Kopalnia Guido Zabrze · Województwo śląskie · Poland

Kopalnia Guido sits in the industrial city of Zabrze, on the border of the former villages of Dorotheendorf and Makoschau. The mining field, covering 1.03 km², was granted to Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck (1830–1916) on 2 October 1855. Prior boreholes in the area suggested rich coal deposits comparable to those of the adjacent state mine Königin Luise Grube. The Count's intention was to extract coking-quality coal.

Shaft sinking began at the end of 1855 with a shaft named Barbara. Almost immediately the sinking encountered quicksand and struck the Saara tectonic fault, and work was abandoned after only 30 metres in 1856. In parallel a second shaft, originally known as Concordia and later as Kunstschacht, was sunk and a first extraction level was established at 80 metres. Here too, tectonic disturbances caused persistent difficulties. In 1862, at a depth of 117 metres, the shaft broke through an aquifer and was flooded, bringing works to a halt. To raise capital for dewatering and further development, Donnersmarck formed a partnership with the Oberschlesische Eisenbahn Gesellschaft (Upper Silesian Railway Company). In 1870 the shaft was dewatered and deepened to 170 metres, and mining at the 80-metre level resumed in 1872, with the raised ore extracted by a steam-powered winding engine. The shaft henceforth became known as szyb Guido. Simultaneously a second shaft, named szyb Eisenbahn (Kolejowy) in honour of the railway partner, was sunk and put into service in 1880. A probable tower-head structure was erected over it, and a steam winding engine in a brick engine house, a boiler house, and administrative buildings were constructed alongside it. Extraction levels at 170 and 320 metres were developed; in the vicinity of szyb Guido a small auxiliary shaft connected the 170-metre level to the 320-metre level.

In 1885 the mine achieved its all-time production record of 312,976 tonnes of coal. Despite this, overall profitability was low. Between 1885 and 1887 Count Guido sold the mine to the Königlich-Preussischer Bergfiskus (Prussian State Mining Treasury), known as the Fiskus. The mine was incorporated as the Südfeld (Southern Field) of the state Königin Luise Grube. Since the accessible resources at the 170-metre level were largely exhausted, the new state operator invested in extending workings to 320 metres, and szyb Kolejowy was deepened to 314 metres, ultimately reaching 336.63 metres. In 1901 a steel headframe was erected over szyb Kolejowy.

In the early years of the twentieth century, the underground water from Kopalnia Guido's workings was used to generate electricity through an underground water-powered generating plant. To the south of Guido, a new mine named Delbrück (Delbrückgrube, later Makoszowy) was built to extract coking coal, and a coking plant was constructed alongside it. In 1904 the underground workings of Guido and Delbrück were connected. In 1912 Kopalnia Guido was formally incorporated into Kopalnia Delbrück.

Following the partition of Upper Silesia in 1922, Kopalnia Guido and Delbrück remained on the German side of the new border and were transferred to the Prussian state concern Preussag. The workforce, however, was drawn largely from Makoszowy, which had been assigned to the Polish side. By this stage the coal reserves under the former Guido field were substantially exhausted. In 1928 szyb Guido was decommissioned, and szyb Kolejowy ceased to function as a winding shaft for extraction. Szyb Kolejowy continued to serve as a man-riding and materials shaft, and drainage installations were maintained at the 170-metre level to serve the wider mine.

After 1945 the site was reorganised as part of Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego "Makoszowy." The former Guido area lost operational significance until 1967, when it was transferred to the Zakłady Konstrukcyjno-Mechaniczne Przemysłu Węglowego and a new Kopalnia Doświadczalna Węgla Kamiennego M-300 was established on the site. The purpose of this experimental mine was to test new mining machines and equipment; it also extracted residual coal from seam 620 at the 400-metre level. In 1975 the former Southern Field area passed to the Centralny Ośrodek Projektowo-Konstrukcyjny KOMAG.

In 1982 an agreement was signed between the director of Kopalnia Doświadczalna M-300 and the Muzeum Górnictwa Węglowego w Zabrzu. Part of the workings were adapted as a Skansen Górniczy (open-air mining museum) at the 170-metre level; this was registered in the heritage monument register (rejestr zabytków). In 2000, in a wave of cost-cutting in the Polish coal industry, a decision was taken to dismantle the underground mine. The intervention of the city authorities of Zabrze, the Urząd Marszałkowski Województwa Śląskiego, and private individuals halted the demolition process and led to the creation in 2007 of Zabytkowa Kopalnia "Guido" as an independent cultural institution of the City of Zabrze and the Silesian Voivodeship. In that year the 170-metre level was reopened to visitors; in 2008 the 320-metre level was opened, and in February 2015 the 355-metre sub-level was opened. A steel headframe dating from 1902 survives over szyb Kolejowy, which serves as the descent shaft for visitors. The winding engine over szyb Kolejowy dates from 1927 and was manufactured by AEG. In April 2013 Zabytkowa Kopalnia "Guido" was merged with the Muzeum Górnictwa Węglowego w Zabrzu to form a single institution. The site was designated a Pomnik Historii in 2020 as part of the "Zabrze – zespół zabytkowych kopalń węgla kamiennego" complex, together with Kopalnia Królowa Luiza and the Główna Kluczowa Sztolnia Dziedziczna. Kopalnia Guido and Sztolnia Królowa Luiza were awarded the Gold Certificate of the Polska Organizacja Turystyczna as the Best Tourist Product of 2022. Both sites are also Anchor Points of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). The mine holds the distinction of offering the deepest tourist route at any European hard coal heritage site.