Silesian Insurgents Monument in Stara Ligota

The Silesian Insurgents Monument in Stara Ligota stands in Katowice at the junction of Ligocka and Hetmańska streets. The boulder with an eagle was unveiled in 1922 and has been rebuilt and recreated several times since.

The first monument, 1922

Originally the monument did not commemorate the insurgent effort. The inscription on the boulder, now covered, spoke of a memento of the union with the Motherland. The building committee was formed in 1922 on the initiative of Ryszard Centlik, a foreman at the "Wujek" mine. Centlik brought the boulder from where it had been dug up on the border of Ligota and Katowicka Hałda, the eagle was cast by Ludwik Pyka, and the iron came from a public collection.

Rebuilding and recreation

In 1936, on the initiative of the Union of Silesian Insurgents, the monument was moved to the west and the boulder was set on a stepped plinth designed by the engineer Eugeniusz Tatarczyk. During the Second World War the Germans destroyed the monument and the boulder was hidden in the ground. It was recreated in 1962 with the participation of miners of the "Wujek" Mine and unveiled by Colonel Rudolf Niemczyk of the insurgent forces. In 1989 a crown was added above the eagle, and in 2021, on the 100th anniversary of the Third Uprising, a commemorative plaque was fixed to the plinth.

Practical information

• The monument stands at the junction of Ligocka and Hetmańska streets.
• Nearby is Zadole Park.