# Katowice - the small BIG city



## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Well' You've seen better side of Katowice downtown. Pictures were not specially selected, so they show how most of it really looks like. But "most" isn't comprehensive. As I said Katowce got a lot of modernism architecture (not to be confused with contemporary architecture), mostly build between both World Wars. Unlike older tenements and new buildings, most of it isn't cared of properly (though it only needs cleaning). I guess that's because most people, including many owners and authorities, don't appreciate this style, find it boring and not worth of attention. Well, most people would choose lunapark instead of science&technics museum... You won't find nothing interesting in linked thread, if you'd choose the same. For those who like imodernism the link to thread in polish section of SSC showing this style in Katowice (+some shots from nearby cities):

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=425965&highlight=katowice+modernizm

I guess most users show only better sides of their cities. I'm not going to do it, so let's go to reasons why Katowice, despite all beauty buildings shown above (and in following posts), got reputation of city filled with ugly cubes. Several objects build during communism along one of key streets can really ruin first impression of visitor. Some shots are old (even from 60s), but no major changes appeared since then in this place. Lets start with so called "market square", which is actually mostly a crossroad for trams:


By market square there are 3 utility buldings dominating others. One of them was slightly refurbished and looks decent:


The other needs new paint (on concrete part) and glass panels, but still got potential (yes, i like modernism ):


But this one ("House of press") is rubbish and nothing can help it:


It will be refurbished in close future, but I'rather see it demolished.

Sorry, don't have good photos of them, but here's link to "panorama tool" of market square: http://002project.com/Katowice.htm

Square is a startpalce for Korfantego street, with several another commiebuildings:


And close up's of this "beautiful" place:
   

   

They all are going to be refurbished, but - like with "House of press" - I'd rather see them replaced with new buildings. So far only this one's future is certain - Silesia Hotel is allready closed and will be demolished to give place for modern mall:
 

I hope others will follow it, as many developers are interested in this area.

Something special: 


Superjednostka ("superunit") - design was inspired with Le Corbusier and His "Unité d'Habitation". Initially project was good, but reality of communism economy (simplifications, poor quality materials) did the job. 51 meters tall, 188,5 meters long, 762 mostly small flats. It's seperated from the street with row of utility pavilions, unpreety too. So with this short piece of street (between square and rundabout) man can see congestion of "uglytecture". Plus there are 4 commieblocks and superugly DOKP office tower I've shown before in close neighbourhood: 


When you add sloppy train station no suprise some people think that's the real and only face of the city. Fortunately that's going to change within next years as many investments - both municipal and private - are announced (some allready started) since large road construction projects finished. Simplified vision of how this area will look within few years:
 

Possible replacement for DOKP tower:
  

Finally - my favorite commiebuilding in downtown, only one I'd miss:
    

Most people doesn't like it, but i think it'll look good after cleaning and paitning. Far better than rubbish that's going to stand by It (construction starts with new yearhno: ):


Katowice consists of 21 districts (+downtown) - I don't have shots of each, but will post some later. Important note: none of shots above was mine. Most can be find in SSC and was made by other users.

P.S.: Someone asked how poor is Poland (or rather it's citizens). Well, official average net pay in june was aprox. 540 euros/770$, in Katowice it's 690euros/980$.


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## SilesianSkyscraper (Aug 14, 2007)

ufonut said:


> He meant a 1000 Euro not 10.000. By the way Upper Silesia voivodship is actually one of the poorest regions in Poland, not the richest as SilesianSkyscraper said.
> 
> Katowice is very bland, infact quite possibly it's the worst looking city in Poland but that puts in a good position as it has been untapped by investors for a long time. They are coming though as there are at least 7 skyscrapers planned in the next 2 years. Old mines are shutting down and factories are being converted into entertainment centers and modern lofts.
> 
> Katowice's city center will undergo a massive re-planning in the near future. It's main railway station will also be morphed into a modern transportation center.


GUS saids, that Katowice is richiest than Warsaw about 40 grosze per person. And Silesia is the richiest region in Poland after Warsaw(when Warsaw is a region, not in Masovia). Silesia is richiest than east lands of Germany, Portugal and the poorest regions in Spain and Greece. But Katowice is richiest than Bytom about 9000 euro per person!


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

More of Katowice, we're still in downtown. Click pic to fullsize. I invite!

   

    

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

More to come 

P.S.: Most shots by depress_wist2 from gkw.katowice.pl forum, not mine. All pics work, refresh if You see red cross.


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## SilesianSkyscraper (Aug 14, 2007)

Modernism in Katowice:

















































































































^^ First skyscraper in Poland (65 metres)


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## drowningman666 (Nov 5, 2007)

SilesianSkyscraper said:


> GUS saids, that Katowice is richiest than Warsaw about 40 grosze per person. And Silesia is the richiest region in Poland after Warsaw(when Warsaw is a region, not in Masovia). Silesia is richiest than east lands of Germany, Portugal and the poorest regions in Spain and Greece. But Katowice is richiest than Bytom about 9000 euro per person!


honestly when u compare katowice to the other big polish cities such as wroclaw or poznan it looks pretty poor
if people in katowice are so rich why are they living in ghettos most ??


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## cernoch (Aug 7, 2007)

This is absolutely beautiful:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

drowningman666 said:


> honestly when u compare Katowice to the other big polish cities such as wroclaw or poznan it looks pretty poor
> if people in katowice are so rich why are they living in ghettos most ??


