Former site of Szyb I of KWK Boże Dary, Katowice; Poland's tallest single-strut headframe, demolished 2021, shaft retained as ventilation outlet.
Szyb I was one of two central production shafts of Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Boże Dary, a hard coal colliery situated in the Kostuchna district of Katowice. The mine was constructed in 1901–1903 on lands belonging to the Pless princes and began coal extraction in 1902. The shaft was equipped with a steel single-strut (jednozastrzałowa) headframe built in 1985, standing 79 metres in height — 82 metres including the mast crowned with mining hammers — and was the tallest tower of its construction type in Poland.
The mine ceased independent operation in 1976 when it was merged into KWK Murcki, and the section containing Szyb I was transferred to Spółka Restrukturyzacji Kopalń on 1 July 2015 for liquidation. Attempts to preserve the headframe as an industrial heritage structure were unsuccessful. Dismantling of the tower began on 15 March 2021 and was completed by the end of April that year.
The shaft tube itself was not filled and was retained to serve as an exhaust ventilation shaft, with a ventilator station subsequently added at the surface.
Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Boże Dary was built in 1901–1903 by the Pless princes (książęta pszczyńscy) on their estates at Podlesie, close to Kostuchna, then a separate locality near Katowice. Its purpose was to exploit the Emanuel coal seam, the same seam long worked by the adjacent Pless-owned colliery Emanuelssegen (later Murcki). The new mine was named Böer in honour of an inspector (Bergasessor) of that name.
Construction proceeded rapidly and coal extraction began in 1902, before the mine was formally complete. A workers' housing colony, Böerschächte, grew up around the shaft complex along what is today ul. Tadeusza Boya-Żeleńskiego.
By 1913 the mine was producing 709,732 tonnes of coal annually. In 1937, in line with prevailing political and administrative changes in Poland, the mine was renamed Boże Dary. At the same time the original shaft names were replaced: the Emanuel shaft became Książę Maria, the Książę shaft became Harcerski, and the Hans Heinrich shaft became Harcerski I. Output at the time of renaming stood at approximately 420,000 tonnes per year.
During the Second World War the mine reverted to the German name Böerschächte and from 1940 to 1945 used prisoner-of-war labour. After nationalisation the mine was incorporated into the Mikołów Coal Industry Association, and from 1 January 1947 into the Jaworzno-Mikołów Coal Industry Association. In 1947 the neighbouring KWK Murcki was briefly merged into Boże Dary, but the two collieries were separated again in 1948.
On 18 July 1956 the mine was struck by the worst disaster in its history, when an explosion of methane and coal dust killed 24 miners and rescue workers. A commemorative plaque was unveiled in the on-site chapel of St Barbara on 1 December 2006, the fiftieth anniversary of the tragedy. Output continued to grow in the post-war decades and reached a recorded peak of 930,730 tonnes in 1970.
The gradual exhaustion of reserves accessible to KWK Murcki led to a decision to merge the two collieries: from 1 January 1976 Boże Dary was formally integrated into Murcki, with the combined production and processing complex progressively relocated to the Boże Dary site. The later numbered shafts — Szyb I and Szyb II — were the primary deep extraction shafts of this expanded complex. Szyb I was equipped with a steel single-strut (jednozastrzałowa) headframe built in 1985, standing 79 metres tall (82 metres including the crowned mast), the tallest of its construction type in Poland.
During active life the shaft served a pumping station at the 183-metre level. As the economically accessible reserves became depleted and coal quality declined, the colliery became unviable and on 1 July 2015 the Boże Dary section was transferred to Spółka Restrukturyzacji Kopalń for liquidation, while a residual part remained temporarily with Katowicki Holding Węglowy to permit access to deeper saddle seams below 1,000 metres. Workers who did not accept severance packages were redeployed to other collieries including Staszic and Wujek.
The third shaft, Czułów, located in nearby Tychy, had already been fully liquidated — its shaft tube filled and capped with a concrete slab and the surface levelled. Demolition of the Szyb I headframe was originally hoped to be avoided given the unique character of the structure, but by early 2021 this proved impossible. Dismantling began on 15 March 2021, starting from the crane platform at 76.5 metres, and was completed before the end of April 2021.
The shaft tube was stripped of its equipment but left unfilled, and was converted to serve as an exhaust ventilation shaft with a ventilator station added at surface level.