Surviving headframe tower and machine house of former Szyb Lech I at the post-industrial KWK Pokój site in Ruda Śląska, subject to urban reuse masterplan.
Szyb Lech I is one of two shafts bearing the Lech name on the former KWK Pokój site in Ruda Śląska, Nowy Bytom district. The original Szyb Lech, known during the German period as Hillebrand or Hildebrand, was built in 1904–1905 as part of Kopalnia Błogosławieństwo Boże (Gottessegen) in the Wirek district. In 1938 it was incorporated into the newly formed KWK Wanda-Lech and from 1968 operated under KWK Pokój.
In the late operational period Szyb Lech I served mainly as a materials shaft, with some personnel transport to levels 745 m and 790 m, while skip operations lowered materials. Mining ceased when KWK Pokój was passed to SRK from late 2016. As of 2025, the building of the winding machine of Szyb Lech I with its headframe tower, and the winding tower and pithead building of Szyb Lech II with the compressor hall, survive on the former mine site and form part of a 65-hectare redevelopment area for which the city of Ruda Śląska and SRK signed a letter of intent in June 2024.
The shaft originally known as Hillebrand or Hildebrand was built in 1904–1905 as a production shaft of Kopalnia Błogosławieństwo Boże (Gottessegen) in the Wirek district of what is now Ruda Śląska. Kopalnia Błogosławieństwo Boże was one of the oldest collieries in the area, originally established by the Henckel von Donnersmarck family in 1803. The Lech/Hillebrand shaft therefore represented a late-phase investment in that old colliery, built at the turn of the twentieth century when the mine was still in active expansion.
The colliery Błogosławieństwo Boże itself ceased operation in 1926. Formally, on 1 February 1938, the Lech shaft was transferred to the newly constituted KWK Wanda-Lech, formed by the merger of Kopalnia Wanda with the Lech shaft. The combined mine operated under private ownership initially, then under state administration after 1945.
KWK Wanda-Lech was liquidated in 1968 and on 1 April 1968 absorbed into KWK Pokój. Under KWK Pokój, Szyb Lech I continued to operate alongside Szyb Lech II. Lech I served primarily as a materials shaft, with some personnel transport.
Lech II carried the main daily personnel transport to levels 745 m and 790 m and lowered materials by skip. In 1993 KWK Pokój joined Rudzka Spółka Węglowa S.A., and in 2003 became part of Kompania Węglowa S.A. On 1 July 2016 the mine was incorporated into KWK Ruda as Ruch Pokój within Polska Grupa Górnicza. From 31 December 2016 the Pokój I portion was transferred to SRK and from 3 March 2022 the remaining Pokój II portion followed.
The formal liquidation of the SRK Oddział KWK Pokój was completed on 31 December 2024. The 65-hectare site of the former KWK Pokój, including the Lech I and Lech II shaft complexes, passed into the management of SRK for post-industrial redevelopment. A letter of intent signed on 13 June 2024 between SRK and the city of Ruda Śląska outlined plans for housing and mixed use development on the site.
Among the structures listed for potential adaptation are the building of the winding machine of Szyb Lech I with its headframe tower, and the winding tower and pithead building of Szyb Lech II with the compressor hall. Both structures survived into 2025 and were the subject of photographic documentation commissions by the Śląska Biblioteka Cyfrowa in that year.