"MACIEJ" SHAFT

There are three Industrial Monuments Routes in Zabrze. I decided to visit the farthest of them-Maciej Shaft.  If you decide to get there by public transport like me, you should be ready for a long trip. My advice is to visit Tourism Info Centre and get a map of Zabrze, also ask the friendly and helpful ladies who work there to print you a timetable for buses. From the center of Katowice you will get to the central station of Zabrze and then you have to change a bus.  When you will get off the bus you should take a little walk and finally you are there.  If you want to have a guided tour, you should choose Wednesday, but, anyways, it will be only in Polish. If you choose another day or you want a tour on foreign language, you should call and book it in advance and if there are any other people who have the same interest as you, you will have a chance to fulfill your desire.

Finally, I came there. It was the hottest day of summer and because of that, it was really nice to get clean and cold tap water. In my home country we are drinking water straight from the tap, and, by the way, it is very tasty. I was missing it very much, so it really pleased me a lot. This water is free and a lot of people are coming with free bottles, stand in a long queue and when, eventually, their turn comes, they fill their bottles with fresh water. Visiting the shaft and a guide tour is free in there. The man who was our guide had a great sense of humor, and thanks to him we had a chance to see everything in this shaft.

If you are wondering Maciej Shaft is a complex of buildings of the former hard coal mine Concordia (later “Pstrowski”). The name of the shaft derives from the name of MaciejWilczek, the owner of Zabrze estates. It was the first private coalmine in Zabrze. We visited the building with the operating double drum powered winding machine, building of the shaft top, the hoist tower and the shaft with a deep-water intake.  These buildings are the examples of industrial architecture of Silesia. Most of all, the board where were visible layers of timetables in different languages caught my attention. Do you know why? Answer is in history of Silesia. At that time, when this land was a part of Germany, they were writing in German, and then, when it became a part of Poland they wrote on this writing in Polish.

After this interesting tour, our guide took us to the gate and told us to ring the ball, which was hanging there, and make a wish. I did it and I’m sure that one day it will come true : )