Silesia Events

Silesia’s calendar is dominated by two things that exist nowhere else in Poland on this scale: a pilgrimage and a mining feast.

The Jasna Gora pilgrimage — August, Czestochowa

Several million people a year visit the monastery, and the peak is the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August. In the weeks beforehand, organised walking pilgrimages set out from across Poland — the Warsaw group has walked the 250 kilometres every August since 1711, taking nine days, sleeping in village halls and barns and arriving in a column. Hundreds of thousands converge on Czestochowa for the feast itself, the town fills completely, and the atmosphere is somewhere between a religious festival and a national gathering. Visiting on the day means crowds on a scale that has to be planned for; visiting in the week before means watching the groups arrive, which is arguably better.

Barborka — 4 December

Saint Barbara’s day, the miners’ feast. Miners parade in full dress uniform with plumed shakos and their brass bands, a mass is held — sometimes underground — and the celebrations continue into a long evening with its own rituals. Every mining town marks it, and Katowice’s is the largest.

Music festivals — summer

The OFF Festival and Tauron Nowa Muzyka in Katowice have made the city a genuine destination for alternative and electronic music, and the NOSPR hall runs a serious classical season year round.

Industrial Monuments Route weekend — September

Sites across the region open specially, including some not normally accessible.