Before stepping foot inside any mine, a visit to the Museum of Mining serves as an essential and fascinating primer. Presented in chronological order are numerous displays documenting the development of industry in the city. Along the route you’ll find everything from lumps of coal extracted from the ground to lanterns, posters, photographs, religious iconography and musical instruments formerly blown and tooted by miners of talent. Linking it up and bringing it all to life is a series of well-constructed dioramas that include the inside of a typical miner residence, to recreations of the sort of conditions the lads would have to toil in; they’ve even stuck a trolley-pulling horse in amid all the square jawed, flat-capped mannequins. The building itself is a beauty and the square across the street features a gloriously large Soviet-style sculpture of a Silesian miner, replete with pickaxe and lantern. Please note, closed for renovation until the end of the 2019.