Metallurgy Museum in Chorzów

The Metallurgy Museum in Chorzów is housed in the brick hall of the former power station of the Kościuszko Steelworks, built in 1891. It has been open to visitors since 26 November 2021. According to the museum's website, it is the first museum in Poland that uses the examples of the Kościuszko (Königshütte) and Batory (Bismarckhütte) steelworks to show the history of iron and steel metallurgy in the era of the Industrial Revolution.

The hall of the former power station

The historic hall is entered in the heritage register (entry from 2013). In 2010 the city of Chorzów bought it, secured the building and repaired the roof. Before the museum opened, the former power station hosted exhibitions, including World Press Photo, as well as Industriada, the festival of the Industrial Monuments Route. Since 2023 the museum itself has been on the Silesian Voivodeship Industrial Monuments Route.

Machines and keepsakes of the steelworkers

The exhibition is based on keepsakes and objects connected with the Kościuszko and Batory steelworks, handed over by former employees of the plants (from memorial rooms) and obtained from public collections. The description of the permanent exhibition lists the following among the machines in the hall:

• a stamp straightening press from 1897 for straightening narrow-gauge rails, which worked at the Königshütte steelworks until 2015,
• a steam hammer from 1898 from the Batory steelworks forge, in operation until 2013, weighing 34,000 kg and delivering 145 blows per minute,
• a bridge hammer from 1907 with a rotating crane,
• an eccentric press from 1955,
• a fragment of a rolling mill set from 1874 from the grooved rolling mill of the Batory steelworks.

Since 2020 the museum has been running the project “Mów mi huto” (“Call Me Steelworks”): interviews with former workers of Silesian steelworks, which are to form part of the exhibition and an archive of steelworkers' memories.

Not the same as the Chorzów Museum

The former Museum in Chorzów, whose traditions go back to 1925 and which from 1959 had its seat at ul. Powstańców 25, is a different institution. After the Metallurgy Museum opened, the two were merged on 1 January 2022, and exhibitions in the building at Powstańców 25 were suspended in September 2023. Exhibitions for visitors can now be found in the hall on Metalowców Street.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Metalowców 4a, 41-500 Chorzów.
• Current opening hours are listed on the website muzeumhutnictwa.pl. It is worth checking them before your visit.
• The hall also hosts concerts, author meetings and book launches.
• The nearest, about 700 m away, is the Teatr Rozrywki.
• About a kilometre from the museum is the Prezydent Shaft.
• About 1.4 km further on is the Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park.