Let's be honest - neither in Katowice or in Warsaw people are not rich. It's not Switzerland or Luxemburg  Those 700 euros of average net pay is still quite poor for EU standards. But what?? Ghettos?? R u kidding??  City center is sloppy - pavements, some buldings, especially those from communism era. I mean part of center north of rails, the most visible for visitors, shown in one of my posts above. Southern side of downtown, virtually not affected by communists, looks as shown above. It's not so sweet attractive as Cracow's or Wroclaw's downtown, it's never been oriented for tourists, yes it's probably the worst looking major city in Poland, but ghettos?? Only two places I got in my mind when I think "ghetto" - Załęże district (will be shown later) full of cheap tenements + few more in downtown, by the river (can be seen in skysprercity's post as "cheap district"), occupied with gypsies. You're joking :lol: Less wealthy people live in tenements or blocks, middle class usually live in own houses in suburbia. Thanks to developed, as for polish standards, roads many people live 20, 30 or 50 kms from downtown and can get to work within half an hour, unlike in Warsaw or Wrocław. So You won't see many modern blocks here. City's full of green terrains, good for sports and recreation. As I said before - sloppy train station, "market square" and commie-rubbish in this area make this city bad PR. It's city authorities fault, and relatively good wages of citizen have nothing to do with it. Fortunately despite lazy president area's going to change within few years due to private investments. Exemplary suburban ghetto below. Funny thing is, that apartments in this district cost less per square meter, than flats in commieblocks in cities like Cracow, Wrocław or Warsaw.


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## pr3za (Sep 14, 2007)

Pics looks nice, love the town - especialy the old bilding few posts above. 
Katowice looks like a big city(more than 300 000 as it says in first posts).


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## DanteXavier (Jan 6, 2007)

I like it.

Yes, it's not as aesthetically pleaseing as some othe rcities, but it looks efficient and well organized.


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## drowningman666 (Nov 5, 2007)

1000city said:


> Let's be honest - neither in Katowice or in Warsaw people are not rich. It's not Switzerland or Luxemburg  Those 700 euros of average net pay is still quite poor for EU standards. But what?? Ghettos?? R u kidding??  City center is sloppy - pavements, some buldings, especially those from communism era. I mean part of center north of rails, the most visible for visitors, shown in one of my posts above. Southern side of downtown, virtually not affected by communists, looks as shown above. It's not so sweet attractive as Cracow's or Wroclaw's downtown, it's never been oriented for tourists, yes it's probably the worst looking major city in Poland, but ghettos?? Only two places I got in my mind when I think "ghetto" - Załęże district (will be shown later) full of cheap tenements + few more in downtown, by the river (can be seen in skysprercity's post), occupied with gypsies. You're joking :lol: Less wealthy people live in tenements or blocks, middle class usually live in own houses in suburbia. Thanks to developed, as for polish standards, roads many people live 20, 30 or 50 kms from downtown and can get to work within half an hour, unlike in Warsaw or Wrocław. So You won't see many modern blocks here. City's full of green terrains, good for sports and recreation. As I said before - sloppy train station, "market square" and commie-rubbish in this area make this city bad PR. It's city authorities fault, and relatively good wages of citizen have nothing to do with it. Fortunately despite lazy president area's going to change within few years due to private investments. Exemplary suburban ghetto below. Funny thing is, that apartments in this district cost less per square meter, than flats in commieblocks in cities like Cracow, Wrocław or Warsaw.


ya cool u got some nice districts like in every city in poland now, there are not only ghettos in katowice but in my opinion most of the buldings in katowice (not only commies) are very crappy, in poor condition, grey or made of red brick which is almost black because of dust, and that kind of buldings reminds me only ghettos of NY or London, and the green places have nothing to do with that, i don't know the town as well as u so maybe i'm wrong, i wrote just my opinion and i don't want to offend all of these rich people from katowice


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## Blok (Jul 10, 2006)

cernoch said:


> This is absolutely beautiful:


I agree :yes:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

drowningman666 said:


> ya cool u got some nice districts like in every city in poland now, there are not only ghettos in katowice but in my opinion most of the buldings in katowice (not only commies) are very crappy, in poor condition, grey or made of red brick which is almost black because of dust, and that kind of buldings reminds me only ghettos of NY or London, and the green places have nothing to do with that, i don't know the town as well as u so maybe i'm wrong, i wrote just my opinion and i don't want to offend all of these rich people from katowice


Well, it's the matter of taste, and You know, de gustibus non est disputandum  Unlike most people I adore modenism, which is usually considered as boring and bland. I don't think most buildings are crappy, but truth is still many needs cleaning from soot after decades of lack of care. Especially 30-80 years old buildings - to old to be clean, to young to be aprreciated by owners and tourists. That's visible on photos - buildings in secessionism style are usually refurbished, those build in modernism and socrealism often still wait for attention. As I said fault of aurhorities is obvious. They think about roads only, but don't really care about city look. Theu dont press for estate owners for care and good taste. For example - National Rails currently talk with ivestors about new railway station with mall, and city hall sid "that's not our business how it'll look like" - they don't give a s..t whether it's gonna be intresting and pretty or boring, while this is one of key buildings in the city. Funny that You mentioned London and NY. I thought about those cities writing my previous post - they are full of bland buildings too, despite beeing wealthy. I didn't write it, because it'd sound silly comapring some polish city to "capitols of world", but actually there's resemblance. I know the lacks of Katowice, still a lot is to be done, but it's not the city of chimneys, steel mills, and dust, as most poles think without even beeing here. Nevertheless it's a place with industrial history, so let's go see some "brownstone ghetto". District build 90 years ago for miners and their families, now it's all an antique. Nikiszowiec:


