HERITO series of meetings in Silesia

8–23 September 2025

We are setting off on a journey through Silesia. We will visit Katowice, Chorzów, Rybnik and Zabrze. We will discuss the potential of post-mining architecture, its significance for the local community, but also the decay of post-industrial spaces. We will ask what will happen to the mines and consider what the post-mining cities of the future will look like.

The “post-mining” issue of Herito attempts to map the most interesting examples of the use of post-mining heritage in Poland and to identify the threats and dangers associated with the use of the potential of post-industrial spaces. Ultimately, this heritage consists not only of buildings and post-industrial complexes, including shafts and heaps, which we discussed during the launch of the issue in Krakow, but also the vast intangible heritage associated with places that are inevitably being closed down, spaces and local communities that are becoming a thing of the past.

We will discuss how to recognise, care for and nurture the architectural legacy of industry and its intangible and spiritual dimension during meetings in Silesia, where examples of spectacular revitalisation coexist with symbols of past glory falling into ruin.

Schedule:

9 September, 18.00 – “What after the mines?” Katowice, Silesian Theatre

Guests: Dr Łukasz Galusek, Jarosław Makowski, Anna Syska

Moderator: Bartosz Sadulski

Event partners: Silesian Theatre, Silesian Museum

10 September, 18.00 – “How do you make a museum?” Chorzów, Museum of Metallurgy

Guests: Dr Adam Hajduga, Tomasz Owoc

Moderator: Bartosz Sadulski

Event partner: Museum of Metallurgy

17 September, 18.00 – “The mining town of the future”, Rybnik, Ignacy Historic Mine

Guests: Marek Gołosz, Adam Kowalski

Moderator: Bartosz Sadulski

Event partners: Ignacy Historic Mine, Rzeczna Art Gallery in Rybnik

23 September, 18.00 – “Silesia of the Future”, Zabrze, Coal Mining Museum

Guests: Bartłomiej Szewczyk, Izolda Czmok, Grzegorz Kulik

Moderator: Bartosz Sadulski

Event partner: Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze – Guido Mine