Welcome to “Szyb Maciej” complex!

“Szyb Maciej” today is a historic facility of the former “Concordia” mine, located in Zabrze-Maciejów. It has been undergoing transformation since the 1990s, already as part of the heritage of hard coal mining in Zabrze and Silesia. The former building of the pit head houses an elegant restaurant in the industrial style, a “high voltage” bistro, and a visitors centre. On the topmost level of the pit head, where once there was the main mining level, a banquet hall has been arranged. The adjacent wood yard is a place where a railway overpass once linking the mine to Gliwice and Bytom is situated. The complex is disabled-accessible, it has car parks and convenient access roads from the A1 motorway and the DK88 national road.

The “Szyb Maciej” complex along with other Zabrze-based historic sites: the “Guido” Mine and the “Queen Louise” Hereditary Adit belongs to the key and most attractive landmarks on the Industrial Monuments Route.

The “Szyb Maciej” complex invites visitors to Poland’s one and only restaurant of the type and encourages them to visit and learn about the history and flavours deriving from the ground and water, to take part in meetings with culture and entertainment during such events as Industriada, “Szyb Maciej” Ekstremalnie, Chillouts, Nowe Brzmienia, etc.

The greatest highlights of “Szyb Maciej” include:

• A 2-storey restaurant arranged in the main building of the mine,
• Preserved buildings and furnishings of the former mine from the early 20th century,
• Possibility of seeing Zabrze and Gliwice from a viewing platform on the shaft tower,
• Getting down to the shaft water intake and learning about its origins,
• Engine room with an electrically-driven still operating double-drum winding machine, possibility of attending a demonstration of the winding machine operation,
• Exposition of active devices and equipment of the former mine,
• Example of sustainable revitalisation of a former mining complex.

The “Szyb Maciej” complex, erected in the early 20th century, constituted a group of buildings and structures with a shaft and overground infrastructure intended for extraction of hard coal deposits in the western part of the mining area of the “Concordia” mine. Hard coal extraction in the vicinity of the “Maciej” shaft ended in 1978, and in 1992 the “Pstrowski” mine, which the “Concordia” mine was part of, decided to liquidate the underground and overground structures of the “Maciej” shaft completely. In this situation, the “Pstrowski” mine accepted a project submitted by Przedsiębiorstwo Górnicze Demex sp. z o.o. and agreed to withdraw from the shaft liquidation, to have it transformed into a water intake, and to resell the entire complex to the Company.

The “Szyb Maciej” complex by presenting the history of the “Concordia” mine is being gradually transformed into a tourist, recreational, and cultural venue. A one hour meeting with the past in the company of a guide allows to learn how the mine operated, to see how the shaft was innovatively transformed into a water intake, and to have a peek into …the depths of the earth. The “Szyb Maciej” complex is the only preserved authentic mine of the kind. The complex is included in the register of monuments.

The method adopted at the revitalisation and the high quality of conservation works have been recognised by the General Monument Conservation Officer, which in the Well-Kept Monument Competition awarded the Company with the Title of a Laureate for adaptation of the engine room for tourist purposes and excellently performed conservation works (2011), and an Honourable Mention for excellently performed conservation works and adaptation of the building of the pit head for tourist purposes (2015).