Technical monuments

Maciej Shaft in Zabrze

The Maciej Shaft in Zabrze's Maciejów district is a fully preserved complex of the former Concordia mine (later Pstrowski), now open to visitors as a site on the Industrial Monuments Route. Early twentieth-century buildings, the winding tower and the original equipment form a coherent industrial ensemble that takes part every year in the INDUSTRIADA festival.

The history reaches back to the Amalia mine of 1801 — the first private mine in the area of today's Zabrze — merged in 1876 into Concordia, which had started production in 1841. The mining character of the settlement was reinforced by a coking plant and the Donnersmarck steelworks.

From shaft to water well

The fate of the complex was decided by Dr Zbigniew Barecki, thanks to whom the old shaft was converted into a deep-water well pumping clean water. The Maciej Shaft is described as the only fully preserved authentic mining complex of its kind in Europe. Visitors are shown the electric winding engine in operation, and the viewing platform on the tower offers a panorama of Zabrze and Gliwice.

Museum and restaurant

The museum exhibition keeps growing, and the former shaft house now holds a two-storey restaurant serving a Silesian menu inspired by the recipes of the Donnersmarck family — with krupniok blood sausage and Żur Zabrzański sour rye soup. The Maciej Shaft is thus the only site in the voivodeship on both the Industrial Monuments Route and the Silesian Flavours culinary trail. Dinner on top of the tower, 25 metres above the ground, is another highlight.