Less than an hour from , Poland’s cultural capital – with its castle, magnificent square, and awe-inspiring churches – lies the Upper Silesian capital, Katowice. A relatively modern city by Polish standards, Katowice was just a village less than 200 years ago. It grew into the beating heart of Polish heavy industry until the end of the 20th century when large numbers of no-longer-profitable coal mines closed down.
As many as 8,000 men and children had been employed in each mine, hundreds of them working shoulder to shoulder on any given shift until advanced mechanization techniques enabled just a handful of employees to achieve the same result as dozens of workers – who historically tackled the bare coalface with mere hammers and pickaxes. But even that engineering progress couldn’t prevent the economic decline of the mining industry in Upper Silesia. It’s a story told 320 meters below the surface in the excellent Guido Mine Museum in Zarbze.
After donning a hard hat and cramming into one of the original elevators that fit some eight people at a time, the descent begins. Surely the tiny cage cannot hold larger numbers, but expert guides say as many as 20 miners would fit into it on their way to work. The two-hour tour takes visits the coal seam and explores the history of coal mining through actual machinery, which is still operational for the benefit of tourists.
There’s also a suspended train that takes you through the mine to the lowest pub in Europe. Back on.