The brew house in the Tyskie brewery in the upper Silesian town of Tychy makes a truly palatial impression with its blue glazed tiles adorned with flowers, richly decorated pillar capitals, a precious panelled ceiling, and an interior full of blank copper brewery kettles, valves and instruments, hand wheels and shining pipelines. The bottles still carry the family coat-of-arms of the Princes of Promnitz who began the local brewing tradition in 1629. A comprehensive tour of the museum reveals how Tychy beer is brewed, and all that has changed over the last 400 years. The tour begins in the historic part of the brewery that consists of listed 19th and early 20th century clinker buildings. The director’s villa has its place here, as do the malting works, the malt house, the brew house, the cooperage and other production sites, all of which are equipped with the most up-to-date brewery technology. For the works are still running to full capacity. Not for nothing is there a brand-new bottling and dispatching plant right next door. The tour ends in the old chapel that now houses the brewery museum. It includes multimedia stations, a 3-D film and a glass of freshly tapped Tychy beer!
Tyskie Brewing Museum
Tyskie Browarium
Ul. Mikołowska 5
43-100 Tychy
Poland
+48 (0) 32 - 3278430
Homepage
The people in the Upper Silesian town of Tychy have been making a beer called Tyskie that has been on the market since 1629. Today it is the most brewed beer in Poland. Visitors can find out how this came to be when they take a tour of the brewery where everything began. The foundation stone was laid by the Princes of Promnitz who resided in a nearby castle in Pszczyna in the 17th century. But brewing only really began on a larger scale with Prince Jan Henryk XI, who had the brewery rebuilt from the foundations in 1861, complete with a steam engine. The upshot was that production rose to 100.000 hectolitres a year, a fact which ensured the brewery a place in the ranks of the largest beer producers in Europe. Many of today’s brewery buildings date back to this time. In 1890 the brewery was electrified and three years later it was linked to the railway network. In 1920 the first garage was built to house the delivery lorries. The Second World War left the brewery almost ruined. But during the years that followed it slowly and continually began to recover. At the start of the 1990s the Tyskie brewery was rapidly modernised. Output rose to such an extent that it was necessary to construct a new bottling and dispatching plant that went into operation in June 1998. At the same time the brewery made clear how conscious it was of its long traditions, when it began work on restoring the historic factory buildings in 2000. One of the most particularly splendid buildings is the brew house and its original technical equipment, that was originally built between 1916 and 1922. Today the Tyskie Brewery belongs to the South African beer company, SAB Miller.
The modern brewery museum opened its doors in 2004 and is the first museum of its kind in Poland. The exhibition invites visitors to play an active role, and brings back to life the history of the brewery in an illuminating manner. The works and the museum are situated on an industrial heritage trail linking a number of different technical monuments in the Silesian province.
Recommended duration of visit: | 2,5 Hours |
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Duration of a guided tour: | 120 Minutes |
Admission: | Free |
Access for persons with disabilities: | For details see website |
Catering: | |
Gift and book shop on site: | yes |
currently the museum is closed for renovation