[1] Piekary is a spiritual center of Upper Silesia, a Marian shrine which is a pilgrimage site for thousands of the faithful, and a mining town.

It derives from the word piekarz (meaning "baker"), referring to possible bakers baking bread here for the nearby city of Bytom or from the word pieczara (meaning "cavern"), as caverns were supposedly created here as a result of exploitation of ore.[3] As a result of the 12th-century fragmentation of Poland it was part of various Piast-ruled duchies, the last being the Duchy of Opole until 1526.

Polish King John III Sobieski visited Piekary in 1683, while rushing to the relief of Vienna during the Ottoman invasion.

In 1697, newly elected King of Poland Augustus II the Strong stopped in Piekary before his royal coronation in Kraków.

In January 1734, his son, elected king Augustus III of Poland, also stopped here, while heading for his royal coronation, and also swore the pacta conventa here.

In 1842, Piekary's rector, priest Jan Alojzy Ficek, commissioned a new neo-romanesque Basilica of St. Mary and St. Bartholomew designed by Daniel Grötschel.

[3] In the late 19th century Polish singing and gymnastic societies, reading rooms and the first patriotic organizations were established.

[3] During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II, Piekary was captured by Germany in September 1939, and then was under German occupation until 1945.

[3] Under the administrative reform of 1975, the city limits were expanded by including the surrounding towns and settlements: Dąbrówka Wielka, Brzeziny Śląskie, Brzozowice and Kamień.

[3] The main landmark of Piekary Śląskie is the Romanesque Revival Basilica of St. Mary and St. Bartholomew, a popular Catholic pilgrimage site.

Another symbol of the city is the Liberation Mound [pl], erected in 1932–1937 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the march of the Polish hussars of King John III Sobieski through Piekary to Vienna and the 15th anniversary of reintegrating eastern Upper Silesia with Poland after the Silesian Uprisings.