Hotel Monopol Katowice

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Hotel Monopol Katowice > Hotel

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Katowice dates back to the 16th century but one would seek in vain for buildings dating back to that period. The historical Silesian theatre building and the hotel Monopol are among the most important heritage sites in Katowice, a city which was only granted its city rights in 1865, a move connected with the rapid industrial growth of the area.
At the start of the 20th century a new railway station was opened and Arnold Lustig, owner of the famous Café Central situated nearby, bought the villa and stretch of land on Dyrekcyjna and Dworcowa Streets from the Ollendorf brothers and built the hotel here in 1903.

The building, designed by Ludwik Goldstein, soon became the signature hotel of Katowice. At the hotelier’s exhibition in Bytom in 1904, it was awarded the gold medal and a prize funded by Duke Pszczyński. It was home to three restaurants, a bakery and laundry room, boasting a bathroom on every floor – a sign of a luxury hotel in Europe at the time. By the mid 1930’s, the Monopol had become the most expensive hotel in Katowice with a night costing 5.5 Złoty! True splendour was brought to the Monopol with the wedding of the world renowned singer Jan Kiepura and the Hungarian film star Marta Eggerth in the autumn of 1936. It is said that during the festivities, the great tenor went onto the hotel’s balcony and sang to the crowds of fans who had gathered around the hotel.

Later other famous artists also stayed here: Karol Szymanowski (one of the apartments is named after the great Polish composer), the piano virtuoso Artur Rubinstein and key literary figures such as Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński and film directors like Eugeniusz Bodo. The young French captain Charles de Gaulle also stayed here in the summers of 1919/1921 as an observer of the plebiscite in Silesia which saw it pass into the hands of Poland after WW1.
After WW2, and under the communist regime, fortune was not quite as favourable to the hotel. By the end of the 1940’s it had been transformed into offices, although the travel company Orbis maintained a restaurant and the ground floor was home to an antique shop and travel agents. In the mid 1980’s, the doors of the building were finally closed, seemingly forever.

In 2001, however, it was bought by the Likus brothers who, in accordance with the philosophy of the Likus group, acquire buildings of unique cultural-historical significance and return them to their former splendour. In the course of the restoration work, a remarkable carving of the sun was uncovered above the main door together with a beautifully preserved mosaic floor by the reception. The luxury hotel was opened in the autumn of 2003, 101 years after it had welcomed its first guests.

Once again the great and the good are to be found in the Monopol. Recent guests include footballers David Beckham and Christiano Ronaldo, as well as rock stars such as Deep Purple and Phil Collins of Genesis fame. The hotel has also played host to the more traditional musicians, with the Monopol collaborating with the Narodową Orkiestrą Symfoniczną Polskiego Radia (the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra) and the Filharmonia Śląska (the Silesian Philharmonic).