Siemianowice Śląskie

Siemianowice Śląskie is a city with an area of 25 square kilometres and over 62 thousand inhabitants. In the city’s coat of arms there is a fisherman and a fish, since in the Middle Ages it used to be an agricultural and fishing settlement. The city neighbours with Katowice, Będzin, Chorzów, Czeladź, Wojkowice and Piekary Śląskie.

In the city centre at Chopin Street there is an impressive Donnersmarck Palace that belonged to a family of industrial tycoons. The Donnersmarck family is remembered by the inhabitants of the Silesian Province as the one who built their power on the local industry. Today, for nearly 20 million zlotys, it is being restored to its former glory. Once the renovation works have been completed, it will house a space for workshops, concerts, a library with a reading room, a tradition room and a restaurant with a brewery where beer will be brewed.

In Siemianowice Śląskie a leading Polish centre for comprehensive treatment of burn injuries, i.e. the Centre for Burn Treatment, is located. Since its opening, more than 14,000 patients have been hospitalized in the facility. It houses Poland’s largest oxygen hyperbaric chamber where more than 84,000 hyperbaric sessions were performed. The method consists in using 100 % oxygen under increased pressure. It enhances healing and regeneration processes of wounds and other diseases such as deafness, swelling or diseases related to tissue hypoxia.

Also in Siemianowice Śląskie, there is an over 100-year-old indoor swimming pool. It is probably the oldest facility of its kind in Poland. The city’s attraction is an 18-hole golf course. All the enthusiasts of the gentleman’s game can enjoy 40 hectares of space here.

Famous and respected Polish theatre and film actor Krzysztof Globisz comes from here. Józef Skrzek, a singer and composer known in the entire Silesian Province, was also born in Siemianowice Śląskie. He worked with Czesław Niemen on the recording of the albums Niemen Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Strange Is the World and Ode to Venus. His younger brother Jan “Kyks” Skrzek, a Polish blues musician and composer, was also born in Siemianowice. He identified himself with the culture of Upper Silesia, and in his artistic work he often addressed the ills of the region’s inhabitants.

One of the most characteristic landmarks in Siemianowice Śląskie is the City Hall.