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One of the most amazing places of the Katowice appears to be Cathedral of Christ the King. But why is it so fascinating? First it has quite unusual monumental architectural design. Second it accommodates local archdiocese of Katowice. And last but not least – sublime atmosphere.
The construction of the cathedral has officially began in 1927. It was built by the project of architects Zygmunt Gawlik and Franciszek Mączyński.
The cornerstone was laid on September 4, 1932. But future construction was not so bright. On Monday, October 15, 1934, terrible tragedy happened. Over 100 people fell from a height of 8 meters from the scaffolding, incl. priest, builders.
In September of 1939 war have began and German authorities forbade further construction. After the end of World War II, construction was resumed in mid-1947 under the supervision of Fr. Rudolf Adamczyk.
However, the design of the pre-war architects was modified around 1954 as a result of the provincial authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland (e.g. the dome was lowered by as much as 38 m and finally the cathedral reached the height of 64 m, length 101 m, width 50 m).
On March 25, 1992 Pope John Paul II with the bull Totus Tuus Poloniae Populus (he reorganized the existing church dioceses and provinces, which resulted in the creation of another 9 church provinces). Out of the large diocese of Katowice, 13 deaneries were included in the newly created diocese of Gliwice (area – approx. 800 km², Catholics – approx. 200,000, parishes – 48, which is 1/4 of the diocese). A further 8 deaneries were included in the newly created diocese of Bielsko-Żywiec (area – approx. 1000 km², Catholics – 350,000, parishes – 84, which is approx. 1/4 of the existing area of the Katowice diocese).
In February 2020, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, representatives of the Silesian Voivodeship, the city of Katowice and Archbishop Wiktor Skworc signed an agreement to finance the construction of the so-called Upper Silesian Pantheon. The financial contribution from public funds will amount to a minimum of 46 million zlotykh. The church website is to contribute 3 million.
Photo by Dmytro Strykhar, Maksym Strykhar (Religious Tourism)