Katowice, Poland Tour
Katowice, Poland Tour
Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 September 2024
Start time/place: 3pm/ Diament Plaza hotel, Katowice
Finish time/place: 3pm/ Diament Plaza hotel, Katowice
A three-day tour in the south of Poland once the nation’s industrial powerhouse. Led by Eddie Tulasiewicz, we will see modern Polish architecture drawing on German, Soviet, socialist, modernist, and post-modernist influences.
Katowice owes its wealth to coal and steel, and many parts of the city still reflect a gritty, working-class urbanism, heavily influenced by modernism and outbursts of eclecticism.
We will visit key civic buildings, churches, the new culture zone and public and private housing. Highlights will include the flying saucer Spodek sports hall (Gintowt and Krasiński, 1971) built with a unique ‘tensegrity’ roof, and the enormous Superjednostka housing block (Mieczysław Król, 1972) inspired by Corbusier.
Outside the city we will visit: the new socialist town of Tychy, started in 1951; Zabrze, to see the pioneering church of St Joseph (Dominikus Böhm,1930-31); and to Gliwice, to see The Textile Store of Erwin Weichmann, built in 1921-2 and one of Erich Mendelsohn’s first projects.
Thursday 26 September (pm), Friday 27 September (all day) and Sunday 29 September (am) we will be walking and using public transport within Katowice (travel using public transport during tour is included in the price).
Saturday 28 September (all day) – we will travel outside Katowice by coach (travel included in the price).
Friday 27 September at 8pm there will be a group dinner at Bohema Restaurant, Katowice (included in the price).
Suggested Hotels: Hotel Diament Plaza , and Q Hotel Plus We have negotiated a discount with the Hotel Diament Plaza (our meeting place each morning). Discount code will be sent in booking confirmation email.
Eddie Tulasiewicz works for the National Churches Trust. His love of C20 architecture dates from the demolition of the Firestone Building on the Great West Road in the 1970s. He has worked on the BBC2 architecture series ‘Building Sights’.
Members only price £350 (including tour dinner on Friday, public transport travel on tour, and coach on Saturday)
Numbers limited to 20
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The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider.
The Twentieth Century Society is a registered charity, no 1110244
Image: Spodek Sports Hall, Katowice - Gintowt & Krasiński (1971). Image credit: Natalia Padoł (Wiki Creative Commons)