Katowice

Katowice

Flag
Coat of arms
Katowice is located in Poland
Katowice
Coordinates:
Country  Poland
Voivodeship Slaskie flag.svg Silesian
County city county
Established 16th century
City rights 1865
Government
 - Mayor Piotr Uszok
Area
 - City 164.67 km2 (63.6 sq mi)
Highest elevation 352 m (1,155 ft)
Lowest elevation 266 m (873 ft)
Population (2009)
 - City 308,724
 - Density 1,874.8/km2 (4,855.7/sq mi)
 - Urban 2,746,000
 - Metro 5,294,000
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 40-001 to 40-999
Area code(s) +48 32
Car plates SK
Website http://www.um.katowice.pl

Katowice [katɔˈvit​͡sɛ] ( listen) (Silesian: Katowicy, German: Kattowitz, Czech: Katovice) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers (tributaries of the Oder and the Vistula). Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about 50 km on north from the Silesian Beskids (part of the Carpathian Mountains) and about 100 km on south-east from Sudetes Mountains.

It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2 million. Katowice is the center of science, culture, industry, business and transportation in southern Poland. Also, it is the main city in the Upper Silesian Industrial Region and of the 2,7 million[1][2][3][4][5] conurbation, the Katowice urban area, within a Silesian metropolitan area populated by 5,294,000 people.[6] The population within the city limits is 308,724.[7]

Katowice has been the capital of Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999. Previously, it was the capital of the Katowice Voivodeship, before then, of the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship and before then Province of Upper Silesia in Germany.

Contents

History

The Silesian Parliament in Katowice.

The area around Katowice in Upper Silesia has been inhabited by ethnic Silesians from its earliest documented history. It was first ruled by the Polish Silesian Piast dynasty (until its extinction). From 1335 it was a part of the Crown of Bohemia. In 1526 the territory passed to the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy after the death of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia. In 1742 most of Silesia was annexed from Austria by the Kingdom of Prussia during the First Silesian War.

Katowice gained city status in 1865 as Kattowitz in the Prussian Province of Silesia. The city flourished due to large mineral (especially coal) deposits in the nearby mountains. Extensive city growth and prosperity depended on the coal mining and steel industries, which took off during the Industrial Revolution. Kattowitz was inhabited mainly by Germans, Silesians, Jews and Poles. Previously part of the Beuthen district, in 1873 it became the capital of the new Kattowitz district. On 1 April 1899, the city of Kattowitz was separated from the district, becoming an independent city.

According to the Treaty of Versailles after World War I the Upper Silesia plebiscite was organised by the League of Nations. While in the city of Katowice the plebiscite resulted 22,774 votes to remain in Germany and 3,900 votes for Poland[8] in the voting district of Katowice overall (combined with rural areas near the city and castle area) they were 66,119 votes for Poland and 52,992 for Germany[9] and following the Silesian Uprisings (1918–21) Katowice became part of the Second Polish Republic with a certain level of autonomy (Silesian Parliament as a constituency and Silesian Voivodeship Council as the executive body).

The city was occupied by Nazi Germany between 1939-1945.

Cathedral in Katowice

In 1953 the city was renamed Stalinogród ("Stalin City") by the Polish communist government. However, the new name was never accepted by the city's population and in 1956 the former name of 'Katowice' was restored.

Severe ecological damage to the environment occurred during the post-Second World War time of communist governance in the People's Republic of Poland, but recent changes in regulations, procedures and policies of Polish government since the fall of Communism have reversed much of the harm that was done.

Due to economic reforms, there has been a shift away from heavy industry, and towards small businesses.

Geography

Location

Katowice lies on Katowice Highlands, as part of the Silesian Highlands, in the eastern part of Upper Silesia, within the central portion of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. In administrative terms, Katowice is an urban community in the Silesian Voivodeship in south-west Poland. It is central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis - metropolis with the population of 2 millions. It borders the cities of Chorzów, Siemianowice Śląskie, Sosnowiec, Mysłowice, Lędziny, Tychy, Mikołów, Ruda Śląska and Czeladź. In geographical terms, it lies between the Vistula and Oder rivers, on the Silesian Highlands. Several rivers flow through the city, the major two being the Kłodnica and Rawa Rivers. Within 600 kilometres of Katowice are the capital cities of six countries: Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest and Warsaw.

Climate

The climate of the area is continental humid. The average temperature is 8.2 degrees Celsius (average −1.5 °C (29 °F) in January and up to average 18 °C (64 °F) in July). Yearly rainfall averages at 60.85 mm. The area's characteristic weak winds blow at about 2 m/s from the west - Moravian Gate.

