Krakow Barbican and City Walls

Krakow barbican, along with the Florian Gate and three towers on the city wall, is almost all that remains of the once magnificent defences of the city. The barbican is a fifteenth century outworks added on to the thirteenth century walls. It is now an excellent museum and now separated from the gate and walls by Planty Park.

My Experience

This was our second visit to Krakow as on our first visit, detailed here, it rained almost every day so we didn’t see that much of the city. This visit it only rained for 3 of the 5 days so we got a lot more done! The full details on the sights we saw is in my travel blog here.

The barbican is usually busy with people outside but the interior is remarkably quiet. Certainly when we visited, a Saturday morning, there were only 6 people plus us for the entire hour we were inside. Entrance (about €2) covers the city walls too and inside you can visit all three levels of the fortress.

The ground floor has a huge amount of history about the building and all the other associated defences of the city. I have included photos of some of the information boards and diagrams below. We then walked the minute through the Florian Gate and turned left to start the route up the stairs and onto the city walls.

The walls themselves had no information, just views outside although the number of trees growing next to them (surely damaging?) meant visibility was limited. The Florian Gate had a small chapel inside and the entrance itself, in the Haberdashers Tower, has a small museum and model of the exisiting defences.

The last photo below is of the section of walls next to the Old Synagogue, distinct from the old city itself. Although Planty Park is probably a lovely local attraction it could do with a bit more management of the trees but the walls and barbican are well maintained and the staff there are helpful and polite.

Krakow Barbican and City Walls Photo Gallery

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History

The best history of the walls I have seen is on the guide brochure given at the barbican so I have reproduced the 4 pictures below:

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“The City Wall around Krakow in Medieval Times consisted of 39 towers and 8 gates.  With a length of around two miles it was 10 metres high and 2.5 metres thick.  With an additional lower wall the whole city was also surrounded by a moat 8 metres deep and 22 metres wide. Later, at the height of its existence, the wall contained 47 watchtowers and eight gates.

Most of the defences were dismantled at the beginning of the 19th century although the Brama Florianska, which was the main gate, and three adjacent towers with their interconnecting walls have survived, as has the 16th century arsenal and the barbican, which is situated in front of the main gate.

The Brama Florianska Gate is a rectangular Gothic stone tower 33.5 metres tall, which was built around 1300 as part of a protective rampart constructed around Krakow after the Tartar attack of 1241 – an attack which destroyed most of the city. Named after St. Florian the gate became the main entrance to the city.

In 1565 – 66 a municipal arsenal was built next to St. Florian’s Gate.  Also, around this time, a bas-relief of St. Florian was placed on the south wall of the Brama Florianska Gate. In the late 17th century it was topped with a baroque roof, which still exists today. In 1882 a stone eagle – the symbol of Poland’s first rulers carved by Zygmunt Langman and based on the design by the painter Jan Matejko,  was placed on the north side of the gate. Also to be found in the gate is the chapel, constructed in 1885 – 86 which is located on the first floor, and the Altar to the Holy Mother of Piaski.

Each of the towers was allocated to a specific trade guild to defend.  The Brama Florianska Gate was defended by the Guild of Furriers. Along this stretch of wall today are a number of pieces of art.   Local artists use this as a display area in which they offer their works for sale.

Visitors are able to ascend to the wall through one of the other towers and walk along the length of the wall. 

Connected to the Brama Florianska gate – originally by a drawbridge and walled passage – was the circular Gothic style barbican, which was surrounded by a 30 metre wide and 6 metre deep moat. The barbican (a fortified outpost or gateway) is one of only three such fortifications still surviving in Europe, and the best preserved. 24.4 metres in diameter, with its three metres thick walls, it is topped with seven turrets. It contains 130 loopholes arranged in four rows, the lowest being used by artillery while the others were used by archers.  Constructed between 1498 – 1499 it withstood the attack of the Habsburg troops in 1587, and the invasion of Poland by the Swedes in 1626.  However, the city ultimately fell as a result of scarcity of food and ammunition.

There is a legend relating to the barbican, which tells of a local burgher – Marcin Oracewicz – who was defending Krakow from the Russians in 1768. It is said that he shot and killed the Russian commander, Colonel Panin, from the barbican, using a coat button; a plaque on the eastern side of the fortress commemorates the incident.

Apart from being a popular tourist attraction, the barbican is also used for an annual fencing tournament, for concerts and as a theatre. It also houses a historical museum and is the venue for re-enactments of medieval tournaments, complete with swordfights, and includes a demonstration of an execution.  This is of course a simulation!”

References

Information on visiting the barbican and city walls in Krakow is here.

The history above in quotes is taken from the famous historic buildings site here.