The oldest surviving Catholic church in central Katowice, a Neo-Gothic church from 1862-1870 with a 71-metre tower.
St Mary's Church, officially the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the oldest surviving Catholic church in central Katowice and the oldest brick-built church in the city. It stands on plac ks. Emila Szramka and closes the eastern end of the view along ulica Mariacka. The Neo-Gothic church was designed by Alexis Langer and consecrated in 1870.
Plans for a parish in Katowice go back to the mid-19th century, when the industrialisation of Upper Silesia was rapidly increasing the population. At that time Catholics from Katowice attended the wooden church in Bogucice. In 1860 a temporary half-timbered church was built, and the decision to build a larger one was taken by the Bishop of Wrocław, Heinrich Förster, who appointed Alexis Langer as architect in 1861.
The plot was donated by Waleska and Hubert Tiele-Winckler, owners of the Katowice estate. The foundation stone was laid on 31 August 1862, and construction lasted until November 1870. The church was consecrated on 20 November 1870 by Adrian Włodarski, auxiliary bishop of Wrocław. A separate parish was established on 14 June 1873, and its first parish priest was Father Wiktor Schmidt. The church was entered in the heritage register on 2 February 1982.
The church is Neo-Gothic, with influences of the Rhenish school, built on a Latin cross plan. At the front rises a 71-metre octagonal tower with a stone spire. The church is built of brick faced with sandstone, while the parish website mentions blocks of Silesian dolomite, so the type of stone is worth checking on site. The roofs are covered with natural slate, replaced in 2006 with slate imported from Spain. In 2007-2010 the facade was cleaned and many details were reconstructed.
From the original decoration a cycle of stained-glass windows from 1885 by the F. Kliem firm of Racibórz has survived. There are also windows from 1936-1939 designed by Adam Bunsch, a pupil of Józef Mehoffer. In 1928-1930 the parish priest Emil Szramek furnished the church with six paintings on Marian themes by Józef Unierzyski, son-in-law of Jan Matejko. In the transept hangs a late Gothic triptych, probably dating from the third quarter of the 15th century, painted in tempera on wood.
Father Emil Szramek died in Dachau camp in 1942, and in 1999 Pope John Paul II beatified him. He is commemorated by a plaque in the church, and the former Gethsemane chapel next to the church has been the Golgotha of the Homeland chapel since 2015.
The Katowice History Museum is about 300 m away, and the Cathedral of Christ the King is about a kilometre further. The Silesian Theatre is also close by.
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