Climate data for Katowice
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Source: MSN Weather[10]

Districts

Districts of Katowice
I. Central-City
  • 1. Śródmieście
  • 2. Koszutka
  • 3. Bogucice
  • 4. Osiedle Paderewskiego - Muchowiec
II. North-City
  • 5. Załęże
  • 6. Osiedle Witosa
  • 7. Osiedle Tysiąclecia
  • 8. Dąb
  • 9. Wełnowiec - Józefowiec
III. West-City
  • 10. Ligota - Panewniki
  • 11. Brynów - Osiedle Zgrzebnioka
  • 12. Brynów - Załęska Hałda
IV. East-City
  • 13. Zawodzie
  • 14. Dąbrówka Mała
  • 15. Szopienice - Burowiec
  • 16. Janów - Nikiszowiec
  • 17. Giszowiec
V. South-City
  • 18. Murcki
  • 19. Piotrowice - Ochojec
  • 20. Zarzecze
  • 21. Kostuchna
  • 22. Podlesie

Demographics


Conurbation

Upper Silesian Metropolis - central part of conurbation
Map of central Katowice

Katowice lies in the centre of the largest conurbation in Poland and is one of the largest in the European Union, numbering at about 2.7 million. This urban expansion boomed in the 19th century thanks to the rapid development of the mining and metallurgical industries. The Katowice urban area consists of about 40 adjacent cities and towns. However, the whole Silesian metropolitan area (mostly within the Upper Silesian Coal Basin) consists of over 50 cities/town. This metropolitan area has a population of 5,294,000.

In the year 2006 Katowice and 14 adjacent cities united under one municipal organism - the union of cities - Upper Silesian Metropolis. Its population is 2 million and its area is 1,104 km². In 2006 and 2007, the union planned to unite these cities in one city under the name "Silesia"; however, this proved unsuccessful.[11]

Culture

Katowice, Silesian Theatre

Theater

Cinema

Music

Nightclub "Mega Club" in Downtown (near IMAX) - very popular nightclub in Poland

Museums

Katowice, Silesian Museum

Media

TV stations:
radio stations:
newspapers:
Katowice, Spodek

Festivals and events

Art galleries

Parks and squares

Parachute Tower in Tadeusz Kościuszko Park
Main parks:
Square:

Nature reserves and ecological areas

Architecture

General information

Katowice belong to those Polish cities which do not originate from medieval towns. Downtown City was formed in the mid-nineteenth century. Established at the time the buildings are decorated eclectic (mostly Renaissance and Baroque) as elements of Art Nouveau style (secesja). At the end of the nineteenth century the center of Katowice, was being referred to as a "little Paris", something which may surprise visitors today,[12]

Katowice embodies a mixture of architectural styles. Most of the historical buildings were thoroughly reconstructed. However, some of the buildings from the 19th century that had been preserved in reasonably reconstructible form were nonetheless eradicated in the 1950s to 1970s. Mass residential blocks were erected, with basic design typical of Eastern bloc countries.

Public spaces attract heavy investment, so that the city has gained entirely new squares, parks and monuments. Katowice's current urban landscape is one of modern and contemporary architecture.

Examples of Modernism (International Style and Bauhaus inspired architecture) may be found in the city downtown. Central Katowice also contain a significant number of Art Nouveau (Secesja) buildings along with the Communist Era giants such as Spodek or Superjednostka.

Katowice's Rynek is the old centre and marketplace of the city. Unfortunately many old buildings were demolished in the 1950s to make space for monumental communist modern buildings. Several streets around the Rynek and the Rynek itself are now closed to traffic and have been made into a shopping promenades.

Regeneration of the Rynek area should start at 2007-2008 and there was an international architectural competition in 2006 to find the best design.

Tourist attractions

Market square in Katowice
Nikiszowiec - antique settlement, candidate to UNESCO
St. Mary's Church in Katowice
Silesian Insurgents Monument and Spodek

Best buildings and places to see in Katowice:

Other:

Economy

Industry

Silesia City Center - Large shopping mall in Katowice. Located over former coal mine "Gottwald"

Katowice is a large coal and steel centre. It has several coal mines (Wujek Coal Mine, Mysłowice-Wesoła Coal Mine, Wieczorek Coal Mine, Murcki Coal Mine, Staszic Coal Mine) organized into unions - Katowice Coal Holding company (pl: Katowicki Holding Węglowy), two steelworks (Huta Baildon, Huta Ferum), and one foundry of non-ferrous metals (Huta Metali Nieżelaznych Szopienice).

