Disused hard coal mine shaft in Wałbrzych bearing the oldest surviving steel headframe in Lower Silesia, erected in 1888.
Szyb Chwalibóg is a disused hard coal mine shaft in the Stary Zdrój district of Wałbrzych, Lower Silesia, standing at ul. Stefana Batorego. The mine has origins traceable to 1594, with an official concession granted under the name "Segen Gottes" in 1770.
The two shafts at the site, Chwalibóg I (formerly Tiefbau I) and Chwalibóg II, were sunk in 1854. The steel lattice headframe erected over Chwalibóg I in 1888, fabricated at the C. H. Von Kulmitz ironworks in Żarów, is the oldest surviving steel shaft tower in the Lower Silesian coalfield. In 1922 the mine passed to a Berlin concern; from 1929 it was operated in combination with the adjacent Fuchs/Thorez mine.
After 1945 it was renamed Chwalibóg and continued under the Victoria combine. In the 1970s the site housed a briquette production facility. The shaft was liquidated in the 1990s during the closure of the Wałbrzych coalfield.
The headframe and surrounding buildings have since stood disused. The tower, accessible from the street, remains the most significant surviving element.
The site of Szyb Chwalibóg in the Stary Zdrój district of Wałbrzych can trace its mining origins to at least 1594, making it one of the oldest coal-extracting locations in the region. The first formally recorded mention of the mine dates to that year, though the official concession granting the site the name "Segen Gottes" (Blessed by God) was awarded only in 1770. The two principal shafts at the site, known under the Tiefbau designation — Tiefbau I (later Chwalibóg I) and Tiefbau II (later Chwalibóg II) — were both sunk in 1854.
At the time of sinking, a brick basztowa-type tower was erected over each shaft in the conventional manner of the period. During a modernisation of the winding equipment in 1888, the existing masonry tower over Tiefbau I was partly demolished, with only the lower course of brickwork retained; its base was incorporated into the new steel lattice headframe that replaced it. This replacement frame was fabricated in 1886 at the ironworks of C. H. Von Kulmitz in Żarów, Silesia, and erected in 1888.
It is a single-strut (jednozastrzałowa) lattice tower of the type classified as a "German" configuration, with longitudinal, vertical, and diagonal rods and characteristic plate-gusset strut joints. It is the oldest surviving steel shaft tower in the entire Lower Silesian coalfield. The tower was reconstructed in 1925, though the extent of that reconstruction is not documented.
Chwalibóg I was deepened in 1970. Chwalibóg II, whose date of construction is uncertain but believed to be around 1908, served as an auxiliary shaft for the transport of personnel, its construction having been required by safety regulations. In 1857 the mine had been enlarged and operated in conjunction with several adjacent mining fields and concessions: Caspar, Tempel, Joseph, Theresie, Weissig, and Franz Joseph.
In 1922 the Segen Gottes mine was purchased by the Berlin-based Kokswerke und Chemische Fabriken A.G. (a concern of Schering); by 1928 it had passed to "Niederschlesische Bergbau AG Waldenburg." From 1929 the mine was worked in combination with the adjacent Fuchs mine, which would later become Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego "Thorez". After 1945 the mine received its Polish name, Chwalibóg, and continued as part of the Victoria mining and coking combine. On 27 August 1980, miners working the afternoon shift at Szyb Chwalibóg were the first workers at a hard coal mine in Poland — and the first enterprise in the Wałbrzych voivodeship — to down tools in solidarity with the striking shipyard workers of Szczecin and Gdańsk.
Organisers of the strike included Kazimierz Żołnierek and Zdzisław Włodarczyk. On the first anniversary of the strike, a granite obelisk with a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the shaft. In the 1970s the site accommodated a briquette production facility, a branch of Zakłady Koksownicze "Wałbrzych".
The mine was decommissioned in the 1990s during the closure and restructuring of the Wałbrzych Hard Coal Basin. Following closure, the surface complex fell out of productive use. The headframe and brick shaft building have since stood largely disused.
The steel tower over Chwalibóg I remains in place and the site is accessible from ul. Stefana Batorego, though access to the building itself is restricted. The headframe is the principal surviving element of regional significance.