Katowice Culture Zone

On the site of the Katowice colliery, closed in 1999, three buildings went up in 2011–2015 that changed the city's image: the new Silesian Museum, the home of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) and the International Congress Centre. Together with the Spodek arena they form the Culture Zone (Strefa Kultury), a district where contemporary architecture stands next to a pit headframe and the colliery's brick buildings. You can walk around the open spaces between them without a ticket, and in May 2025 alone the zone had more than 237,000 visitors.

History: from zinc works and colliery to a cultural district

In 1822 the Fanny zinc works were built where the Spodek now stands, and a year later the Ferdinand colliery, later called Katowice, began operating. After the mine was decommissioned, 86 structures were demolished in 2001, leaving a dozen or so of the most valuable buildings. The seed of the new district was the Spodek, opened in 1971. The three new projects, co-funded by the EU, cost more than PLN 1 billion including the new road layout. The transformation has been compared to the "Bilbao effect".

What to see

• Silesian Museum (opened on 26 June 2015) – designed by the Austrian practice Riegler Riewe. Its eight glass cubes are mostly skylights: around 6,000 m² of exhibition space lies underground. The preserved headframe of the Warszawa II shaft has a lift and a viewing platform overlooking central Katowice.
• NOSPR concert hall (opened on 1 October 2014) – Tomasz Konior's brick building echoes the miners' housing of Nikiszowiec. The main hall seats about 1,800 people, and its acoustics were designed by Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics. The orchestra itself dates back to 1935, when Grzegorz Fitelberg founded Poland's first radio symphony orchestra.
• International Congress Centre – a black block by JEMS Architekci cut through by a green roof with a public walkway and terrace you can climb on foot. Inside are 18 congress rooms and a multi-purpose hall for about 8,000 people in congress layout.
• Spodek – the 1971 arena with a 26 m dome, listed as a historic monument since 2025.

Did you know?

The first event held at the Congress Centre was the Intel Extreme Masters esports tournament in March 2015. In December 2018 it hosted the UN climate summit COP24, and later also Wikimania 2024 and the World Urban Forum WUF11. On the square in front of the centre stands a monument to Henryk Sławik and József Antall, who saved at least 5,000 Polish Jews during the war.

Tripto tips

A walk around the zone takes about an hour; with the museum and the tower ride, plan half a day. The museum and the tower require a ticket, and NOSPR concerts are worth booking in advance. From the city centre you can walk over the footbridge across Roździeńskiego Avenue, and buses stop right by the zone (Strefa Kultury NOSPR and Strefa Kultury Muzeum Śląskie stops). Parking is paid on weekdays and fills up quickly during big events.