Every design for Piekary Śląskie

Piekary Śląskie sits on the Brynica, a tributary of the Vistula, wedged between Bytom, Chorzów and Siemianowice Śląskie at the heart of the Upper Silesian conurbation. Its name is younger than its story: Szarlej and Wielkie Piekary were merged between the wars and renamed soon after. Long before that, kings stopped here on the way to their coronations in Kraków, and Augustus II the Strong converted to Catholicism in the local church. John III Sobieski passed through too, hurrying to relieve Vienna.

The town stands on the Silesian Highlands, and centuries of zinc and lead mining have left their mark on the ground in spoil heaps, hollows and small ponds. Above it all rises Kopiec Wyzwolenia, a man-made mound and the highest point in town. On the Cerekwica hill stands Kalwaria Piekarska, while the Bazylika Najświętszej Maryi Panny i Świętego Bartłomieja draws pilgrims to one of Poland's great Marian shrines, the reason Piekary is called the spiritual centre of Upper Silesia.

For anyone raised here, the map traces the pilgrim paths, the mound and the streets you knew long before you knew their history.