Siemianowice III Shaft Winding Tower in Siemianowice Śląskie

The winding tower of the Siemianowice III shaft is a steel structure on Olimpijska street in Siemianowice Śląskie, also known as Richter III or simply the Richter shaft. It is over 30 m high, with a spire bearing a miners' emblem at the top. It is one of the remains of the Laurahütte hard coal mine, later the Siemianowice mine.

The Richter shafts and the mine

First the twin shafts Richter (work began in 1879) and Richter II (1881) were sunk, named after the Privy Mining Councillor Richter. In 1886 they were connected by a crosscut to the drainage shaft Aschenborn. A railway line with a siding to the Laura steelworks, with a 350-metre viaduct, was brought to the shafts. In 1889 the shafts were deepened and a new extraction level was established at a depth of 206 m, and around 1913 shaft III was 216 m deep. Sources give different dates for its sinking: 1880-1887 or 1895-1897.

The tower from 1897

The first winding engine, a steam one, was built in 1897 at the Eintrachthütte works, and the present tower was erected in the same year. In 1966 it was rebuilt and modernised. The headframe complex also includes the winding engine building, a former compressor house, a shaft workshop, a boiler house and a switchgear building.

The shaft still serves for draining and ventilating the workings as part of the Siemianowice pumping station. When, after the mine's closure, the tower began to be offered for sale, it was threatened with demolition, so a community campaign “Let's Save the Richter Tower” was launched, and the Miners' Brotherhood of the Upper Silesian Union submitted an application for entry in the heritage register. The entry was made on 17 May 2018.

Nearby

Large sites to visit in the neighbourhood include the Silesian Park and the Silesian Planetarium. Other traces of the region's mining past can be seen at the President Shaft.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Olimpijska, Siemianowice Śląskie.
• The shaft still performs a technical function, so the tower is viewed from the outside.
• It is worth checking the condition of the surroundings before a visit.