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## drowningman666 (Nov 5, 2007)

1000city said:


> Well, it's the matter of taste, and You know, de gustibus non est disputandum  Unlike most people I adore modenism, which is usually considered as boring and bland. I don't think most buildings are crappy, but truth is still many needs cleaning from soot after decades of lack of care. Especially 30-80 years old buildings - to old to be clean, to young to be aprreciated by owners and tourists. That's visible on photos - buildings in secessionism style are usually refurbished, those build in modernism and socrealism often still wait for attention. As I said fault of aurhorities is obvious. They think about roads only, but don't really care about city look. Theu dont press for estate owners for care and good taste. For example - National Rails currently talk with ivestors about new railway station with mall, and city hall sid "that's not our business how it'll look like" - they don't give a s..t whether it's gonna be intresting and pretty or boring, while this is one of key buildings in the city. Funny that You mentioned London and NY. I thought about those cities writing my previous post - they are full of bland buildings too, despite beeing wealthy. I didn't write it, because it'd sound silly comapring some polish city to "capitols of world", but actually there's resemblance. I know the lacks of Katowice, still a lot is to be done, but it's not the city of chimneys, steel mills, and dust, as most poles think without even beeing here. Nevertheless it's a place with industrial history, so let's go see some "brownstone ghetto". District build 90 years ago for miners and their families, now it's all an antique. Nikiszowiec:


i think that very important is refurbishment, maybe after "extreme makeover katowice edition" the city will look much better
anyway for me it was a little funny to read stuffs like "katowice got 40 gr more than warsaw, and 900euro than bytom" or something like that beacause i don't see this wealthy on those pictures
with this ghettos it was a little exaggeration of course 
in katowice there is also a lot of nice places with the unique climate


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## SilesianSkyscraper (Aug 14, 2007)

From GUS:
Average salary per month:
Katowice: 3482 zł (950 Euro)
Warsaw: 3481 zł (950 Euro)
Cracow: 2532 zł (695 Euro)


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## French-Polish_Man67 (Nov 5, 2007)

I know very well Katowice because i've a part of my familly there.

Katowice, is nowadays, unfortunetaly, a dirty city . But the first investissments were for the roads and it was a good idea : 1 st the roads, and next, the urban renovations.

Now, the more importants projects for the roads was done (Motorway A4 and DTS).

It's time now, to renovate all the beautifull buildings in the center of the city.

I said Katowice is dirty...but this city has en enormous potential : after renovations, we'll see the TRUE Katowice. The unforgiven buildings from the XIX and XX Century will be renovated, i hope.


I wish, I'll see some new Skyscrapers along the DTS at the future(in the Chorzowska Street). It would be a great Skyline ! and after all, the urban area is as important as Warsaw ! so Katowice MUST be an important place of investissments.

I hope, the president of Katowice will get one's ass in gear, and wake up, for great urban projects


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## mbuildings (May 6, 2007)

nice city


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

<< French-Polish_Man67 said: Katowice, is nowadays, unfortunetaly, a dirty city >> And that's the point! It's still in need of cleaning. Things are getting better, man can see buildings under renovation all the time, as You can see in this thread a lot has been allready done, but due to " 'nothing but roads' authorities" we're several years behind other polish cities in the matter of look and PR. If everything promised by local politics was done city would now look like crossover of New York and Paris :lol: Nevertheless it's a good place to live in. I still got many photos from the city, mostly downtown buildings, I'm going to show. I'll also try to find some streetlife, squares and suburbia shots, or maybe I'll just go and make some in this cold, rainy weather  As I said before - I'm trying to avoid showing the same building multiple time with only few exceptions  Enjoy:

   

  

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

And finally sth special for "Prison break" fans like me - City Investigation Jail 

    
 

Of course: more to come


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

The last part of (mostly) downtown buildings shots. I guess it's not even half of them, but it's time to show sth different :nuts: I’ll post some districts, parks, streets, squares, aerial etc. later. Another opinions welcomed, no matter good or not 

    

   

 
  

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

    

   

   

    

Many shots are 2-3 years old, so some buildings are now under/after renovation, but still there are many waiting for attention.


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## drowningman666 (Nov 5, 2007)

SilesianSkyscraper said:


> From GUS:
> Average salary per month:
> *Katowice: 3482 zł (950 Euro)*
> Warsaw: 3481 zł (950 Euro)
> Cracow: 2532 zł (695 Euro)


OH MY GOD it must be very hard to spend such a lot of money!!
now i no wonder that in katowice everybody got his own porsche


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

No need to be so malicious. Is it because Opole, despite having nice old town doesn't offer much?? He just quoted gross salary official gov datas. Old ones, but in recent Warsaw and Katowice still lead. It's not our fault it's easier for a decent job here :lol:


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## drowningman666 (Nov 5, 2007)

yes you are right, in katowice it's easier to find a job than in opole because katowice is bigger and opole is not any competition, but i think that averiage salary is not much bigger in katowice and in my opinion life level is better in opole
ok but i just can't understand why some people from katowice are so excitetd about 950 euros of salary when it is shit though (and the salary is brutto so after the taxes it's about 650 euros which is pathetic when you compare it with other eu countries)
there is nothig to praise of...


