The modernist winding tower of the former Szombierki mine in Bytom, about 57 metres high, listed in the heritage register.
The Krystyna Shaft is a brick winding tower in Bytom-Szombierki, on Zabrzańska street. It is about 57 metres high and stands on the grounds of the former Szombierki mine. It is listed in the heritage register, and its silhouette resembles a miner's hammer.
The shaft was sunk in 1870-1873 for the Hohenzollern mine, which began extraction in 1873. Before 1945 it was called the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Schacht. Its depth increased: 210 metres in 1917, 340 in 1920 and 510 in 1928, and finally reached 835.64 metres. The shaft has a circular cross-section. It was decommissioned by backfilling in 2000. After the war the mine was nationalised and named KWK Szombierki.
The present tower was built in 1927-1929 for Gräflich Schaffgotsche Werke, to a design by the engineer Becker of Gliwice. The earlier, octagonal brick tower was about 17 metres high and was driven by two steam engines. The new one has a riveted steel structure weighing about 1300 tonnes, faced with clinker brick from the mine's brickworks. The mass is symmetrical, in the modernist style, with a gable roof. The foundations were made in the winter of 1927/28, and the assembly of the steel began in May 1928.
In the upper part, protected winding machines have survived: the western one from 1928 with a Koepe pulley 6.5 metres in diameter and the eastern one from 1933 with a 7-metre pulley, both powered by a Ward-Leonard system. There is also a crane with a capacity of 30 tonnes and a lift.
In 2000 part of the mine was demolished, but the tower was left, as was the tower of the Ewa shaft. It was entered in the heritage register in 2004. The site is in private hands, and plans for its development have been changed from time to time, so before a visit it is worth checking whether the site is accessible.
Not far away, less than two kilometres from here, stands the Szombierki Power Station, and a little further the Silesian Opera building.
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