
Familok is a type of multi-family house, originally designed for workers of
industries and their families, mainly
coal miner
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...
s. It was built at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, in the cities and towns of
Silesia
Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
.
"Familok" is a
Silesian way of pronouncing the original German name, ''Familien-Block'' (lit. family apartment house).
In several towns, they are protected by conservationists and renovated due to their historical significance. Protected familoks include those in
Nikiszowiec
Nikiszowiec is a well-known neighbourhood and settlement which is part of the Janów-Nikiszowiec administrative district of the city of Katowice.
History
Initially it was the settlement of the ''Giesche'' coal mine built on the land of ''Gieschew ...
of
Katowice
Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
, Kolonia Zgorzelec in
Bytom
Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian language, Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital.
It is one ...
, Kolonia Emma in
Radlin,
Ruda Śląska
Ruda Śląska (; ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a city in the Metropolis GZM, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica River (tributary of the Oder).
It h ...
, cities situated in Silesia, and those situated in
Karviná District
Karviná District () is a Okres, district in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the city of Karviná, but the most populated city is Havířov.
Administrative division
Karviná District is divided into five Distric ...
in the
Moravian-Silesian Region
The Moravian-Silesian Region () is one of the 14 administrative regions of the Czech Republic. Before May 2001, it was called the Ostrava Region (). The region is located in the north-eastern part of its historical region of Moravia and in most ...
of the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
in the historical region of
Czech Silesia
Czech Silesia (; ) is the part of the historical region of Silesia now in the Czech Republic. While it currently has no formal boundaries, in a narrow geographic sense, it encompasses most or all of the territory of the Czech Republic within the ...
.
External links
Old familoks in Katowice-Nikiszowiec in black and white
House types
History of Silesia
Architecture in Poland
Architecture in Germany
House styles
Upper Silesia
Culture of Silesian Voivodeship
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