Park Tradycji (Heritage Park) in the same district: the former engine house of the Michał mine now holds a century-old winding engine and one of Poland's largest collections of miners' lamps, and next to it stands the restored, 56-metre headframe of the Krystyn shaft. The easiest way to see inside the Zameczek is to attend a concert or class run by the Siemianowice Cultural Centre, as the palace is not a museum with daily opening.