Parachute Tower Katowice, Steel parachute tower in Kościuszko Park, Katowice, Poland.
The Parachute Tower is a 35-metre steel lattice structure in Kościuszko Park, with a white tapering shaft, bright blue inner bracing and a blue circular platform ringed by a white walkway at the top. A thin boom arm projects sideways from the summit. Inside the shaft are stairs and a central channel; a light-grey pipe with dark bands and rust runs up the centre, surrounded by blue steel frames and white corrugated panels.
The tower was built in 1937 on the initiative of the Silesian District of the Air and Gas Defence League (LOPP), and opened in June 1938 as Poland's tallest parachute tower, with a steel structure 50 m high and a total height of 62 m. On 4 September 1939, during the German invasion, it served as an observation post for the 73rd Infantry Regiment; Polish scouts opened fire from its platform on Wehrmacht troops entering Katowice. German authorities dismantled the tower in the 1940s, and it was rebuilt in the 1950s at a reduced height of 35 m.
The tower serves as a memorial to Polish Scouts who fought to defend Katowice during the opening days of World War II. Visitors can still see how this structure represents their sacrifice today.
The tower stands in Kościuszko Park in the Brynów-Osiedle Zgrzebnioka district. A renovation begun in July 2025 repainted the steelwork, added lighting and cleared shrubs around the base; the work finished in mid-December 2025. The tower is a memorial, so check locally before planning to climb it.
The tower's top platform had a rotating steel balustrade with a small door, allowing jump direction to be adjusted to the wind. A steel cable linked the parachute to a pivoted boom and a counterweight moving inside a pipe on the tower's axis.
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