Ventilation and stowing shaft of KWK Knurów-Szczygłowice, sunk 1959–1961, with surviving headframe and fan station visible from the A1 motorway.
Szyb Aniołki is a ventilation and materials shaft belonging to Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Knurów, now operating as Ruch Knurów of the combined mine KWK Knurów-Szczygłowice in Knurów, Upper Silesia. Sinking began in 1959, carried out by the shaft-sinking enterprise Przedsiębiorstwo Budowy Szybów based in Bytom, and the shaft was completed by 1961 to a depth of 474 metres. It was sunk primarily for ventilation purposes and later also served as a stowing shaft for the mine's hydraulic backfill operations.
The shaft's headframe tower and the associated stowing bridge are visible from the A1 motorway running between Gliwice and the Czech border. At the surface, axial fan installations serve the ventilation function. The mine passed into the ownership of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. in August 2014.
As of the mid-2020s the shaft remains active as a ventilation and materials shaft for Ruch Knurów, and a new ventilation tunnel connection between Ruch Knurów and the adjacent KWK Budryk mine terminates at the Aniołki shaft at level 450 m, a major infrastructure project completed around 2025.
Szyb Aniołki owes its existence to the sustained expansion of Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Knurów during the late 1950s. The Knurów mine itself, one of the oldest in the Upper Silesian coalfield, had been in continuous operation since first coal was drawn in 1906, and by the late 1950s its growing underground workings required additional ventilation capacity. In 1957 the mine had been incorporated into the Zabrzańskie Zjednoczenie Przemysłu, and investment in new shaft infrastructure followed.
The decision to sink a new ventilation shaft was implemented from 1959. Sinking was carried out by the Bytom-based Przedsiębiorstwo Budowy Szybów. The shaft was completed by 1961 and reached a final depth of 474 metres.
Named Aniołki, it served primarily as a ventilation shaft, drawing exhausted air from the underground workings. In a later phase it was additionally equipped and used as a stowing shaft, supporting hydraulic backfill operations in the mined-out panels. A headframe tower and a stowing bridge were erected over the shaft, and these structures remain standing.
The twin blue casings of the axial ventilation fan installation are visible at the surface alongside the headframe, and the whole complex is conspicuous from the A1 motorway. The shaft was connected to the main electrical supply network of Ruch Knurów at the pithead, with the fan station drawing power from the mine's main 6 kV distribution network. In May 2016 an electrical fault in the mine's supply network caused a temporary shutdown of the Aniołki fan station, which was restored within hours.
From 1993 Kopalnia Knurów was part of Gliwicka Spółka Węglowa S.A., and from 2003 part of Kompania Węglowa S.A. In February 2010 the Knurów mine was merged with the neighbouring Szczygłowice mine to form the combined operation KWK Knurów-Szczygłowice, with Knurów designated as Ruch Knurów. In August 2014 the combined mine passed to Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. Szyb Aniołki continued to serve as the primary ventilation shaft for Ruch Knurów. In the early 2020s a major underground ventilation connection project was initiated between Ruch Knurów and the adjacent KWK Budryk.
The works involved nearly 6,900 metres of new underground roadways. The final section of the project, a 50-metre ventilation crosscut at Szyb Aniołki, connected to the shaft at level 450 m, completing the underground link between the two mines. The project was completed around mid-2025.
A new fan station had also been constructed at Szyb Aniołki as part of the broader ventilation scheme serving Ruch Knurów.