Katowice In Your Pocket

One of Poland's least known and most surprising destinations, Katowice is a relatively young, predominantly working class city with a history tied up with the extraction of coal and other manly pursuits. Beginning life as a small, German-speaking town called Kattowitz in the early part of the 19th century, Katowice was incorporated within the borders of a new post-WWI Polish state, and thanks to its disparate racial and cultural heritage offers visitors a fascinating jumble of German Gothic, inter-war Art Nouveau and some shockingly different socialist architecture, all intermingled with a growing number of glistening capitalist palaces. Currently reinventing itself as a serious business destination and sadly ignored as a place to visit for any other reason, a sneaky glimpse under the cultural carpet reveals among other delightful surprises Poland's largest cathedral, one the best museums in the south of the country, a vast park filled with truly magnificent things to see and do, a bar scene to shame many of the country's so-called cutting edge cities and a reinforced concrete building that looks like a spaceship and that plays music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. One of a series of interconnected towns that together would make it the biggest city in Poland, Katowice's quirky next door neighbour Chorzów has also been examined and thoroughly stirred into the mix. Enjoy reading your new Katowice In Your Pocket guide as much as we enjoyed researching and writing it. As always, all plaudits, brickbats and anything else you may wish to throw at us gratefully received from admirers and enemies alike at katowice@inyourpocket.com.