South part of Katowice Business Centre (Katowickie Centrum Biznesowe)

Business and commerce

Katowice is also a large business and trade fair centre. Every year in Katowice International Fair and Spodek, tens of international trade fairs are organized. Katowice has the second largest business centre in Poland (after Warsaw Business Centre). Skyscrapers stand along Chorzowska, Korfantego and Roździeńskiego street in the centre of the city. The newest office buildings (A-class) in Katowice are the Chorzowska 50, Altus Skyscraper and Silesia Towers (under construction).

General

Katowice is the seat of Katowice Special Economic Zone (Katowicka Specjalna Strefa Ekonomiczna).

The unemployment rate in Katowice is one of the lowest in Poland, at 2% (in 2008), according to the official figures.[14] The city is still characterized by its working class strength and thus attracts many people seeking jobs from neighbouring cities (other districts USMU).

The average monthly salary in Katowice is the highest in Poland - about 4222,52 zł ($~1,220), in Warsaw it's about 4135,93 zł ($~1,200).[15]

Education

Silesian Library in Katowice

Katowice is the third largest scientific centre in Poland (after Warsaw and Cracow). It has over 20 schools of higher education, at which over 100,000 persons study.

  1. University of Silesia
  2. University of Economics in Katowice
  3. University of Music in Katowice
  4. University of Sports in Katowice
  5. Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice
  6. Medical University of Silesia
  7. Silesian University of Technology - Faculty of Materials Science and Metallurgy and Transport
  8. Polish Academy of Sciences
  9. International Higher School of Political Sciences in Katowice
  10. International Higher School of Banking and Finances in Katowice
  11. Silesian International Business Higher School in Katowice
  12. Silesian Higher School of Computer science in Katowice
  13. Silesian Higher School of Management in Katowice
  14. Uppersilesian Higher School of Trade in Katowice
  15. Higher School of Banking and Finances in Katowice
  16. Higher School of Humanistic Science in Katowice
  17. Higher School of Technical Science in Katowice
  18. Higher School of Computer Technologies in Katowice
  19. Higher School the Pedagogical TWP in Warsaw, the Institute of Pedagogy in Katowice
  20. Higher School of Social Skills in Poznań (department in Katowice)
  21. Higher School of Humanistic - Economic in Łódź (department in Katowice)
  22. Higher School of Marketing Management and Foreign Languages in Katowice
  23. Higher School of Management the Protection of Work in Katowice
  24. Silesian Higher Clerical Seminar in Katowice
  25. Theological Seminar of Franciscans in Katowice Panewniki
  26. Private Teacher's College of Foreign Languages in Katowice
  27. Private Teacher's Board of Foreign Languages in Bielsko (department in Katowice)

There are also:

Transport

Public transport

Tram in Katowice
National road 79 in Katowice

The public transportation system of the Katowice and Upper Silesian Metropolis consists of four branches - buses and trams united in the KZK GOP and furthermore the regional rail. Additional services are operated by private companies and the state-owned railways.

Trams

Silesian Interurbans - one of the largest tram systems in the World, in existence since 1894. The system spreads for more than 50 kilometres (east-west) and covers fourteen districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolis.

Buses

Roads

Several important roads in neighbourhoods of Katowice (USMU):

Airports

Lobby seen from upper level in terminal B in Katowice International Airport

The city and the area is served by the Katowice International Airport, located about 30 km from the center of Katowice. With over 20 international and domestic flights daily, it is by far the biggest airport in Silesia (~2,5 million passengers served in 2008; 2 terminals: A and B).

Because of the long commute to the airport, there is a proposal to convert the much nearer sport aviation-serving Katowice-Muchowiec Airport into a so-called city airport, a second international airport for smaller, business-oriented traffic.

Railways

Standard gauge railway

The first railroad reached this area in 1846 (the Upper Silesia Railway, in Polish: Kolej Górnośląska; in German: Oberschlesische Eisenbahn). Nowadays Katowice is one of the main railway nodes and exchange points in Silesia and in Poland. Cheap and fairly efficient, the Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State-Owned Railways) in the area of the proposed union constitute one of the main transport hubs in Poland (the most important one being Warsaw). The main railroad station is Katowice Central Station. Both the domestic and the international connections run from there to almost every major city in Poland and Europe.

Katowice Central Station at night
Narrow gauge railway

Sports

Sports facilities

Silesian Stadium (between Chorzów and Katowice)

The Silesian Stadium is located between Chorzów and Katowice. It is a national stadium of Poland, more than 50 international matches of Poland national football team were played here as well as around 30 matches of UEFA competitions. There were also a Speedway World Championship, Speedway Grand Prix of Europe and a number many concerts featuring international stars.

There are many sports centers in the city as well. Most of these facilities are swimming pools and sports halls, mostly built by the municipality in the past several years.

