Architecture in Tychy

The Brewery Park at 2 Katowicka Street is well-known for its historic Baroque palace founded by the Promnitz Family, dukes of Pszczyna, in 1685. It was the first stone building in Tychy. Originally the palace served as a hunting residence and had representative functions. Then it became the property of the subsequent dukes of Pszczyna – the Hochbergs. It was rebuilt and renovated in 1769-1775 and served as the princely hunting palace until a new hunting palace was built in Promnice in 1867.

The palace housed the princely forest office, and the park around the castle gained a recreational function. A concert shell, a beer pump room pavilion, and a bowling alley were built over time.

The former Hunting Palace, the Brewery Park, Tychy

The former Hunting Palace in the Brewery Park, Tychy

The old castle and the adjacent Brewery Park has belonged to Synergia Company since 2009. The owners plan to make a hotel, a concert hall, a conference hall and a restaurant in the renovated palace building. The park will be open for residents then, but will be closed in the night-time. The park is called a magical place with its oaks and lindens. Walking alleys will be built and flowerbeds will be added, like in Dutch flower parks. Every year, the flowers from Polish and Dutch producers will be planted in different figurations. The visitors will have an opportunity to walk on the grass, to spread a blanket, or to make a picnic. There will also be a fenced area where dogs will be able to run without a leash – like in Italian parks. Fingers crossed.

St. Anna’s Square is another public space in Tychy. It dates back to the fifties of the 20th century, when it used to be the main representative spot in the city. St. Anna’s Square is the central square of Housing Estate A. This is the oldest part of the new city. St.Ann’s Square (former Joseph Stalin Square) used to be the main attraction of the city with its numerous decorations, architectonic details and a beautiful fountain. Socialism revealed itself here in the sculptures showing heroes of socialist labor (the steelworker, the coalminer, the bricklayer lady). At that time, the architecture was to be socialistic as to the content, and it was Neo-classical in form.
There are characteristic monuments of the fifties in this square: a statue of a female worker holding a trowel in one hand and a miniature of an apartment house in the other; statues of a coal miner and a steelmaker. You can be enchanted by the architectural details of this square (cornices and arcades), the wealth of sculptural decorations (reliefs, zoomorphic plaques, and sculptures).
The statue of the female worker that stands at the entrance to the square from General Andrews Street was made by Stanisław Marcinow. In her right hand, the woman is holding a brick trowel, and in her left hand, she is holding a model of a building.

The old fountain in the centre of the square was rebuilt, and today it serves as a meeting place for locals, especially those residing in Osiedle A (Housing Estate A) built in 1951-1956 as the first huge construction project for city workers and employees.
You can wander around the courtyards to spot some of the unique house marks above doors and arches - you can find a peacock, a squirrel, a turtle or even a lizard. It was good of the sculptor to use these images instead of the Communist propaganda stars, hammer and sickle and a wrench. It was also brave of him to refuse using those Communist propaganda symbols and to substantiate using those harmless nature symbols.
You can see sgraffito on the building pf the former leisure center. This sgraffito was designed and made by Zygmunt Acedański.

Fortunately, World War II did not cause much damage to the city, since most of the fighting occurred on the Mikolow-Wyry line outside of the city. However, while the city infrastructure survived the war unharmed, thousands of its residents fell at the fronts.

On 4 October 1950, the decision to create Nowe Tychy (New Tychy) - the city of one hundred thousand inhabitants - was taken, giving rise to a new era in the history of the city. Before long, Tychy was turned into an extensive construction site. We can sill see the Communist times coat-of-arms of the city dating back to 1951 and representing a brick wall.
Tychy is often referred to as one of the “new Polish cities” that rapidly developed after the World War II, when new coalmines – Ziemowit and Wesola – were built and put into operation in Tychy.
After World War II, the quiet old city was expanded, and new housing estates were built. The creation of the new city harmed the cultural heritage of the old settlement. The existing property of inhabitants of the settlement was not respected by the designers of the socialist city. Blocks of flats absorbed private fields and historical parts of the old Tychy.

The first housing estate with four-storey apartment houses was built in 1951-1956. This housing estate was called Osiedle A (Housing Estate A). It reflected the socialist realism doctrine of the time. It was designed by Tadeusz Teodorowicz-Todorowski, and the next one – Housing Estate B – was designed by the architects Kazimierz Wejchert and Hanna Adamczewska-Wejchert. These architects were urban designers and tutors at the Architecture Faculty of Warsaw University of Technology.

