Bytom

Bytom
Market Square
Flag Coat of arms
Bytom
Coordinates: 50°23′N 18°54′E / 50.383°N 18.9°E / 50.383; 18.9
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Silesian
County	city county
Established	12th century
Town rights	1254
Government
– Mayor	Piotr Koj (Platforma Obywatelska)
Area
– City	69.44 km2 (26.8 sq mi)
Highest elevation	330 m (1,083 ft)
Lowest elevation	249 m (817 ft)
Population (2009)
– City	183,251
– Density	2,639/km2 (6,834.9/sq mi)
– Urban	2,746,000
– Metro	5,294,000
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	41-900 to 41-936
Area code(s)	+48 32
Car plates	SY
Website	http://www.um.bytom.pl

Bytom [ˈbɨtɔm] ( listen) (German: Beuthen) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. The central-western district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - metropolis with the population of 2 millions. Bytom is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Bytomka river (tributary of the Kłodnica).

The city belongs to the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999. Previously it was in Katowice Voivodeship. Bytom is one of the cities of the 2,7 million conurbation - Katowice urban area and within a greater Silesian metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people.^[1] The population of the city is 183,251 (June 2009).^[2] Bytom is home of Polonia Bytom, plays in Ekstraklasa since 2007-2008 season and won it twice in 1954 and in 1962.

Coat of arms

One half of the coat of arms of Bytom depicts a miner mining coal, while the other half presents a yellow eagle on the blue field - the symbol of Upper Silesia.

History

Bytom is one of the oldest cities of Upper Silesia, having been known as Bitom in 1136 and Beuthen since 1440. It received city rights from prince Władysław in 1254 with its first centrally located market square. The city of Bytom benefited economically from its location on a trade route linking Kraków with Silesia from east to west, and Hungary with Moravia and Greater Poland from north to south. The first Roman Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary was built in 1231. In 1259 Bytom was raided by the Mongols. The Duchy of Opole was split and in 1281 Bitom became a separate duchy, since 1289 under overlordship and administration by the Kingdom of Bohemia. Due to German settlers coming to the area, the city was Germanized. It came under control of the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria in 1526, which increased the influence of the German language. The city became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742 during the Silesian Wars and part of the German Empire in 1871. In the 19th and the first part of the 20th centuries, the city rapidly grew and industrialized. Before 1939, Beuthen, along with Gleiwitz (now Gliwice), was at the southeastern tip of German Silesia. During World War II, the Beuthen Jewish community was liquidated via the first ever Holocaust transport to be exterminated at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In 1945 the city was transferred to Poland as a result of the Potsdam Conference. Its German population was largely expelled by the Polish and Soviet armies, and populated with repatriated Poles from the eastern provinces annexed by the Soviets, however some indigenous Silesian population remained.

In the post-war period the city did not experience significant investments. Bytom is now a typical Polish post-industrial city. The majority of its coal mines are now closed, while its steel mills are slowly fading. The city is struggling to transform its economic profile from industry to services. Bytom cooperates with two cities with more or less the same problems: Recklinghausen in Germany, and Butte-Silver Bow, United States. The city has a considerable unemployment rate which is centered in the poorest part of the city, the Bobrek subdivision.

Economy

Trade is one of main pillars of the economy of Bytom. Being the city with long traditions of commercial trade, Bytom is well fulfilling its new postindustrial role. In the centre of Bytom, and mainly around the Station street and the Market Square, there is the biggest concentration of registered shop owners operating in the county. In spring of 2010, 60 metres from the Market Square - on a new square between the square of Kościuszko and Jainty, Piekarska and Dzieci Lwowskich streets - a new commercial and entertainment centre called "Agora" opened, built by the Scandinavian company Braaten&Pedersen. Once completed, it was to be purchased for 263 million zloty by the British company First Property Group. Moreover, 3 other new shopping centres and 3 hypermarkets operate in Bytom.

In 2007, Bytom and its neighbours created the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, the largest urban center in Poland.

