Tadaam!

The Student in all his glory. The body is quite "contemporary", while the head in the graduation cap is the one of a kuros, a Greek representation of male youth.

The Student Statue

The Student Statue is a new news in Katowice... It is located it in front of the Rector's Office of the Silesian University. The statue had evoked some excitement before it was put on display, as there had been rumours about a scantily clad, well built young man with a graduation cap on...

Come back tomorrow. I'll post the photo of the WHOLE statue ;)

Silesian Scouts Monument

This bronze monument of the Silesian Scouts is in front of the "Silesia" hotel. It is a tribute to all the scouts who fought and died during World War II in defence of Katowice.

Silesian Insurgents Monument...

... covered with snow. On a grey morning a few day ago.
Those who would like to know more about this monument can read here and here in wikipedia.

Mine shaft wheel

A hoist wheel from a mine shaft. Just look at it - it's huge!
You can see it in the previous photo in the mine shaft.
This particular one in the photo above is "an industrial decoration"
in front of Silesia City Centre.

Classical view

Just look at this: it's something that once was a classical Silesian view - a mine shaft. Nowadays there are not too many left... the one in the photo isn't working any more, serves as a kind of a landmark... this is in the area of the Katowice Coal Mine.

By the way:

IT WAS THIS BLOG'S 1st BIRTHDAY YESTARDAY !!!!!
(how could I have missed it... I should have thrown a party!)


Happy blogging to you! Happy blogging to you!
Happy blogging, dear kjola - Happy blogging to you!
;)

The frog fountain

Here is THE FROG! Isn't she nice? (Actually, I'm not aware whether it is he-frog or she-frog... but because the word frog (żaba) is feminine in Polish, I am used to thinking about this statue as SHE: Mrs Frog, of Princess Frog.. whatever you want. I don't remember how long she's been around, but quite a few years, I think. I was a child when they installed this fountain, and I hope it will stay in Stawowa Street for ever!

Orange freak

To complete the previous postings (here, here & here), today is the close up of another piece of "machinery turned into decoration" which adorns the lawn in the front of the Silesia City Centre. Don't ask me what it is...

Sweet :-)

This in another "decoration" in front of the Silesia shopping centre. This piece of machinery is front-end overhead loader, but the English name doesn't sound so funny like the Polish one: ładowarka przedsiębierna zasierzutna :)))).
In the past such things were used in underground mines here in Silaesia, and, as you can see, it is on display in the beer garden.

An ancient press machine?

I have yet to discover what the original function of this machine was. Nowadays it's pretty decorative - whatever it is. It's quite huge, something like 2,5 - 3 meters tall, I think. It's a pity I haven't asked someone to pose next to it to see the proportions.

Old machinery

To keep the "traditional, industrial atmosphere" of the place, the old machinery has been brought on display in front of the Silesia shoping centre. These old machines, once used in mines (or factoris?) have been painted with bright colours (the orange and green shapes in the photo), and nowadays form a huge, intriguing decorations or monuments.... I'll post separate photos of them later this week.

Parachute Tower in Katowice

Located in the Kościuszko Park in Katowice, Parachute Tower is a tall lattice construction oryginally used for initial training of parachute jumpers. When built in 1937, it was 50 meters tall; reconstructed after the WW II, it is now 35 metres tall, and a monument to commemorate the group of young Scouts from ZHP (Polish Scouting Association), who on 3rd and 4th September 1939 from this place tried to defend the centre of Katowice from the Nazis. Most of the Scouts were killed.

It is the only existing parachute tower in Poland.

The monument to Jozef Pilsudski

wikipedia entry --> click here