St. Mary Magdalene’s Church is the first church in Tychy, the mother of all other churches and cathedrals. The construction of the church was completed in 1782 by Father Stanisław Kroczka. It was different from what we can see today. In 1906, the temple was expanded, a transverse nave was added, and the whole architecture was in a neo-baroque style. In 1929, another renovation took place. This time the tower was rebuilt and raised. The entire reconstruction was carried out by Father Jan Kapica, who was buried at the church wall and is commemorated by a huge monument on the wall.

There is a column with a statue of Virgin Mary in front of the stairs leading to the temple. The column is antique, and the statue comes from modern times. There is also a statue of St. John of Nepomucene, sculpted in around 1745 by an unknown artist. You can see another plaque commemorating the arrival of Józef Piłsudski to Tychy. On August 28, 1922, he met with Father Jan Kapica, the church dean.

Teatr Mały (the Small Theater), a typical example of Tychy modernism, is close to the Tyskie Stream. The theater was designed by Wacław Jaciow, Kazimierz Wejchert and Bolesław Seredyński. The building is glazed at the front, and the entire central part is supported by pillars.

There is a mosaic designed by Janusz Włodarczyk and made in cooperation with Franciszek Wyleżuch. It is on the side of the façade. The theater building was dedicated in 1965. It was the cultural center of Ziemowit Coal Mine, and later belonged to the car factory - Fabryka Samochodow Małolitrażowych. In 1994, the building became the property of the city. The theater functions as an impresario. Although it does not have its own acting team, performances of various kinds are organized here: plays, operettas and dance shows, cabaret evenings and concerts. The theater hall seats approximately 420 spectators.

The housing estate B was built in 1957-1966. It reflected the liberation from the rigors of the socialist realism, which is expressed, among others, by smooth connection with rural-themed buildings and inclusion of St. Mary Magdalene Cathedral in the urban layout.

Bachynski Square, New Town, Tychy

Bachynski Square fountain, Tychy

Apartment house in Bachynsky Square, Tychy

Bachynski Square, Tychy

During an evening walk in the New Town

The subsequent residential areas are an example of the modernist architecture, but there are also buildings that represent postmodernism such as NOT Coalminers' Technical Club - Budynek Górniczego Klubu Technika NOT - located at 15 Edukacji Street (Education Street). The club was designed by Marek Dziekonski and for a long time it was considered the most beautiful building in Tychy. The building resembles two superimposed trapezoids, with the second floor larger than the first. There was an elite club since 1963 there, which could only be accessed by the members of the Association of Mining Engineers and Technicians.

The building is one of the most unusual in Tychy. Its author - Marek Dziekoński - designed it on the projection of two trapezoids. The first floor was suspended above the ground floor, which made the body lighter. There is a swimming pool in the patio, which on rainy days is filled with water flowing from the gargoyle on the roof. The structure uses reinforced concrete frames with a unique form. Later renovations changed the appearance of this building. As a result, the building has lost its original appearance, but it is still considered a gem of Tychy architecture.
The postmodern architecture is also embodied by the Holy Spirit Cathedral, built in 1978-1982 by Stanislaw Nemczyk (1943-2019), known as the Polish Gaudi. According to the author's plan, the temple is shaped like an ark.

The architect had to overcome the prohibitions of the authorities of the Polish People's Republic for two years before the beginning of the construction. Niemczyk was already known by that time as the "young and angry architect" in Poland.
The unconventional construction of the cathedral in the shape of a huge tent surprised many people. The construction of the temple has ambiguous symbolism. On the one hand, it refers to the Biblical Times, and on the other hand, it refers to the old Polish wooden churches. Therefore, huge areas of the roof dominate the body. There are four towers on the top of the temple, topped with crosses in a style characteristic of Niemczyk. In 2020, the church was entered into the register of monuments of the Silesian Voivodeship.

Holy Spirit Cathedral, Tychy

Walking along Mysliwska Street in the area of the Holy Spirit Church in Tychy

Thus, the architectural styles developed. The city looks became a kind of a great exhibition of open-air architectural styles. Since the fifties of the last century, each new housing estate was called with a Latin letter. Finally, all letters were taken, when Housing Estate Z was built. However, I saw on the city map that letters I and J were omitted in the naming new districts. Attempt was made to add a “humane” dimension to the new estates by calling the districts women names, according to the letters they were given at the beginning. For example the estate “K” was called Karolina, the estate “M” was called Magdalena, the estate “G” was called Genowefa, and estate “Z” was called Zuzanna. That characteristic way of calling residential districts was also helpful for inhabitants, who often came from rural or not highly educated families, to orientate themselves in the city.
We stayed at the old apartment of Matt and Ursula, our good VT friends, in Housing Estate N next to Tychy Hotel.

A walk in Housing Estate N, Tychy

At the Tychy Hotel in Tychy.

At the hotel lobby, Hotel Tychy

Pictures in the hotel lobby.