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Nobody in this thread is exited with those (lousy in fact) 700 euros, but You :lol: Let's stop this silly game and let people watch the city in peace 

And specially for You - "rich man" from Katowice in Porsche. Me


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## SilesianSkyscraper (Aug 14, 2007)

New photos:

























Old and new:









Nikiszowiec district:










Other parts of the city









































































Next part soon.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Since we've posted here 100s of shots, You must choose photos more carefully - some of those ^^ (shots or places) were allready showed  Maybe You got some non-downtown photos, because I don't hno: ??


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## Pytkowski (Nov 12, 2007)

it is very intersting city . Lot of modern buildings and old buildings


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Now let’s get airborn for a while. I’ll show some suburban districts. Typical for Katowice is relatively low density of building. Suburbias are usually old villages incorporated during XX century. Some districts are separated from others with dense forrest. If You’re unlucky You may hit a deer with a car while traveling from one to another or to other city. Quite unordinary considering it’s in the middle of aprox. 3 milion people metro area! Well, let’s go. Click pic to fullsize in new window:
Downtown: 

Part of "Dolina Trzech Stawów" (Three Ponds Valley), large recreation area right by downtown:

Part of downtown, and other disctricts (road constructions in progress, so it's some old shot):

Silesian Library main building:

Part of sport airfield (up left end) + A4 higway and Murckowska street crossroad – junction with the largest traffic in Poland, aprox. 80k-100k vehicles take it every day. I wish it was so peacefull like on those photos :
 
Due to t-jams modernisation starts next year – it’s gonna look this weird :

“Borki” ponds in Szopienice disctrict:

Part of Ligota district:

“Zadole” settlement in Ligota district, typical superbland commieblocks:

Podlesie:

Kostuchna:
  
Giszowiec (details will be show later as it’s on of anitques of Katowice):

4 in 1 – part of Załęże and Dąb districts, “Millenium Settlement” (Named to celebrate 1000 years of polish state. I live here, we call it “1000city”, just like my nick, or simply “1000”) and WPKiW park, the 2nd largest city park in Europe (the largest is in Dublin). Very nice place, maybe I'll post some shots later though it’s in Chorzów, not in Katowice. Cities are separated with tram line – one track is in Katowice, the other one, closer to the park in Chorzów :
  
Hospitals in Ochojec district:

“Osiedle odrodzenia” – Settlement of Rebirth:
 
Murcki district with artificial hill (soil from coal mine):
    
Murcki Mine:

A4 junction on downtown’s border:
 
And in outskirts (aprox. 70 kilometers onwards there’s Cracow):

Part of International Katowice Fair. Some of You probably heard of it. One of halls collapsed in January 2006 during International Pigeon’s Exhibition killing 65 and wounding 170 people:
   
And here’s part of metro area – parts of Katowice (inside yellow line) and surrounding cities, large photo:


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## Marco Polo (Oct 14, 2002)

Thanks for all the nice photos.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

No problem  I really enjoy posting, showing my place, different than all those impressive, but commonly known New Yorks and Bejings  I also enjoy viewing other users "unknown" cities. There're many other interesting places and structures in Katowice, but I don't have shots of it and the wheather doesn't invites for taking them. Nevertheless I'll post sth more from time to time. For now - one of two catholic churches in "Millenium Settlement" district:










BTW: Never been to Amsterdam so far, but I love it :cheers:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

„Koszutka” district. Few blocks, office buildings and several tenements build in modernism style. But mostly consists of low objects build in 50s as housing for workers and clerks in socrealism style. I regret later communists across Central Europe decided to build groups of ugly and bland commieblocks rather than such districts. Despite trivial design of buildings, flats in this area are desired and recently quite expensive (aprox. $2k/sq meter), because it’s right by downtown, but green, quiet and peaceful (many aged citizens). Most shots by B999 from forum.gazeta.pl.


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## SilesianSkyscraper (Aug 14, 2007)

Scrapers in the fog


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## butch83 (Mar 24, 2006)

pr3za said:


> Pics looks nice, love the town - especialy the old bilding few posts above.
> Katowice looks like a big city(more than 300 000 as it says in first posts).


It's because Katowice is the main city in aglomeration of 3.5m(wikipedia) and capital of upper silesia.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Summer 2005, photos by Koniaczeq, one of SSC users. Since then some changes occured in several places – new pavements, small architecture (dunno if it’s actual word), another buildings renovated etc. but nothing major.


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## butch83 (Mar 24, 2006)

1000city said:


> [/IMG][/URL]


nice


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Another downtown shots by Koniaczeq. I edited few, as they were too dark. Miss colours a bit, but show more 














Additional shots of Silesian Seym building:






Never liked this one's, but it's under renovation now and perhaps I'm gonna change my mind  :


























To be continued...


