Dąbrowa Górnicza

Dąbrowa Górnicza is a city in the Silesian Voivodeship of southern Poland. Standing 300 m above sea level, it's post-industrial, with a population of 117,000 in 2021.

Understand

Dąbrowa means an oak grove - oaks once carpeted these hills. As well as timber, oak wood can make charcoal for high-temperature working of metals and glass, but this gobbled up a lot of trees until the invention of coke. A series of little villages grew rapidly as the forest shrank to form the present conurbation, named Dąbrowa Górnicza to distinguish it from other towns formerly within oak groves. The big expansion was from 1795, when this area came under Prussian rule, and its deep coal mines were established. A zinc plant followed in 1823 and a steel works in 1834.

Germany seized the town in 1939 and set about killing or deporting the ethnic Polish population, and slew the 4000 Jews. Post-war it was returned to the People's Republic of Poland, and the communists built factories and drab workers' apartments everywhere they could. The coal was exhausted by 1990, so the economy collapsed along with the communist regime, and the city is still trying to re-invent itself.

Get in

Katowice-Pyrzowice airport (KTW ^IATA) is 20 km northwest in Pyrzowice. It has domestic and European flights plus holiday destinations around the Med & Red, plus the Gulf States. Take ZTM Bus M19 towards Sosnowiec (hourly round the clock) and change at Będzin for a tram or bus into Dąbrowa Górnicza.

By train you usually change in Katowice, but direct trains from Warsaw run every 2-3 hours, taking 3 hours via Piotrkow Trybunalski and Częstochowa. These continue to Katowice and Bielsko-Biała, or to Ostrava, Prague or Budapest.

Regional trains run every 30 min from Gliwice via Zabrze, Chorzów, Katowice, Sosnowiec and Będzin, taking 30 min from Katowice city centre. They make five stops in town and continue north to Zawiercie, Myszkow and Częstochowa.

1 Dąbrowa Górnicza railway station is the main station, north side of town. Regional trains also stop at Golonog, Pogoria, Zabkowice and Sikora.

Get around

Trams 21, 22 and 23 rumble through town from Katowice and Sosnowiec.

ZTM is the transport combine for the Katowice conurbation, covering Dąbrowa Górnicza, Sosnowiec, Będzin, Gliwice, Mysłowice, Chorzów and others. Use their travel planner to reach outlying points such as Będzin Castle.

See

• 1 Sztygarka Museum (Muzeum Sztygarka), Legionów Polskich 69, ☏ +48 32 726 4185, sekretariat@muzeum-dabrowa.pl. Tu W F Sa 09:00-15:00, Th 09:00-19:00, Su noon-16:00. Informative local history museum in a former mining & metallurgy school. ticket 12 zł discount 6 zł. (updated Jul 2024)
• Church of St Barbara facing the museum was built in 1885, and restored 2006-08.
• 2 Culture Palace houses the art gallery (Tu-F 10:00-18:00), theatre and cinema. It's at Plac Wolności 1 in town centre.
• 3 Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels (Bazylika NMP Anielskiej), Królowej Jadwigi 17, ☏ +48 32 262 2716. Sturdy neogothic church built 1898-1912, next to the chapel of St Alexander. (updated Jul 2024)
• 4 Church of St Anthony is baroque, perched on a knoll east side of town. It was built in 1678, enlarged in 1753, and still has an active monastery.
• Będzin Castle is 5 km west, see Sosnowiec.
• 5 Ćwiczebna Mine (Kopalnia Ćwiczebna), Górnicza 41/300. 100 m north was where the mining students learned their trade. It's an adit - a horizontal access tunnel - and part of the museum, same hours. (updated Sep 2024)

Do

Dąbrowa Górnicza coat of arms

• Theatre: see above.
• Helios Cinema is within Pogoria shopping centre.
• 1 Fabryka Pełna Życia means Factory Full of Life. It's a brownfield site 100 m north of Culture Palace which is being rehabilitated into a plaza and leisure area.
• Nemo Water Park has flumes and kiddy-pools. It's north side of the Holiday Inn, open May-Sep M-F 06:00-21:00, Sa Su 09:00-21:00.

Buy

• Pogoria shopping centre is 200 m southwest of the main railway station, open M-Sa 09:00-21:00.

Eat

Lots of eating places in the blocks around Pogoria shopping centre and the Culture Palace, no standout.

Drink

Pubs are in the same quarter as the eating places, around Pogoria shopping centre.

Sleep

• 1 Pogoria Residence Hotel, Aleja Józefa Piłsudskiego 13, ☏ +48 32 264 7043. Clean inexpensive hotel on the tram route. B&B double 450 zł. (updated Jul 2024)
• 2 Hotel Astra, Gustawa Morcinka 14, ☏ +48 32 268 2915. Good value hotel in a quiet neighbourhood. B&B double 250 zł. (updated Jul 2024)
• 3 Holiday Inn, Aleja Róż 1A, ☏ +48 32 755 0000. Smart business hotel just off Highway 94, convenient for motorists. B&B double 500 zł. (updated Jul 2024)
• 4 Zajazd Bachus, Stanisława Staszica 42, ☏ +48 32 268 7660. Comfy small edge-of-town hotel with good restaurant. B&B double 250 zł. (updated Jul 2024)

Connect

As at July 2024, Dąbrowa Górnicza and its approach roads have 4G from Play, and 5G from O2, Plus and T-Mobile.

Go next

• Sosnowiec a few km south has a good collection of mansions and churches raised on the profits of its mining industry.
• Częstochowa to the north is a pilgrimage destination for its shrine of Jasna Góra.