Water parks and pools
a water park with a movable-floor pool, a 7-metre diving tube and a saunarium
Museums
a museum of everyday life in 1945-1989 in a former farmstead: flat interiors, a cinema and PRL-era cars
Industrial heritage
sixteen sandstone houses for miners from 1860-1867, now a service arcade
Churches and monasteries
a Halemba church from 1890 with frescoes of the mysteries of the rosary on a wooden ceiling
Museums
a multimedia exhibition on the history of the town from the Middle Ages, in a former school and municipal hall building
Churches and monasteries
neo-Gothic brick church from 1907-1909 in Wirek, with stained glass by Karl Lerch of Düsseldorf
Churches and monasteries
neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic church from 1902 in Kochłowice, designed by a Wrocław architect
Industrial heritage
a historic coking plant from 1903 with a coal tower, a tar tank and coke oven battery chambers
Culture
late 19th-century brick and steel station, today a library and cultural centre
a yellow walking trail from Łubianki to Rybnik past mining and metallurgy monuments
intuitive and naive painting by Silesian self-taught artists, in Ruda Śląska since 2010
Industrial heritage
brick winding tower of the Malakoff tower type from the Gottessegen mine shaft
Churches and monasteries
pre-war parish church on a Latin cross plan, built in 1937-1938
Churches and monasteries
modernist church from 1935 on a rocky knoll in Bykowina, built in four months
Historic sites
a blast furnace from 1968 on the grounds of the former Friedenshütte in Nowy Bytom
Churches and monasteries
brick church from 1948-1949 with a tower serving as the entrance and a roof with diamond patterns
Churches and monasteries
Neo-Gothic brick church from 1868-1871 with stained glass from Salzburg
Churches and monasteries
post-war church with stained glass by Adam Bunsch and an Art Deco interior after rebuilding
Churches and monasteries
Neo-Romanesque brick basilica from 1904, with the Ballestrem family crypt and relief-carved capitals
Churches and monasteries
brick Neo-Gothic church from 1883 in Bielszowice, with one nave and a tower
Churches and monasteries
Neo-Romanesque church of mining Orzegów with stained glass from the early 20th century
Churches and monasteries
Neo-Romanesque basilica from 1912 designed by Johannes Klomp, with sculptures of the patron saints of steelworkers and miners
Churches and monasteries
the oldest church in Ruda Śląska, with a Lourdes grotto blessed in 1904
Places with character
an estate of familoks for steelworkers with a department store of 1904 in Ruda Śląska
Things to do in Ruda Śląska: Aquadrom, the Ficinus colony, Orzegów Coking Plant and a dozen churches. Find out what to see, district by district.
Ruda Śląska grew out of several former settlements, so each district has its own character: Wirek has workers' housing and brick Gothic Revival churches, Nowy Bytom has the steelworks and the main town square, Kochłowice has the oldest remains, and Halemba has a water park. It suits visitors who like industrial heritage, church architecture and walks through working districts of Silesia.
For a single day pick one district. Wirek has the Ficinus Workers' Colony and the Gothic Revival church of St Lawrence and St Anthony. Nowy Bytom has John Paul II Square with the church of St Paul, Halemba has the water park, and Kochłowice has a medieval hillfort and a sanctuary.
John Paul II Square is a good starting point: it lies in the centre of the town beside the town hall and has two fountains after its rebuilding. On it stands the largest church in the town, the Church of St Paul, a Romanesque Revival basilica from the early twentieth century. In the same district survives a housing estate for steelworkers, the Kaufhaus Estate, with a row of family houses along Niedurnego Street and a former department store.
The most interesting are the remains of mines, coking plants and steelworks: Orzegów Coking Plant, the Andrzej Shaft Tower, the blast furnace of the Pokój Steelworks and the Ficinus colony. Together they show how the town lived from coal and steel.
The coking plant in Orzegów started work in the early twentieth century and part of it now serves as an educational park. The brick Andrzej shaft tower belongs to the former Gottessegen coal mine, later called Błogosławieństwo Boże. The blast furnace dates from 1968 and stands on Niedurnego Street, but steel is still produced on the steelworks site, so the plant itself is closed to visitors and the furnace is viewed from outside. The Ficinus colony is made up of sixteen sandstone houses built in the 1860s, and it lies on the Industrial Monuments Trail.
The same trail includes Stacja Biblioteka, the main branch of the municipal library, housed in the historic Ruda Chebzie station. Trains still stop here and the station hall works as a waiting room. For further examples see the page on industrial heritage in Ruda Śląska.
The town has more than a dozen historic churches, and the largest group are Gothic Revival and Romanesque Revival buildings from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Start with the church of St Joseph, the church of St Paul and the sanctuary in Kochłowice.
Among newer buildings two churches designed by Jan Affa stand out: the modernist Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bykowina, on a hill 296 m above sea level, and the Church of the Holy Spirit in Czarny Las. The whole list is in the category churches and monasteries in Ruda Śląska.
On a rainy day museums, the library in the station and the water park work well. Five such places make up the list of rainy-day things to do in Ruda Śląska.
Aquadrom in Halemba has three zones: recreation, sport and a sauna area, and it stands out for a pool with a moving floor and a seven-metre diving tube. The Museum of the History of the Polish People's Republic is set in a former manor farm and displays furnished flats, period cars and a park of monuments covering the years 1945-1989. The Maksymilian Chrobok City Museum on Wolności Street tells the story of the town through its industry, and the Barwy Śląska gallery shows paintings by self-taught artists.
For visitors who like history outdoors, the town has a hillfort, a castle ruin, bunkers and two walking trails. These are places for short outings rather than for visiting interiors.
The Kochłowice hillfort is a medieval conical stronghold from the early fourteenth century and the oldest monument in the town. The castle in Ruda Śląska is now a ruin: a few stone fragments of walls remain, and the building burned down in 1945. The fortifications of the Silesian Fortified Area include Hill 319 Strongpoint and Combat Bunker no. 75, which was restored and opens a few times a year.
Walkers may like the August Czarnynoga Trail, a yellow route of 11.7 km linking Chorzów Batory with Ruda Śląska. Longer is the Upper Silesian Mining History Trail, about 100 km along industrial monuments from Łubianki to Rybnik. Nearby you can see the free sculpture Miner-Olympian by Piotr Latoska, from 1963, on Żwirki i Wigury Square.
Yes, the local calendar is varied. Concerts, performances and meetings are listed under events in Ruda Śląska, where you can filter them by day and category. Solo travellers can also use the list of places for a solo trip, since most sites in the town suit calm sightseeing on your own.
Start with the Ficinus colony, the church of St Paul with John Paul II Square, and Orzegów Coking Plant. These three places show the working-class and industrial history of the town well. If you like churches, add the church of St Joseph.
Yes. You can choose between two museums, a gallery of intuitive painting, the library in the Ruda Chebzie station and the Aquadrom water park in Halemba.
Walking trails and the Miner-Olympian sculpture are free, because they stand outdoors. The full list is on the page about free attractions in Ruda Śląska.
No. Steel is still produced on the site, so the blast furnace is viewed from outside, from Niedurnego Street.
The story of the steelworks and Sendzimir's rolling mill is told in the article Huta Pokój in Ruda Śląska and the Sendzimir rolling mill, and the Ficinus colony is covered in a text on the colony in Wirek.