Katowice is a city where you can enjoy active leisure as well. Tourists can relax playing tennis or squash, doing water sports also sailing (for example - in Dolina Trzech Stawów), horse-riding (in Wesoła Fala and Silesian culture and refreshment park), cycling or going to one of numerous excellently equipped fitness clubs. Near the city center are sporting facilities like swimming pools (for example "Bugla", "Rolna") and in neighbourhood - golf courses (in Siemianowice Śląskie).

Sports clubs

Defunct sports clubs:

Sports events

Notable residents

University of Silesia - Faculty of Law and Administration

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Katowice is twinned with:

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ 2,746,000 according to scientific description by Tadeusz Markowski "Funkcje Metropolitalne Pięciu Stolic Województw Wschodnich"
  2. ↑ 2,733,000 (2,928,000 - counting whole powiats adjacent to the city) according to scientific description by Paweł Swianiewicz and Urszula Klimska "Społeczne i polityczne zróżnicowanie aglomeracji w Polsce" - Paweł Swianiewicz, Urszula Klimska; University of Warsaw 2005
  3. ↑ 2,775,000 according to citypopulation.de
  4. ↑ 2,710,397 according to Eurostat - Larger Urban Zones (LUZ): Urban Audit.org
  5. ↑ "Powierzchnia i ludność w przekroju terytorialnym w 2008" (in Polish). Central Statistical Office in Poland. 1 January 2008. http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/45_908_PLK_HTML.htm. "In 42 adjacent cities and towns in conurbation, reside a total of 2,764,971 peoples on 2,411 km2 (931 sq mi), density: 1146 hab./km2" 
  6. ↑ European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON)[1]
  7. ↑ Central Statistical Office, Warsaw 2009, "Population. Size and Structure by Territorial Division, as of June 30, 2009" (PDF). http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_L_ludnosc_stan_struktura_30_06_2009.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  8. ↑ (in German) Von Krakau bis Danzig. Thomas Urban. 2004. http://books.google.de/books?id=bM2kvVUpCPYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=urban+danzig&lr=&as_brr=3&as_pt=ALLTYPES#PPA143,M1. Retrieved 2009-03-21. 
  9. ↑ Documents on British foreign policy, 1919-1939‎ Great Britain. Foreign Office, Ernest Llewellyn Woodward page 44
  10. ↑ "Local weather forecast: Katowice". http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:PLXX0010&q=Katowice%2c+POL. 
  11. ↑ (Polish) dziennik.pl - "17 śląskich miast chce się połączyć w Silesię", 11 December 2006)
  12. ↑ "Wydawnictwo Muzeum Śląskiego: Lech Szaraniec "Katowice w dawnej i współczesnej fotografii". http://www.sztuka.net/palio/html.run?_Instance=www.sztuka.net.pl&_PageID=445&_RowID=&newsId=516&categoryId=208&callingPageId=491&_CheckSum=-1381753887. 
  13. ↑ Dziennik Zachodni Katowice - "Będą dwie Mariackie", 3 sierpnia 2007
  14. ↑ "Bezrobotni oraz stopa bezrobocia wg województw, podregionów i powiatów (stan w końcu lipca 2008 r.)". http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/45_1487_PLK_HTML.htm. 
  15. ↑ "Voivodship Cities basic statistical data" - Central Statistical Office in Poland, ISSN 1642-574X , 31.06.2008
  16. ↑ "Partnerstädte". http://www.koeln.de/koeln/die_domstadt/partnerstaedte. Retrieved 2009-06-22. 
  17. ↑ "Groningen - Partner Cities". © 2008 Gemeente Groningen, Kreupelstraat 1,9712 HW Groningen. http://www.groningen.nl/functies/pagfunctie.cfm?parameter=1285. Retrieved 2008-12-08. 
  18. ↑ "Mobile's Sister Cities". City of Mobile. http://ncsmobile.org/sister_cities.php. Retrieved 2009-11-26. 

External links

Katowice travel guide from Wikitravel

Poland Principal cities of Poland
Administrative divisions of Poland since 1999
Counties of Silesian Voivodeship
City counties
Katowice (capital) • Bielsko-Biała • Bytom • Chorzów • Częstochowa • Dąbrowa Górnicza • Gliwice • Jastrzębie-Zdrój • Jaworzno • Mysłowice • Piekary Śląskie • Ruda Śląska • Rybnik • Siemianowice Śląskie • Sosnowiec • Świętochłowice • Tychy • Zabrze • Żory
 Coat of arms of Silesian Voivodeship
Land counties
Będzin • Bielsko • Bieruń-Lędziny • Cieszyn • Częstochowa • Gliwice • Kłobuck • Lubliniec • Mikołów • Myszków • Pszczyna • Racibórz • Rybnik • Tarnowskie Góry • Wodzisław • Zawiercie • Żywiec