Architecture and historic monuments

Bytom dates back to the Middle Ages but the most wonderful architecture comes from late 19th and early 20th century. The city bloomed then. It was called Little Vienna. The opulence was visible in tenement houses and public use buildings. The buildings reveal all architectural trends of those days. Also the Art Nouveau in Bytom deserves attention. Unfortunately, the Middle Ages are not much represented although their traces can also be found. Another interesting part of Bytom landscape is post-industrial buildings, e.g. “familok” residential estates for workers from the turn of the 20th century (Bobrek, Łagiewniki) or a modern loft in the post-mine lamp facility (Bolko Loft).

The architecture of Bytom belongs to the most interesting and diverse ones in Poland. It represents all styles and trends in the architecture of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century.The architecture of Bytom belongs to the most interesting and diverse ones in Poland. It represents all styles and trends in the architecture of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century.Historism, imitating former architectural forms, reached Bytom in its mature version based on the scientific research of the 19th century. This is why many Neo Style buildings in Bytom (Neo-Romanticism, Neo-Gothic, Neo-Reneissance etc.) were created based on the specific rules and ready-made templates, and retain uniform style. The most interesting Historism buildings include:

Neo-Romantic Church of St. Jack – Neo-Gothic Church of the Holy Trinity – Neo-Gothic building of the Latin school, a music school now
Neo-Gothic building of the boarding school, the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology now
Neo-Renaissance building of the District Court and its cloister yard covered by a skylight
Neo-Renaissance tenement houses at Sądowa Street
Neo-Renaissance Kapst’s villa
Neo-Renaissance Main Post Office building
Neo-Baroque Church of Corpus Christi
Neo-Classicist building of the municipal theatre, the Silesian Opera now
the Eclectic building of the Poviat Starost’s Office, the Upper Silesian Museum now

Art Nouveau in architecture was a result of attempted opposition towards the Historism predominant in late 19th century. New forms were sought both for the building itself, architectural detail and the interior design components.
The most interesting Art Nouveau buildings include:

Art Nouveau building of Catholic Realschule, currently the 4th Secondary School of General Education
Art Nouveau tenement houses at 20 Jainty Street, 22 Dworcowa Street, 24 Jainty Street, 8 Moniuszki Street,
Art Nouveau Building of Primary School no. 5
villa of Oberbürgermeister Brüning with Art Nouveau ceramic façade decoration

Modernism in architecture, rejecting stylisation and subjecting the building form to its function, reached Bytom in its early version ca. 1910, often mixed with late Art Nouveau. However, most Modernist, especially Expressionist and Functionalist buildings, were erected in the 1920s and 30s when Bytom, surrounded by the Polish border from three sides, became a peculiar “display window of the Weimar Republic”.
The most interesting Modernist buildings include:

Modernist and Expressionist building of the Economic School Complex
Modernist and Expressionist building of the Polizeipraesidium, the Silesian Medical University now
Functionalist indoor swimming pool
Functionalist main building of the Upper Silesian Museum
Functionalist and Expressionist building of Realschule, the 1st Secondary School of General Education now
Constructivist Church of the Feast of the Cross

Bytom which was granted its urban charter in line with the Magdeburg law in 1254 (three years before Krakow) retained its Medieval urban planning layout with the centrally situated market square and streets going out of it which cross the peripheral streets parallel to the former fortifications. It is worth looking for traces of 760-year-old history here.

The market square was the heart of the city for centuries. Today, extended and surrounded by the buildings dating back to the 19th and 20th century, with no townhall, it makes it difficult to imagine its appearance at the times of Bytom foundation. A relic of Medieval houses at the market square is the Gothic basements of the Gorywoda family.

The oldest building of the city, Gothic church of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Market Square) is, as a matter of fact, older than the founded city, as its origins date back to the first half of the 13th century. The church is separated from the Market Square with a fenced square, a former cemetery, decorated with 19th-century sandstone sculptures.

What attracts attention in the Gothic interior space is the Baroque altar with valuable paintings, including 17th-century Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Francesco Curradi and Holy Mother of Bytom dating back to early 15th century. In the southern aisle, it is worth looking closer at 17th-century portrayals of the princes of Bytom, Casimir and Boleslaus, and also a Baroque rood by famous sculptor from Bytom, Jan Solski, dating back to ca. 1727. Under the central part of the main nave, there is a burial vault of the Henckel von Donnersmarcks who were the owners of Bytom for a couple of centuries.

Klasztorny Square which is small, almost entirely cobbled and surrounded tightly by buildings dating back to different epochs which, though different, are really harmonious, creating inimitable atmosphere of this place. Franciscan Church of St. Adalbert (Klasztorny square). Shortly after granting the urban charter to the city, in the second half of the 13th century, the prince of Opole, Ladislaus, founded the wooden monastery and Church of St. Nicolaus for the Franciscan order. In the 15th century, a masonry Gothic church was erected (today’s chancel) and in late 18th century the nave and the turret were built, granting the today’s Baroque form to the building. After the religious orders were dissolved in Prussia in 1810, the temple was turned into a warehouse and from 1833 to 1945 it was used as an Evangelic church. After World War II the church was returned to the Franciscans and was renamed to become the church of St. Adalbert. The interior design is modest. Attention is attracted by the main altar made quite recently by Ludwik Konarzewski from Istebna.

A Baroque gem, the Church of the Holy Spirit. Outside the city walls those days, in front of the Krakowska gate, a wooden church and a hospital of the Holy Spirit was erected in 1299. It was founded by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre from Miechów, following the initiative of the first prince of Bytom, Casimir. The contemporary, masonry, octagonal temple was erected in the first half of the 18th century. This is also then that the preserved complete Baroque interior design comes from, composed of two side altars, pulpit and the main altar by Jan Solski, an outstanding sculptor from Bytom those days. At present, this is a filial church in the parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Grunwaldzki Square is probably the site where the Medieval castle of the Piast family from Bytom used to be, erected in late 13th century within the city walls. One of the traces left by it is the name of the picturesque Rycerska (Knights’) Street which extends from the square, a former shortcut for the prince's visitors, going from Krakowska gate, along the fortifications, to the castle.

The fortifications made from crushed dolomite stone, reinforced with more than a dozen half-shell towers, surrounded Bytom towards the end of the 13th century. In early 19th century, the fortifications which were not required any more were demolished, with only short sections left as they constituted retaining walls of the Old Town scarp. Those fragments are preserved until today at the back of houses at Katowicka and Korfantego Streets.