Nowa Huta was started in 1949 as a separate town near Cracow. It was planned as a huge centre of heavy industry. The town was to become an ideal town for the communist authorities and was to be populated with industry workers mostly. In 1951 it was joined with Cracow as a separate district and following years tramway communication was started.

On July 22, 1954 the Lenin’s Steel Works were opened and in less than 20 years the factory became the biggest steel mill in Poland. In the 1960s the city grew rapidly. The monumental architecture of the Central Square was surrounded by huge blocks of flats. In the 1970s the steel production reached 7 millions tones of steel yearly. At the same time the biggest tobacco factory in Poland was opened and a huge cement factory. Currently the monumental centre is considered a monument of architecture.