ROUTE 4. NIKISZOWIEC - OR THE "NIKISZ"
Attractive place s can be found both in the centre of Katowice and in the peripheries. The best known of them are the two housing estates which featured in the films by Kazimierz Kutz (" The Cross of Courage", "The Salt of the Black Earth" and "Beads of the Same Rosary"), the estates of Nikiszowiec and Giszowiec, forming part of the Janów district.
Historically Janów was part of the Myslowice land estate which had been held by the Mieroszewski family since the 17th century (the village was named after Jan Krzysztof Mieroszewski). In 1873, during the Prussian administrative reform, an independent municipality of Janów was established; in 1951 it was included in the town of Szopienice , and in 1960 it was incorporated in greater Katowice .
This time we will walk around one of the workmen's housing estates in Janów, i.e. Nikiszowiec, commonly called "Nikisz". We can, get there from downtown Katowice on the 12 or 30 bus, and our route is as follows: Wyzwolenia Square (pl. Wyzwolenia) - St. Ann 's church - (abbreviated form of ulica , Polish for "street") sw. Anny Street -. Odrowazów Street - Giszowiecka Street - Szopienicka Street - Rymarska Street - Wyzwolenia Square.
Before we depart, this is same information about the history of the place: Nikiszowiec, named after the "Nickisch" shaft (today "Poniatowski") -one of the fourteen shafts of the "Giesche" mine (today "Wieczorek"), was built in two stages: 1908-15 and 1920-24. It was designed by brothers Georg and Emil Zillmann of Charlottenburg, outside Berlin . It consists of nine blocks, built red brick, with a network of streets between them. The blocks are connected by the characteristic gateways, which lend the whole system a sense of unity. Its plan is slightly reminiscent of an ancient amphitheatre, with the main place - Wyzwolenia Square (pl. Wyzwolenia) -acting as the stage. It neighbours on the Neo-baroque church of St . Ann, built in the same style as the residential and commercial buildings. The complex has been provided with public facilities which mad e it self-sufficient: bakeries, shops, two schools with a teachers' home, a hospital, restaurants, a pharmacy, a police station and detention house, public bath for the miners' families, a laundry, a mangle, playgrounds and a swimming pool.
Although there are some two hundred and fifty workmen' s residential estates in the Slaskie voivodeship, of which forty have been listed and eighteen are protected by law, Nikiszowiec (and its neighbour, Giszowiec) are unique. Let us see it for ourselves.
It is better to go to Nikiszowiec on Wednesday, Friday or Sunday, when the small museum and gallery in the old mangle are open. We start in Wyzwolenia Square (pl. Wyzwolenia).
It is the central place of the estate, with a number of public buildings around it. We certainly will not miss the building with the floral design, which currently houses a post office, but was a restaurant in the older days. Opposite to it, in the beginning of Janowska Street , in the building with a characteristic outer staircase, is the photographic shop, run by the Niesporek family since 1919. Next to the post office, in the frontage of Rymarska Street , is the farmer bath and laundry building. Further down South are the cloistered shops, and the dome of St. Ann ' s church towers over the entire place.
The church was built slightly later than the houses. Initially, around 1910, the residents used a makeshift church in the reconstructed boiler house of the "Wojciech" shaft. In 1914 the erection of the new church began; the church was also designed by the Zillmann brothers in an original shape, reminiscent of the Baroque. Construction took long, because of the War (1914-18) and because of the complications caused by the division of Upper Silesia in 1922 (the fittings, carpentry, etc. which were ordered, found themselves on the other side of the border). Due to the efforts of the parish priest, Father Pawel Dudek, the church was finally ready in 1927. The most prominent parts of the interior are the neo-Baroque fixtures (the main altar, the pulpit, the organ prospect and the font), made in the workshop of Georg Schreiner of Munich , the beautiful bronze chandelier of a span of 4.5 m , made by the AEG company of Berlin , and the stained glass by Georg Schneider of Regensburg . However, the true gem is the 75-voice organ by Rieger of Karniów, with 5350 pipes. The instrument was played by such celebrities as Feliks Nowowiejski, Fryderyk Lubrich, Jerzy Erdmann and Julian Gebalski.
After we have seen the church we can go and see the houses. The residential buildings are built into polygons, with spacious yards inside them. We cut across one of them to get from sw. Anny Street to Odrowazów Street . In the old days the yards contained "piekarnioki", i.e. bread ovens to be shared by the residents, as well as sheds and stables for smaller animals. They were torn down in the seventies and the area was landscaped.
We go down Odrowazów Street and through a gateway to Giszowiecka Street ; we turn left into Szopienicka Street and walk on to the South, towards the "Pulaski" shaft of the "Wieczorek" mine. The headgear buildings were designed in 1905 by the Zillmann brothers for the newly sunk shaft which was among the first in Silesia to be fitted with electrical hoisting gear. The "Pulaski" shaft complex has been listed since 1988.
We leave the "Pulaski" shaft and go back down Szopienicka Street ; we pass along the Western boundary of the estate till we reach the mine's office buildings. Until 1977 there was a narrow gauge passenger-and-goods railway line running in parallel to Szopienicka Street , called "Balkan" by the locals. It was built for the purpose of carrying the employees and officers of the "Giesche' s Heirs" company; the first stretch was built in 1909 (from the "Wojciech" shaft to the "Pulaski" shaft) and was extended in 1914 ("Pulaski" shaft -Giszowiec). Initially it only carried the workers, but from the mid twenties it also served the residents of Giszowiec, Nikiszowiec and Szopienice. The train made 23 trips a day, and the ride was free of charge!
As we pass the farmer workers' hostel at the corner of Krawczyka Street , we turn right and cut across a yard to get to Nalkowskiej Street , with a sports hall and ice rink "Jantor", built in 1963. We then turn right and enter another gateway, to get to Rymarska Street and Wyzwolenia Square (pl. Wyzwolenia). Here, at number 4, in the former bath and laundry building we visit the gallery and museum "Magiel", opened Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 10 a .m. to 2 p.m. (admission free). The gallery exhibits the work of the "Janowska Group" (Teofil Ociepka, Pawel Wróbel and Ewald Gawlik), a collection of images of St. Barbara - the saint patron of miners -brought here from the "Pulaski" and "Wilson" shafts, and temporary exhibitions by non-professional artists. The museum, on the other band, gives us insight to the lifestyle of the residents of Nikiszowiec: it shows a typical kitchen in a miner's borne, supplemented with clothes, utensils, simple tools and devices. The hundreds of exhibits recreate the ambience of the old days, which contemporary residents hardly remember.
We began our walk in Wyzwolenia Square (pl. Wyzwolenia) and we finish it here.
If we came on the "12" bus, we can take it back to downtown Katowice ; if we want the ,,30", we have to walk a little bit down Krawczyka Street to the bus stop in Szopienicka Street .
Text: Edward Wieczorek