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## SilesianSkyscraper (Aug 14, 2007)

Katowice in Peoples Republic of Poland (communist time) - 1945-1989:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Time for announced antique district – Giszowiec (aka Gieschenwald). Built in early XX century for mine workers and clerks. Project inspired by “garden city” movement. District surrounded with green belt, got it own shopping and leisure center. Architecture reflected typical on that time silesian village look. Unfortunately district didn’t survive communism era. Despite having a lot of space in surrounding forrest, in 60s authorities decided to demolish old buildings and replace them with some trivial rowhouses and... commieblocks. 2/3 of district was demolished till they stopped and Giszowiec was put on the list of antiques. That’s typical for Katowice (and whole Poland) history – german nazis destroyed modern building of Silesian Museum and impressive Synagogue, soviets came stealing and raping, finnaly they installed polish communists, who decided to remove foreign (mostly german) and capitalistic influcences from Silesia destroying many buildings (or at least removig "bourjois" ornaments), cemeteries, culture etc. God save us from wars and fanatics. Still Giszowiec is a place worth of visit and show. Currently in this area modern building occurs, but all in style according to the initial one. Photos by various authors, part 1. Sorry, no thumbnails available this time:



















































































































































































































































































































Water tower









Mine


















Sad history:



















And some modern building



























































































To be continued...


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Giszowiec (Gieschenwald) part 2:















































































































































































































































































































































Schools:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

*TRAMS ATTACK!!!*

Trams enthusiasts will find this post particulary interesting :cheers: Vehicles made in Alstom-Konstal plant in bordering city - Chorzów. Notice: sometimes some pics fullsize slowly.

Konstal 102:
  

Konstal 105:
     
    

Konstal 116 Citadis:
    
     
    
     

And here's sth special - in summer this beauty, Konstal N, cruises between downtown and WPKiW park offering sentimental ride.


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## delfin_pl (Mar 11, 2004)

each tram in different color? wired


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## LMCA1990 (Jun 18, 2005)

I love trams :drool:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

delfin_pl said:


> each tram in different color? wired


In the past all trams were red&ivory, and so were most buses. Now almost each city in the area got own buses, and it results in variety of makes, models and color schemes - white, yellow, red, mixed, covered with ads or not. Exapmles in this post in CE section thread http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=15495074&postcount=22. With trams it's different, as they all are owned by one company. Silesian Trams was the last state owned tram company in Europe, and as many state owned copmanies managed very badly. Finally this year government allowed local authorities to take control of company but after years of lack of care&funds it's now in very need of 1 bilion Euros for investments hno: Most old rolling stock is still red&ivory
, but many pieces are covered with ads  .
Those few blue in color 105s are ex-Cracow cars, they look weird here indeed. Modern trams roll off assembly line grey, but later most of them are covered with ads.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

I just found out that some (all??) of those blue cars have been allready repainted. Thnx to one of users I found this interesting site and perhaps I'll look for and post some more shots showing streets of the city, not only trams and buses.

  

Those two trams, as good as tracks, are in different cities - Katowice (the left ones) and Chorzów (the right ones) :nuts:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

There was sth for tram lovers, now for classic music enthusiasts. Recent investment of Academy of Music - Symfonia Music Education Center, opened just few months ago. It's been built in between two old buildings of the academy. With main one, which You've allready seen in some previous post, it’s linked by an atrium, with the other by small skybridge. "Symfonia" holds, inter alia, the most modern concert hall in Poland. Large part of the building is designed solely to be hall's resonance box and is loaded with high-tech features, flexible walls and other weird stuff  Enjoy:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Like before - various authors, various sources:








































































^^ :bash: ^^





































Try to spell it in english (or Your local language) :lol: It means "Contemporary Art Gallery":









GetIn Bank - do Yoy really wanna get in??



























"Concrete Cube 2006" award laureate - the most ugly construction/modernisation of the year in the city, Film Art Center (for education&research purpose, former "Kosmos" cinema in socrealism style). Sadly it had several strong competitors :bash::









Who said industry is ugly?? 









"Wujek"("Uncle") Mine - monument of miners shot by communist forces during Martial Law, nine crosses for nine lifes:



















http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law_in_Poland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacification_of_Wujek


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## artursiwy91 (Jan 24, 2007)

1000city said:


>


It's great photo


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Wish I were in Spain now :cheers: Cloudy, frosty and depressing - these days in the city:




























































































































[/





































My window view - so warming and inviting...


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

As it was said before Katowice got a lot of modernistic architecture. 20s and 30s of XX century were the golden era of the city – intensive development took place, and unlike during communism, it had good quality of design and realization. Some modernistic downtown tenements are shown above (unfortunately so far mostly underrated and sloppy), also some villas, now few more examples of villas from other parts of the city. As a fan of modernism I find some of them just gorgeous:
















































































































































































































^^ This one's allready refurbished ^^ (next 2 shots)


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## kenworth (Jun 20, 2006)

Nice city! i love it


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Different look on the city, part 1  :








































































































































As always - various authors.


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## VelesHomais (Sep 1, 2004)

This is a great picture


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Part II:




































^^A ghost??^^



























Sim City :


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## Arbais (Dec 22, 2007)

> http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff134/1000city/downtown_roofs.jpg


^^ Wonderful photo!


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Part III


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## skimaniac (Sep 10, 2007)

respect for some awesome photos!


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## Arbais (Dec 22, 2007)

*Some photos*

Some photos


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## Arbais (Dec 22, 2007)

Some photos:


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## japajapa85 (Feb 17, 2008)

jo


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## Arbais (Dec 22, 2007)

Some photos from Nikiszowiec - industrial district which is 100 years old this year.