Panorama of the market square in Bytom

Culture

Bytom's cultural venues include:

• Silesian Opera - ul. Moniuszki 21/23
• Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna (Town's Public Library)
• Silesian Dance Theatre
• Bytomskie Centrum Kultury (Bytom Cultural Centre)
• Kronika - Center of modern art
• City Choir of St. Grzegorz Wielki

Silesian Opera

Among Bytom's art galleries are: Galeria Sztuki Użytkowej Stalowe Anioły, Galeria "Rotunda" MBP, Galeria "Suplement", Galeria "Pod Czaplą", Galeria "Platforma", Galeria "Pod Szrtychem", Galeria Sztuki "Od Nowa 2", Galeria SPAP "Plastyka" - Galeria "Kolor", Galeria "Stowarzyszenia.Rewolucja.Art.Pl", and Galeria-herbaciarnia "Fanaberia".

Festivals

• Annual International Contemporary Dance Conference and Performance Festival
• Theatromania - Theatre Festival
• Bytom Literary Autumn
• Festival of New Music

Education

• The list of Bytom universities includes:
  • Silesian University of Technology - Faculty of Transport
  • Medical University of Silesia
  • Polish Japanese Institute of Information Technology
  • Wyższa Szkoła Ekonomii i Administracji
• Secondary schools:
  • I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Jana Smolenia
  • IV Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Bolesława Chrobrego
  • 21 other secondary schools

The Confederation of Silesia

Bytom is a place where The Confederation of Silesia - Polish Bonapartists origins.

Politics

Bytom/Gliwice/Zabrze constituency

Members of 2001-2005 Parliament (Sejm) elected from Bytom/Gliwice/Zabrze constituency

• Jan Chojnacki, SLD-UP
• Stanisław Dulias, Samoobrona
• Andrzej Gałażewski, PO
• Ewa Janik, SLD-UP
• Józef Kubica, SLD-UP
• Wacław Martyniuk, SLD-UP
• Wiesław Okoński, SLD-UP
• Wojciech Szarama, PiS
• Krystyna Szumilas, PO
• Marek Widuch, SLD-UP

Notable people

• Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (1665?-1734), Polish composer and musician
• Ernst Gaupp (1865–1916), German anatomist
• Adolf Kober (1879–1958), rabbi and historian
• Maximilian Kaller (1880–1947), bishop of Warmia (German: Ermland)
• Max Tau (1897–1976), Jewish-German-Norwegian writer, editor and publisher
• Henry J. Leir (1900–1998), American industrialist, financier, and philanthropist
• Michał Matyas (1910–1975), Polish footballer and football manager
• Józef Kachel (1913–1983), head of the pre-war Polish Scouting Association in Germany
• Leo Scheffczyk (1920–2005), German theologian and cardinal
• Haim Yavin (born 1932), Israeli news anchor
• Edward Szymkowiak (1932–1990), Polish footballer, goalkeeper of Polonia Bytom and Polish national team
• Józef Szmidt (*1935), Polish triple jumper
• Jan Liberda (*1936), Polish footballer
• Wiesław Ochman (*1937), Polish opera singer
• Jan Drabina (*1939), Polish historian
• Jan Banaś (*1943), Polish footballer
• Walter Winkler (*1943), Polish footballer
• Zygmunt Anczok (*1946), Polish footballer
• Jerzy Konikowski (*1947), chess player
• Leszek Engelking (*1955), Polish poet, writer, translator and scholar
• Waldemar Legień (*1963), Polish judoka, Olympic champion from Seoul and Barcelona
• Paul Freier (*1979), German footballer
• Gosia Andrzejewicz (*1984), Polish pop singer

References

1. ^ European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) [1]
2. ^ Central Statistical Office, Warsaw 2009, "Population. Size and Structure by Territorial Division, as of June 30, 2009" (PDF). http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_L_ludnosc_stan_struktura_30_06_2009.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 

Nathan Kaufmann(1921-2010), Jewish educator and a pioneer in Israel

External links

• Municipality of Bytom
• Old postcards from Bytom
• Customs House of Bytom
• Pictures and history of Bytom
• Kino Gloria Foundation
• St. Barbara's Church. Old postcards
• art1900.info BYTOM Art Nouveau in Bytom

Coordinates: 50°23′N 18°54′E / 50.383°N 18.9°E / 50.383; 18.9