Mountains
red cycle trail along the former partition border, mostly on unpaved roads
Mysłowice attractions: the Central Fire Service Museum, Castle Park, two synagogues and historic churches. What to see in Mysłowice.
Mysłowice lies where until 1915 the borders of three states met, and this borderland past shows in the layout of the town. There is a medieval market square, a square with a former synagogue, brick Catholic and Protestant churches and the main fire service museum in Poland. It is a good destination for visitors who like to explore quietly and without crowds.
Begin in the Old Town: the market square, Mieroszewscy Square, Castle Park and the church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary lie within a short distance of one another. The Central Fire Service Museum on Stadionowa Street is a separate stop.
The Market Square in Mysłowice was laid out around the turn of the fourteenth century as a rectangle fed by Kacza, Grunwaldzka and Bytomska streets. The outline of the former town hall is marked in the paving, and there is a fountain and townhouses from the turn of the twentieth century. From the square you can walk to Mieroszewscy Square, which runs from Bytomska Street and has kept its historic townhouses.
Castle Park on Bytomska Street is what remains of the castle complex of the Salomon and Mieroszewski families. Gatehouses and an outbuilding survive from the old buildings, and the park has a free layout. Entry is free, as at the other places on the list of free attractions in Mysłowice.
The town has three museums, including Poland's main fire service museum, the Central Fire Service Museum. All three suit a rainy day.
The Central Fire Service Museum was founded in 1975 and is Poland's main institution devoted to the history of the fire service. Its collection exceeds four thousand items, among them the oldest horse-drawn fire engine preserved in Poland, dated 1717. Next door, on the same street, works the Mysłowice City Museum, established in 2006, with departments of archaeology, history and ethnography. In Brzęczkowice, in the crypt of a church, is the Mission Museum with souvenirs from Africa, Oceania and South America. All of them are gathered under museums in Mysłowice.
The list holds twelve religious buildings, from a stone church on an octagonal plan to a modernist church of the 1970s. The oldest are the church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the church of the Holy Cross.
Other churches include the brick Church of St Joseph with two towers in Krasowy, the Gothic Revival Church of All Saints in Dziećkowice and the Church of the Visitation in Brzezinka, designed by Ludwig Schneider. Postwar buildings are the Church of St Hyacinth in Morgi, consecrated in 1946, and the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows in Brzęczkowice from 1949, with a mosaic and sculptures by Henryk Burc. For a complete overview see churches and monasteries in Mysłowice.
Two tomb chapels stand in the old cemetery on Mikołowska Street, and the town has preserved two former synagogues and a disused Jewish cemetery. These are historic places best seen in silence.
The chapel of Fr Ludwik Markiefka, from 1858, is octagonal and Renaissance Revival. The Klaus family chapel of 1870-1871 is a Gothic Revival tomb of an industrialist, now the burial place of the parish priests.
The Synagogue in Mysłowice at 1 Mieroszewscy Square was built in 1826. Since 1928 it has housed the Catholic People's House, and its wooden women's galleries survive inside. The second, the former synagogue in Brzezinka of 1910-1911, was sold in 1922 and is used for entirely different, commercial purposes, so it is seen from the street. The Jewish cemetery in the Piasek district was founded in 1864 and closed in 1963; about a hundred gravestones remain. The category Jewish heritage in Mysłowice links all these places. The town's role at the time of the Silesian Uprisings is described in the article on the massacre at the Mysłowice mine and the start of the First Silesian Uprising.
Two walking trails from Giszowiec lead to or through Mysłowice, and a cycling route ends at the former border. Entry to them is free and viewpoints are an extra bonus. You can browse them all under trails in Mysłowice.
The Hołdunów Trail is a blue PTTK route of about 27 km that begins in Giszowiec in Katowice and leads through Mysłowice, Lędziny and Imielin to Jaworzno-Jeleń. The Marian Kantor-Mirski Trail is red and links Giszowiec with Mysłowice through the Murcki Valley and the Murcki Forest. The third, the Former Borderland Cycle Trail, is 10.2 km long and runs entirely through Sosnowiec, along the former partition border, from Millennium Park to the Three Emperors' Corner. The place where Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia met is described in the article on the Three Emperors' Corner in Mysłowice.
Yes, look at Kuder Villa at 13 Powstańców Street: a single-storey Renaissance Revival house from the 1870s, listed as a monument. It has more than 450 square metres of floor space and 25 rooms. Other monuments appear on the list of historic monuments in Mysłowice, and concerts and performances are in the calendar of events in Mysłowice.
In the morning the market square, Mieroszewscy Square and Castle Park, and in the afternoon the Central Fire Service Museum and the city museum on Stadionowa Street. If time remains, add a walk to the church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Yes. The Central Fire Service Museum is Poland's main institution on the history of the fire service, with more than four thousand items and a horse-drawn pump from 1717.
The three museums: fire service, city and mission. The set is on the page of rainy-day things to do in Mysłowice.
The building on Mieroszewscy Square now serves as the Catholic People's House, and the former synagogue in Brzezinka is used commercially. Both are best viewed from outside.
Choose Castle Park, the market square or a trail from Giszowiec. A list of places for quiet sightseeing is in the category solo attractions in Mysłowice.