Small photos, sorry

From Flickr.com


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## Lysy (Feb 15, 2006)

@1000city,

GREAT photos, introducing katowice so different from what most people thinks of it. with the pictures you 've created a city to live in.
I particularly like luxurious housing district from twenties and thirties, both single family and extremely elegant tenement buildings.
also good framing and interesting composition - well done!


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## _netka_ (Mar 1, 2008)

Great phots! I live in Katowice 2nd year but I saw how beautiful is this town just few months ago- I had to use my imagine and then I detected beauty hidden underneath dust and dirt...


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Lysy said:


> @1000city,
> 
> GREAT photos, introducing katowice so different from what most people thinks of it. with the pictures you 've created a city to live in.
> I particularly like luxurious housing district from twenties and thirties, both single family and extremely elegant tenement buildings.
> also good framing and interesting composition - well done!


Well, thanks. But as I mentioned, so far only 3 shots in this thread are mine (“my window view”). The rest was made by different users of SCC or found in the web  The city actually is good to live in or to make business despite many issues and – most of all – authorities unsuitable to face them (no other achievements than road constructions). I’m gonna go and make some new, interesting shots, but I still wait for decent weather. Till then I’ll post some shots of other users – here’s another part. Some pics show two major issuaes about downtown:
1.	Still many, many grey in colour buildings wait for refurbishment of elevation
2.	Vehicles are everywhere – we really miss some pedestrian only zones in downtown like e.g. in Your city. At least we've got several nice parks close to it.

Some of buildings below have allready been shown here on other shots, the rest is “new”.












































































































































































































































To be continued...


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## Finne (Apr 14, 2008)

Few photos:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Another random shots - some are really cool :cheers:









^^Another still unrefurbished modernism^^



















^^ And two refurbished - thinghs are slowly going the right way  ^^


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Well, here’s another load of the city shots. Most made by “sky’s the limit”, taken from polish sub-forum or His website: www.mechanofaktura.blogspot.com. Few from gazeta.pl website and few from other users of polish sub-forum. At first shots taken during Long Night of Museums at closed “Katowice” mine, that’s going to house Silesian Museum soon.














































1892 british steam machine - worked for over 100 years, till the mine was closed in late 1990s. Definitely not a made-in-china-shit  :










And another nightshots:














































^^ Nighttime public transport is the city is poor – no wonder guy got “tired” :cheers: ^^

We’ve just sent-off the winter…




























...and gladly welcomed the spring:

























































































































































































































Well, boars felt the spring too :lol: 


















^^ Yes, it’s in the middle of 3mio people industrial metro area  ^^




























^^ Another recently refurbished building in modernism style - part of Silesian Polytechnic ^^









































































TV Katowice tower - almost like Canadian National :lol::




























^^ UpperSilesian Flague ^^ We hope to regain autonomy from Poland one day :cheers:

BTW: Nice to see Chorzów, bordering city of Katowice, and tower I live in on today's banner :cheers:


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## Molibden (Feb 8, 2008)

1000city said:


> "(...)Wages in Katowice are best outside Warsaw, what's suprising for citizens of "trendy" cities like Cracow or Wrocław. (...) :lol:


Not now. Now wages in Katowice are best in Poland, better than in Warsaw, and "others trendy cities"... Polish State Statistical Office (GUS) announced, that the best wages in Poland are in:
1.Katowice,
2.Gdańsk,
3.Warsaw,


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Nice city :cheers:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Molibden said:


> Not now. Now wages in Katowice are best in Poland, better than in Warsaw, and "others trendy cities"... Polish State Statistical Office (GUS) announced, that the best wages in Poland are in:
> 1.Katowice,
> 2.Gdańsk,
> 3.Warsaw,


Yeah, I've read that too  For now average employee take home income in those cities is about 1400$/900 Euros, in Poland 1030/660. Not much considering how everything is getting more and more expensive (wonder what Americans would say if they have to pay $2,2/litre of gasoline :lol

And some new shots (first 3 my own - taken with "idiot camera" - the rest by sky's the limit, one from gazeta.pl):

Church and it's garden in Dąb ("oak") district:

















































































Another recentrly refurbished buliding - I find those lights quite ridiculous:










And some tram stuff:



























^^ Foremendioned sentimental "D" line ^^

It turns around (on) this square:


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

Folks, there seems to be some confusion about the difference between the "Urban Showcase", and "Cityscapes" section. "Urban Showcase" is where we put our own 
photographs.. just make a new thread and post them there. "Cityscapes" is for photos we find on the web. Note to all, if you save a photo off the web, please get in the habit of saving the information of who took the picture, or at least which site you got it off. Post this information with the pictures in Cityscapes section. Thank you.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

DEL


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Here are some shots showing evolution the city have undegone since the fall of communism. The evolution, that's still going on. Ulica Krzywa (Curve Street):

Unknown author, looks like mid 80's to me:









Nowadays (shots by mark40):



























And one cool shot of a train with colour scheme and coat of arms of Upper Silesia:


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## mat2230 (Jul 14, 2008)

