Silesian Library

The Silesian Library is a voivodeship public library with research status, with its main seat at plac Rady Europy 1 in Katowice. It collects materials on Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin, and on the social sciences and humanities.

From the Library of the Silesian Sejm to the present

The institution was founded in October 1922 as the Library of the Silesian Sejm. In 1936-1945 it operated as the Józef Piłsudski Silesian Public Library, and since 1 January 1952 it has been called the Silesian Library. In 1934 the collections moved to the Educational House at ul. Francuska 12, which still belongs to the library today.

The building from the late 1990s

The present building was designed by the ARAR group: Marek Gierlotka, Jurand Jarecki and Stanisław Kwaśniewicz. The architectural competition was decided in June 1989, and the opening took place on 24 October 1998. The building received a third-degree prize in the Building of the Year 1998 competition. It houses reading rooms, exhibition and conference rooms and the Digital Media Institute “Digitarium”.

Collections

The library has the right to a legal-deposit copy of all publications issued in Poland. At the end of 2025 its holdings numbered almost 2.8 million volumes and items, and more than a million publications are available in the Silesian Digital Library. Since 2017 two collections have belonged to the National Library Resource: the 16th-century Polonica and Silesiaca, and the Library of the Lviv Theatre.

In the neighbourhood

The building stands in the cultural centre of Katowice, close to the Silesian Museum and the Stanisław Wyspiański Silesian Theatre. In the area you will also find the Cathedral of Christ the King.

Practical information

• Address: plac Rady Europy 1, 40-021 Katowice.
• The library runs reading rooms, a lending library and tours. Check the registration rules and the reading room hours on the website bs.katowice.pl before your visit.