Water parks and pools
water park beside the Pszczyna Forest with a surf simulator, saunas and biogas power
Museums
brewing museum in a former Evangelical church and tours of a brewery operating since 1629
Museums
museum of about 22 square metres in a Tychy tower block, with miniatures, sculpture and edged weapons
Theatre and opera
impresario theatre in the building of a former works culture centre, with a mosaic from the early 1960s
Churches and monasteries
the oldest church in Tychy, late Baroque, with a tower from 1929 and the title of minor basilica
Churches and monasteries
a dolomite church and friary with copies of the Assisi chapels, built on the plan of a cross
Churches and monasteries
Late Modernist church of 1978-1982 shaped like a tent, with a polychrome by Jerzy Nowosielski
play centre in a shopping centre, with slides and a climbing volcano
Museums
a museum of city history in the Old Town Hall with a branch devoted to Tychy sport
Churches and monasteries
church from 1958 built by parishioners despite the resistance of the authorities
Industrial heritage
three buildings of a former 18th-century ironworks by Lake Paprocany
a municipal gallery on the first floor of the Andromeda Culture Arcade, with temporary exhibitions
private collection of more than 550 typewriters and calculating machines, the oldest from 1882
Parks and nature
Baroque hunting lodge of the Princes of Pless from 1685 and a park by the Princely Brewery
exhibition on Tychy sport at the Municipal Stadium, with athlete profiles and a comic
Churches and monasteries
Evangelical church from 1987-1995 with a crucifix from 1906 from a church that no longer exists
Cemeteries and monuments
a Socialist Realist sculpture of a woman worker with a model house and a trowel on Tychy’s Osiedle A
an active cemetery with an award-winning fence of prefabricated concrete shells
Things to do in Tychy: the Tyskie Browarium, a Baroque hunting manor, a modernist church and an aquapark. Nearly twenty places, many for a rainy day.
Tychy lies at the southern edge of the conurbation and has two faces: the old one, tied to the brewery of the princes of Pszczyna and Lake Paprocany, and the new one, planned after the Second World War as a modernist town. Hence the mix of a Baroque manor, ironworks buildings by the lake, estate sculpture and a church ranked among the major examples of late modernism.
Start in the old part of Tychy, with the brewery and the manor, then drive to Lake Paprocany. Only after that head to the modernist estates and the churches. The whole route fills one good day, and a good part fits into a wet afternoon.
The Tyskie Browarium is a museum and visitor centre on the grounds of the Tyskie princely brewery. The museum has operated since 2004, and the brewery says it has brewed continuously since 1629. It stands at Katowicka 9, in the restored building of a former Protestant church from 1902. Before 2010 the venue was known as the Tyskie Brewing Museum.
Nearby, at Katowicka 2, stands the palace and park complex: a Baroque manor that the princes of Pszczyna had raised in 1685 as a hunting seat and enlarged in the 18th century. Beside it spreads the 19th-century Brewery Park. The complex has been a listed monument since 1983. The park is free to enter, so it suits a short stroll after the brewery. For the town's story, see the article on Tychy, the planned town and the princely brewery.
On Lake Paprocany, at Nad Jeziorem 44, survives the former Paprocany ironworks complex. The ironworks was founded in 1703 by Baron Baltazar Erdmann Promnitz. Three buildings remain from the old plant, along with an access bridge, a dam and a crossing over it, and today a restaurant operates there. Next to it grows a natural monument, the Lipy na Paprocanach lime trees.
Tychy has six museums and galleries, so wet weather is a good moment for sightseeing here. They are gathered on the list of museums in Tychy, and a wider selection is under places for rain in Tychy.
The City Museum deals with the history of the town and its people. Its main seat is the Old Magistrate building at Plac Wolności 1, and its branch, the Tychy Sports Gallery, is on the second floor of the City Stadium at Edukacji 7. The permanent exhibition shows profiles of local sportspeople, mainly footballers and ice hockey players, and a multimedia football comic is popular with children.
The Obok Gallery is run by the town in the Andromeda Culture Arcade, right beside the Teatr Mały, upstairs. Instead of a fixed collection it stages changing shows, from painting and sculpture to textiles and photography. The programme also includes art workshops and literary evenings.
For the curious there are two small private collections. The Museum of Professional Miniature Art at the foot of a residential tower at Żwakowska 8 consists of two tiny rooms, about 21.9 square metres in all, and is sometimes called one of the smallest museums in the world. The Office Machines Museum has over 550 exhibits, including a typewriter by Odell from 1882.
For an evening out, try the Teatr Mały at ks. kard. Hlonda 1. It has no company of its own and invites others, and the building of 1962-1965, designed by Wacław Jaciów, is accessible to people with disabilities.
With children it is easiest to choose one of two indoor places. The Wodny Park Tychy at Sikorskiego 20 is an aquapark opened on 30 April 2018, next to the forests of the Pszczyna Forest. Inside are a recreation zone, a surf simulator and saunas over 16,000 square metres, and the energy comes from biogas produced at the local sewage plant.
The Hip-Hop play centre is in the Gemini Park shopping centre and is meant for children up to 12. It is a handy option for a wet day with younger and older children, because parents stay in the same building as the shops. There is a climbing volcano with a tube slide and a zone for toddlers.
Three churches in Tychy are stops for architecture fans, and two more show the history of their parishes. The full list is in the section on churches and monasteries in Tychy.
The Church of the Holy Spirit in Żwaków, at Myśliwska 43, is a late-modernist church designed by Stanisław Niemczyk, built in 1978-1982 and given listed status in 2019. The interior is decorated with polychromes by Jerzy Nowosielski. Specialists often name it among Poland's leading late-modernist churches.
The church of St Mary Magdalene at Damrota 60 is the oldest place of worship in town. The late Baroque building went up in 1780-1782 and was enlarged in 1906-1907 to a Latin cross plan. It carries the title of minor basilica. The church of St Francis of Assisi and St Clare, known as Little Assisi, was built of dolomite on the plan of a Franciscan cross. John Paul II blessed its foundation stone on 15 June 1999.
Among the others are the Lutheran church of Peter and Paul of 1987-1995, furnished by the sculptor Czesław Dźwigaj, and the church of St John the Baptist of 1958, raised in haste with the work of Żwaków residents before the authorities issued a permit.
A town planned from 1950 has symbols of its own. On Estate A, around Andersa Street and St Anne's Square, you will find the Murarka. This concrete figure of a model worker holds a miniature building and a trowel, and its author is Stanisław Marcinów. The sculpture belongs to an estate that grew up for workers.
A modernist accent also marks the Wartogłowiec Municipal Cemetery, still in use and regarded as the first and largest municipal cemetery in town. It stands out for its fence of concrete shells from 1961, designed by the architect Marek Dziekoński. Because the cemetery is in use, a visit means quietly looking at the fence.
The Tyskie Browarium, the palace and park complex, the former ironworks on Lake Paprocany and the Church of the Holy Spirit. With children, add the aquapark.
The museums: the Tyskie Browarium, the City Museum, the Obok Gallery, the Sports Gallery and two small private collections. The aquapark and the play centre are indoors too.
You can enter the Brewery Park by the palace complex without paying, see the Murarka sculpture and the Wartogłowiec cemetery fence. All of them are gathered under free places in Tychy.
The oldest is St Mary Magdalene's, a late Baroque building that is now a minor basilica.
Check the Tychy events calendar and filter it by day or category.