Silesia is beautiful. 
Moim zdaniem ładniejszy od Warszawy ... i czystszy. Naprawdę nie spodziewałem się tego po Śląsku. Do tej pory kojarzył mi się on z kopalniami i fruwającymi oparami. Chyba pora najwyższa odwiedzić Górny Śląsk bo chyba warto.
To co mnie urzekło na Sląsku w czasie krótkiego przejazdu to domy z cegły, całe ulice. W Szczecinie takich nie brak ale Śląsk ma ten ceglany klimat. 
Architektura: trochę nowoczesności, trochę klasyki, trochę PRL-u, trochę autostrady, trochę nowego, trochę stargo, trochę brzydkiego, dużo ładnego. Brawo. 
Polskie Zagłębie Ruhry. 
Zieleń miejska zagospodarowana wzorowo i lepiej niż w Szczecinie (może dzięki temu, że jej poprostu jest brak a w Szczecinie wszystko prawie jest zielone).
Pozdrawiam.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

^^ Stereotypy, stereotypy ^^ Najbardziej zanieczyszczone w Polsce miasta to Kraków i Warszawa. Aglomeracja katowicka jest bardzo zielona, co wielu gości niezwykle zaskakuje. Mamy tu swoje problemy, ale realia są znacznie lepsze, niż obiegowe opinie, w sumie to bardzo fajne i w swej różnorodności ciekawe miejsce, choć bardzo niedoceniane i słabo, nieudolnie promowane (forumowicze SSC robią dużo, by to zmienić :cheers. Polecam wątek "Silesia '08, metropolia wakacyjną porą" na Miasta Polskie  

I see some of shots are not visible due to expired links - I'll fix it later. For now just 3 shots, but what shots! Made recently by "sky's the limit" from his flat:


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## royggbiv (Aug 11, 2008)

1000city, why haven't you posted up Katowice main railway station yet? Whether you like it or not it is the most famous example of brutalist architecture in Poland, quoted even in some foreign architecture workbooks and I think it deserved to be posted up in this thread. 
The characteristic feature of this building are the concrete "goblets" supporting the roof









http://warszawa.sarp.org.pl/php/galeria/barucki/dobra/1barucki_dworzec_katowice.jpg








http://miejsca.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/dworzec_katowice/katowice_dworzec1.jpg
















http://www.sztuka-architektury.pl/files/dzieci4.jpg








today









and here is, omg, what are they going to do with this piece of art - barbarians!!


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## Parisian Girl (Nov 6, 2007)

Luv those old pix....really interesting. :cheers:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Well, I don’t have interesting shots of the station. Those You’ve posted are good – it hasn’t change a lot since 1972. Just that it’s much more dirty and sloppy. Together with the bus station in front it’s not a pleasant place today, considered the worst major train station in Poland. Yes, architecture is quite unique (familiar to those that visited Terminal A of Newark Liberty International built few years after our station), but “ordinary people” do not appreciate it. Well, it’s hard in it’s present condition that strongly affects city’s image. Still i’l try to find some interesting pics to place them here. The new mall around office building to be built in next 3 years are rubbish, that’s a fact :bash:

And now more shots of the city. Till the next credits all taken by slonychips.

1st one shows good the oajor problem we face in the city – still many, many pre WWII buildings are in need of pricey invesments. Since they stand by those refurbished it makes the city full of contrasts. Well, the sings of decades communism will stay here for a long time:









On the other hand here’s nice example of convereting dilapidated postindustrial builings to modern office:



































^^ Last one by Agencja Gazeta, not slonychips ^^

And more, random shots:





























































































































































































*Much, much more to come, including those a bit artistic ones. I encourage posting comments to prevent pages from picture overload  *


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Very nice updated photos of Katowice


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## xavarreiro (May 30, 2009)

beautiful city


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## Urbanista1 (Sep 13, 2006)

wow, what an amazing place. never thought Katowice was like that. I think all it needs is a splash of paint and some more cleaning. The new train station will do a lot to change the image. Looks like Katowice wasn't damaged much by war?


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Urbanista1 said:


> wow, what an amazing place. never thought Katowice was like that. I think all it needs is a splash of paint and some more cleaning.


Indeed. 50 years of communism neglections did the job. The city, as all polish cities did, was getting more and more dirty, sloppy. There’s been massive change since 1989 breakthrough, but still a lot is to be done. You’ll notice it in this thread with impressive buildings unrefurbished since WWII. It’s more visible than in other major cieties in Poland, as the city authorities considered infrastructure (roads, sewer system etc.) as priority for many years. In the result we got the best roads in Poland :cheers: and very good financial situation of the city, but for the price of aesthetics. 



Urbanista1 said:


> The new train station will do a lot to change the image.


That’s for sure. Most people prefer “plastic-fantastic” malls instead of crude brutalism. Shame the station won’t be more exposed, most architects and enthusiasts do not aprreciate the project, but some change of present condition is nessesary no doubt. Nasty bus station will be hidden underneath the mall, nearby streets will get new look with much more pedestrian only zones, the ridiculous “market square” will also be rebuilt, so this very heart of the city, now quite ugly, will finally look worthily. Another nasty but very exposed building is “Superjednostka” (Superunit), shown earlier in this thread commies feckless response to Le Corbusier’s “Unite D’habitation”. Recently it’s refurbishment started, so aesthetic improvement in this area is to come. Here are actual visualisations of the new mall and refurbished train station – construction starts next year:

























































^^ Nothing to praise of, but some kind of improvement ^^
One of silesian forumers found resemblance to a jelly fish :lol:




















Urbanista1 said:


> Looks like Katowice wasn't damaged much by war?


