What is the ugliest city or town in Poland?

In my view, Chorzow is a hell-hole.

With one of the biggest park in the Europe ? (Silesia Park) With Wolności street? With Żabie Doły landscaped park?
Sorry, but you are soooo wrong :)

Konin is hard to beat in terms of grimness.

have never been there but judging from the fact that the city was built almost from scratch by the communists it must be quite ugly

All new towns in Europe from that period are pretty grim, regardless of who built them. Nowa Huta built in Socialist Realist style has a certain beauty for example. Konin however has no redeeming features whatsoever.

Nowa Huta was built soon after the war, by builders who'd known their trade from pre-war times and used bricks, not the pre-fabricated concrete elements. And that made all the difference. If you're looking for the ugliest place, look among those built in the 1970s and 80s.

Who built it is irrelevant. Builders just follow instructions. Who designed it is everything. And the architects were working in classic Socialist Realist style. Later on, in the 60s and 60s they started copying styles from capitalist countries but without the wherewithal to do it well. Hence the ghastly estates that blight so many towns.

Oh yes, it does matter, as well as the materials they had at their disposal. I'm not trying to denigrate the role of the design, or the designer, but even a bad design can hold its ground with good workmanship, and vice versa. And the work ethics - one more factor.

The designers of the concrete osiedla didn't have much say, their role was mostly to arrange a given number of typical blocks over a given area, and the building technology was subject to government regulations.

Anyway, Tarnobrzeg gets my vote.

You're either missing the point or trying to sidetrack. We aren't talking about building materials or individual builders' skills. Or even their work ethic. We are talking about how those places look today.

I haven't been to Tarnobrzeg for years, however Radom, Czestochwa and Sieradz never fail to depress.

Not trying to sidetrack anything.These factors, combined, largely determine how a place looks today, that's why the ones built in the 70s and 80s are the ugliest. And right, I forgot about Sieradz.

I see what you're saying, but disagree with the stuff about builders' skills. The architects, town planners and those who maintain the estates have much more to do with it.

Also I'd say that some of the ugliest towns aren't the planned ones that are actively ugly. Sometimes places like Pabianice or Wyszkow are ugly in their plainness. Not a unique thing to Poland.

The Upper Silesian towns I've been to Żabrze, Rybnik, Gliwice, and thereabouts, are kinda tired-looking.

Le Corbusier would turn in his grave if he saw some of these cost-cutting hell-holes.

However, I've still never seen anything in Poland which looks as bad as many similar estates in the UK. I lived on such an estate as a child, but it didn't turn me into a mugger or drug dealer, honest :)


My mum has the misfortune to come from this city. I've been a few times myself. Żeromskiego makes The Rock in Bury look like Krakowskie Przedmieście :D lol

Kielce and Wałbrzych are pretty depressing too. I've managed to avoid Górny Śląsk so far, but I imagine there are plenty of ugly places there.

I've seen one or two worse but they are the exception. And most are either modernised or about to be. The space constrictions help - they're less windblown than the ones in the northern UK and don't have vast swathes of bleak grass with needles and stray dogs on.


Reminds me a bit of Barnsley. It has the same pluses and minuses. At least there's something to do there. Living in Wyszkow would make someone suicidal.

Zabrze

+1

Chrzanów wouldn't win any beauty contest either.

WROCLAW - definitely, anyone with half a brain knows that it's Wroclaw, Poland's embarrassment of a city.

I've traveled all around Poland, it's a great country, and the people are nice, but Wroclaw is just....very different.
Its like being in Ireland (Everything is back to front and just makes no sense!).

WHY did someone decide to hold UEFA's match in Wroclaw is beyond me, they should feel ashamed of themselves.

The jana pala 2 junction is a joke, 3 lanes from Legnica st going into the city blocked by cars going the other direction, from 4-6pm.

What did the old pope jana pala 2 do wrong to deserve the worst intersection in Europe to be named after him?

the president of Wroclaw should feel ashamed of himself, really!
and why do straz mieschy and the police concern themselves with petty things 10 miles away from the city?
when the problems are with the traffic on jana pala 2.

Even the stadium in Wroclaw is ugly, big grey round thing, looks like a prison.
maybe it could be used as one after the football has finished, and put all the people in there who things everything in Wroclaw
is okey dokey!

there are times when i feel this is true.


from the road it does look awful. reminds me of a sack of spuds.

Not my beautiful Wrocław! I suppose you didn't see the stadium lit up, or hear about the themes of the stadium designs? Did you check out Wrocław's Rynek? :/

You probably mean another town. Chrzanów has the Market Square and sort of Old Town which go back to medieval times. There are much uglier places which haven`t got them.

No. Chrzanów it is...

Czestochowa apart from Jasna Gora is pretty ugly.


Walbrzych is not bad,it has lot of potential,just severely neglected over the years.


Wroclaw is considered to be one of the nicest cities in Poland,strange choice:/
My choice would be either Bytom or Zabrze,as much as it pains me to say it all Upper Silesia is mostly grim and depressing.

That's the part I mostly see. The view from the ring road.

I agree with tou about Walbrzych - it has potential. And Płock used to be grim but is now looking a lot better.

some of us have to live with it the other six days of the week.


as i've said before.... it's just like any other german city center.

Dear Calavero Chorzow-Batory is worse than any district I've seen (and that's a few in the world), and I am not wrong when I say: 'In my view...'.

Regards
John.

I'd also throw Katowice into the mix. Mind, Chorzow and Katowice are practically one blob together.

The whole Industrial Monuments movement thing in Silesia is a joke, in my opinion. Read this.

oecd.org/dataoecd/35/1/42040178.pdf

Of course, the north and south have areas of natural beauty and potential for tourism. Playing on the Beskidy mountains is obvious.

The author/s also seem to believe that the Katowice could be a tourist magnet because of a single museum and well-developed infrastructure..

A leopard can't change its spots.

Hmm, perhaps I should visit Zabrze because of its coal-mining museum.

I had always thought Krakow is the ugliest but a few weeks ago I walked around the Old Town and changed my mind....

Dreadfully depressing, I was there and was amazed at just how destroyed it is.

The whole area around Wałbrzych (especially the villages that are at the bottom of the hills) are exceptionally depressing - I've never seen anything comparable in Wielkoposlka.

I agree. If I had to live there, I would commit suicide after a few weeks. :):):)

Ouch! Clench my heart, that cut deep! OK, you are entitled to your opinion but I think Wrocław is beautiful. Then again, I live in the middle of nowhere, USA and before that, the Baltimore area.

I was on a bus from Wrocław to Bielawa once (we have family friends there), and it reminded me of the time I once caught an overnight National Express coach from Leeds to London (this was a long time ago, when I was a poor student - I'd fly now. Or, I would if bmi hadn't cancelled the service, lol. Then again, I have no reason to go to Leeds, but I'm sure you see my rather waffly point. haha).

The coach stopped at some Midlands dump (Chesterfield, I think) - one of those places where one person gets on, and no-one gets off. Just like when the bus pulled up in Wałbrzych, lol :D

However, despite all this, there is still money to be made, even in these depressing places - the aforementioned family friends have made a fortune from running pharmacies and dry cleaners around Bielawa/Wałbrzych. I've never seen a house like theirs in my life, amazing.