Every design for Będzin

Ask anyone in the Dąbrowa Basin, the industrial Zagłębie, where its capital is, and the answer is Będzin, the castle town on the Czarna Przemsza. It lies in the Silesian Highlands and belongs to the Silesian Voivodeship, yet historically it is Lesser Poland – one of the oldest towns of that region – and that distinction still matters here.

What sets Będzin apart is its place on a border. A settlement guarded an ancient trade route from Kyiv to Western Europe here long before King Casimir the Great built a stone stronghold, and the town became a royal city and a major trading centre between Lesser Poland and Silesia. The Zamek Królewski w Będzinie keeps that royal past in view, and the Muzeum Zagłębia Będzin tells the region's story. The town also had a large Jewish community, and the Synagoga "Mizrachi" and the Dom Modlitwy Cukermana keep its memory in the streets. The highest point is St Dorothy Mountain in Grodziec, and Katowice and Sosnowiec are close neighbours.

If you come from here, you know the castle walls and the riverside boulevards by heart. Wear them proudly – this is your corner of the map.