St. Florian's Gate or Florian Gate ( pl, Brama Floriańska) in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, is one of the best-known

Polish Gothic The Gothic architecture arrived in Poland in the first half of the 13th century with the arrival of the Dominican and Franciscan orders. The first elements of the new style are evident in the foundation of the Dominican Trinity church in Kraków ...

towers, and a focal point of Kraków's Old Town. It was built about the 14th century as a rectangular Gothic tower of "wild stone","Wild stone" was red granite, used in 14th-century Kraków architecture. part of the city fortifications against

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

attack.

History

MZK 002 Nr 12 Das Florianitor in Krakau - Tafel Gesamtansicht Essenwein

The tower, first mentioned in 1307, had been built as part of a protective rampart around Kraków after the Tatar attack of 1241 which destroyed most of the city. The permit for the construction of new city defenses featuring stone watchtowers, fortified gates and a moat was issued by Prince

Leszek II the Black Leszek II the Black (c. 1241 – 30 September 1288), was a Polish prince of the House of Piast, Duke of Sieradz since 1261, Duke of Łęczyca since 1267, Duke of Inowrocław in the years 1273-1278, Duke of Sandomierz and High Duke of Poland from ...

in 1285. The gate named after St. Florian became the main entryway to the Old Town. It was connected by a long bridge to the circular barbican ( Barbakan) erected of brick on the other side of the moat. The Gate was manned by the Kraków Furriers Guild. According to records, by 1473 there were 17 towers defending the city; a century later, there were 33. At the height of its existence, the wall featured 47 watchtowers and eight gates. Also, in 1565–66 a municipal arsenal was built next to St. Florian's Gate. The Gate tower is 33.5 metres tall. The Baroque metal "helmet" that crowns the gate, constructed in 1660 and renovated in 1694, adds another metre to the height of the gate. ''Brama Floriańska'' is the only city gate, of the original eight built in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, that was not dismantled during the 19th-century "modernization" of Kraków. The adjoining city walls and two additional, smaller towers had been preserved and today host street displays of amateur art available for purchase. The south face of St. Florian's Gate is adorned with an 18th-century

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of St. Florian. The tower's north face bears a stone eagle that was carved in 1882 by

Zygmunt Langman Zygmunt, Zigmunt, Zigmund and spelling variations thereof are masculine given names and occasionally surnames. People so named include: Given name Medieval period * Sigismund I the Old (1467–1548), Zygmunt I Stary in Polish, King of Poland and Gr ...

, based on a design by painter Jan Matejko. Inside the gate is an altar with a late-Baroque copy of a

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

painting of the Piaskowa Madonna.

Royal Route

Kraków's

Royal Road The Royal Road was an ancient highway reorganized and rebuilt by the Persian king Darius the Great (Darius I) of the first (Achaemenid) Persian Empire in the 5th century BC. Darius built the road to facilitate rapid communication on the western ...

begins at St. Florian's Gate, and the gate is a

terminating vista In urban design, a terminating vista is a building or monument that stands at the end or in the middle of a road, so that when one is looking up the street the view ends with the site. Function Terminating vistas are considered an important me ...

at its north end. Through it once entered kings and princes, foreign envoys and distinguished guests, and parades and coronation processions. They travelled up ''ulica Floriańska'' ( St. Florian's Street) to the Main Market Square, and on up ''ulica Grodzka'' (Castle Street) to

Wawel Castle The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...

. By the beginning of the 19th century, the expanding city had largely outgrown the confines of the old city walls. The walls had been falling into disrepair for a hundred years due to lack of maintenance after the foreign Partitions of Poland. The stagnant moat fed by the

Rudawa River Rudawa is a small river in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland. It is a tributary of the Vistula river. Rudawa joins Vistula in Kraków near the district of Zwierzyniec. Through the city, the flow of the river is controlled by artificial embankment ...

was a dump for illegal garbage and posed health concerns for the city. Such dire circumstances inspired Emperor

Franz I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-L ...

Austro-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

to order the dismantling of the city walls. However, on January 13, 1817, Professor Feliks Radwański of Jagiellonian University managed to convince the Session of the Senate of the

Republic of Kraków The Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow with its Territory, more commonly known as the Free City of Cracow, and the Republic of Cracow, was a city-state, city republic created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, which included ...

to legislate the partial preservation of the old fortifications—St. Florian's Gate and the adjoining barbican.

City walls

Until the 19th century, Kraków had massive

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

city walls. The inner wall was some 2.4 meters wide and 6–7 meters high. Ten meters outside the inner wall was an outer, lower one. The walls were punctuated by defensive towers 10 metres high. In the 19th century — just before they were demolished by the Austrian authorities — there were 47 towers still standing. Now there are only three Gothic towers left in all Kraków: the Carpenters', Haberdashers' and Joiners' Towers, connected to St. Florian's Gate by walls several dozen meters long.

Gallery

File:0354 20100523 Krakow Florian Gate.jpg, St. Florian's Gate seen from the Barbican File:MuryObronneIBramaFloriańska-WidokZBasztyPasamoników-POL, Kraków.jpg, St. Florian's Gate and the defensive walls File:Kraków - ul.floriańska - panoramio.jpg, St. Florian's gate at dusk File:Princes Czrtoryski Family chapel, St. Florian's Gate, Pijarska street, Old Town, Krakow, Poland.jpg, The Princes

Czartoryski Family The House of Czartoryski (feminine form: Czartoryska, plural: Czartoryscy; lt, Čartoriskiai) is a Polish princely family of Lithuanian- Ruthenian origin, also known as the Familia. The family, which derived their kin from the Gediminids dyna ...

Chapel File:Chapel, St. Florian's Gate, Pijarska street, Old Town, Krakow, Poland.jpg, A chapel inside St. Florian's Gate File:BramaFloriańska-OrzełPiastowski-POL, Kraków.jpg, A

of Piast Eagle designed by Jan Matejko over the entrance to the gate File:BramaFloriańska-PłaskorzeźbaŚwFloriana-POL, Kraków.jpg, A bas-relief depicting

Saint Florian Florian ( la, Florianus; 250 – 304 AD) was a Christian holy man, and the patron saint of Linz, Austria; chimney sweeps; soapmakers, and firefighters. His feast day is 4 May. Florian is also the patron saint of Upper Austria, jointly with Le ...

, (18th century)

Notes

External links