The item presented here is a fragment of the bituminous surface coming from the Józef Piłsudski bridge in Kraków. A steel structure mounted on the bridge was adorned with a bronze inscription reading “Limbit Polmin”, which was both the name of the product and of its builder. Polmin Państwowa Fabryka Olejów Mineralnych w Drohobyczu, operating in the area of the Borysław-Drohobycz Oil Basin (now a part of Ukraine), was established in 1909 as a crude oil refinery. In the 1920s and 1930s, Polmin was one of the world’s largest and most modern enterprises of its kind. It offered a wide range of crude oil fraction distillation and derivative products. One such product was a bituminous surface patented by the refinery and named Limbit. It consisted of kerosene-derived asphalt mixed with crushed dolomite rock. The Józef Piłsudski bridge was built between 1926-1933 on the extension of Krakowska and Legionów Józefa Piłsudskiego streets. It was to replace the Podgórski bridge, which was located nearby. Construction work was managed by Prof. Andrzej Pszenicki, and the project was executed by several companies: Zjednoczone Fabryki Maszyn, Kotłów i Wagonów L. Zieleniewski and Fitzner-Gamper SA, who were responsible for the characteristic lattice design of the bridge; Huta Pokój steelworks in Ruda Śląska, which supplied the metal railings; and Polmin, which supplied the pavement surface on either side of the bridge. The item presented here was installed on the bridge from the very beginning and was embedded in the pavement on the Podgórze side.

References:
Polmin Państwowa Fabryka Olejów Mineralnych w Drohobyczu, Warsawa 1927, book available in the “Polona” virtual library, at: https://polona.pl/item/polmin-panstwowa-fabryka-olejow-mineralnych-w-drohobyczu,NzM3OTU0NzQ/15/#info:metadata (Accessed: 9.05.2021).
Most Piłsudskiego, Museum of Urban Engineering in Kraków website, https://www.mim.krakow.pl/most-pilsudskiego (Accessed 9.05.2021).