It wasn’t. More damages came after Germans were gone. Soviet “liberators” were real savages robbing and destroying, raping women, even killing people with no reason (especially in Upper Silesia – Germans took Silesians for Poles, Poles and Russians took them for Germans and so both sides kicked their asses :bash. And after the war communist started to removing sings of capitalism and german influences in the Upper Silesia. Some precious but “politically incorrect” buildings were destoyed, many tenements lost their oprnaments, stylish little towers etc. And most of all decades of vast exploitation with no proper funds – the commie state was always short of money – resulted in poor condition of most pre WWII buildings. Now it’s much better, but still a lot is to be done and billions of zlotys/euros are to be invested. Well, that’s how communism ends, as we say in Poland “the longest way from capitalism to capitalism” 

And now some more photos. As said before – all by slonychips (other authors wait for their turn ):









































































































































*And finally sth special to me - I live in one of those:*
(Shots by mark40 and sky's the limit)


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## Urbanista1 (Sep 13, 2006)

The Katowice version of Marina City. Wow, these buildings are nice. Are they nice inside. When were they built?


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Yes, they are fully refurbished inside. Now outside refurbishemnts are in progress due to flaking elevations. Gonna make some inside shots for You later, as I'm leaving soon. There's U2 concert for 70k people in nearby Silesian Stadium this evening and I'm going to my friend - great view on stage from his balcony :lol: Those tall buildings, we call them "kukurydze" ("maizes"), were built in the 80s, last years of communism. Additional two lower towers (15 storeys) were built in mid 90s. But designed in 60s and AFAIK architects were inspired with Marina City.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Especially for Urbanista1 internal shots of my block  – clickable thumbnails:

    
  

And few more words about war damages. Probably the most valuable and impressive building lost then was Silesian Museum. Built in 1939 hosted many then-hightech features like air conditioning and modern central heating, photocell operated escalators etc. Demolished by german nazis in 1941 as “the monument of polish and jewish conceit”


















Renders by Agata Jonecko:































Communists didn’t want to rebuild it ^^ for ideological reasons too, so that’s what was built in it’s place:


















And another shots by slonychips:


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## xavarreiro (May 30, 2009)

Amazing pics


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Well, here's the last (so far) part of shots by slonychips. More "artistic" ones by artursiwy91 are to come 

Cemetary entrance:
















































































































































*And a bit of artursiwy91 shots  *(source: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=910828





























































































































































































.


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## rychlik (Feb 14, 2008)

Katowice has better architecture than I thought. It is not known in Poland as an overly beautiful city but with some investment I'm sure it could stand out.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Time to update this thread with a bit of contrasts. Tho completely different districts of the city are to be shown. First "Pheastants Settlement", modern housing for middle class. The other will be Nikiszowiec, low income neighbourhood built for miners 100 years ago.

(ALL THE FOLLOWING SHOTS FROM DISTRICT'S OFFICIAL WEB SITE)
The district U/C few years ago on the right:


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## Urbanista1 (Sep 13, 2006)

very nice city...and so big, but guess most of the heritage buildings are concentrated around the core.


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## warden987 (Jul 6, 2009)

The name of this thread is slightly misleading. One would expect to see real skyscrapers(as those in Warsaw) but sees only high-rise commieblocks. 

But the city looks fine anyway and it is good to have so many high-rises for a city with the population of just 300 000 people.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

^^ The topic have been changed to more relevant one upon my request  "The small big city" is how Katowice used to be called in early 20th century.



Urbanista1 said:


> very nice city...and so big, but guess most of the heritage buildings are concentrated around the core.


Well, depends on what You mean by heritage buliding. The most significant ones are located in downtown usually, but historical buildings can be found allaround the city and apart from downtown there are other districts consisting of mostly pre WWII objects. Here's one example. In my previous post I announced "a bit of contrasts" and showed modern middle-class district. Here's a low income 100 years old distrtict built for workers of the nearby coal mine. Nikiszowiec - some social and visual revitalisation projects are in progress, and when they're done the district is about to be reported to UNESCO World Heritage List. Until said otherwise all the following shots by MarcinK:










































































































































































More to come


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

More of Nikisz by MarcinK:


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Some of those buildings are really interesting, very nice


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## HS (Jun 7, 2008)

Renovation of old commieblock










It's write here "Silesia is beautiful" and I agree with it 











Katowice's downtown


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## HS (Jun 7, 2008)

del


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

All shots by forumer bregi:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Another by bregi:


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

By bregi again:


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## TheCanadianEuro (Oct 4, 2009)

Wow.
That is all.


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Another shots by bregi (more to come )


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## 1000city (Sep 8, 2007)

Yeap, by bregi again


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## missioneiro (Sep 18, 2008)

Nice pics to make my Sunday Morning happy  very nice Katowice.

I noticed that all European big cities share some simmilarities. In old cores, many ecletic, neoclassic and gothic buildings, all with less then 7 stores, all buildings built close to the street. So I've noticed too in Munich, Nurenberb, Wolfsburg and so on in my last trip to Germany. And now I see that in Poland is the same.

Maybe I think so because brazilian cities are very different in their cores, unfortunately most of the past buildings have been destroyed to give space to buildings with 20, 30 stores...

Amazing Katowice!


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