The Kraków Barbican ( pl, Barbakan Krakowski) is a

barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe ...

– a fortified outpost once connected to the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

. It is a historic gateway leading into the Old Town of Kraków,

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 populous ...

. The barbican is one of the few remaining relics of the complex network of fortifications and defensive barriers that once encircled the

royal city Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

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 ...

in the south of Poland.Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2002–2009
The Sites on the UNESCO List.
Krakow, a
Poland.gov.pl
/ref>Jane Perlez

in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, July 18, 1993. It currently serves as a tourist attraction and venue for a variety of exhibitions.Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk

in "Krakow" from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Today the Barbican is under the jurisdiction of The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków. Tourists may tour its interior with its displays outlining the historical development of fortifications in Kraków.Museum's History at the Museum's Home page

History

The Gothic-style barbican, built around 1498, is one of only three such fortified outposts still surviving in Europe, and the best preserved. It is a moated cylindrical brick structure with an inner courtyard 24.4 meters in diameter, and seven turrets. Its 3-meter-thick walls hold 130

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

s. The barbican was originally linked to the

by a covered passageway that led through

St. Florian's Gate St. Florian's Gate or Florian Gate ( pl, Brama Floriańska) in Kraków, Poland, is one of the best-known Polish Gothic towers, and a focal point of Kraków's Old Town. It was built about the 14th century as a rectangular Gothic tower of "wild st ...

and served as a checkpoint for all who entered the city.This article incorporates information available at the

Polish Wikipedia The Polish Wikipedia ( pl, Polskojęzyczna Wikipedia) is the Polish-language edition of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia. Founded on September 26, 2001, it now has more than articles, making it the -largest Wikipedia edition overall.

, including English text a
Verbia – Guided tours of Krakow
The Poles built the barbican fearing an attack by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

after the defeat of King

John I Albert John I Albert ( pl, Jan I Olbracht; 27 December 1459 – 17 June 1501) was King of Poland from 1492 until his death in 1501 and Duke of Głogów (Glogau) from 1491 to 1498. He was the fourth Polish sovereign from the Jagiellonian dynasty, the s ...

at the

Battle of the Cosmin Forest The Battle of the Cosmin Forest (1497) ( ro, bătălia de la Codrii Cosminului; pl, bitwa pod Koźminem) was fought between the Moldavian Prince, Ștefan cel Mare (''Stephen the Great''), and King John I of Poland (''John I Albert'') of the King ...

. The Barbican participated in the defense of Kraków in 1587 against the

Siege of Kraków (1587) The 1587 Siege of Kraków took place between 14 October and 29 November 1587, after the contested 1587 Polish–Lithuanian royal election, which resulted in a double selection of opposing candidates - Zygmunt Waza was elected by the nobility on ...

Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria Maximilian III of Austria, briefly known as Maximilian of Poland during his claim for the throne (12 October 1558 – 2 November 1618), was the Archduke of Further Austria from 1612 until his death. Biography Born in Wiener Neustadt, Maximilian ...

, in the

Siege of Kraków (1655) The siege of Kraków was one of the battles during the Swedish invasion of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Second Northern War / ''Deluge''). It started on 25 September 1655 and ended on 13 October 1655. Capitulation treatment was signed 4 ...

and the

Siege of Kraków (1657) The siege of Kraków was one of the military conflicts of the Swedish and Transylvanian invasion of Poland, which took place in the summer of 1657. The royal city of Kraków, had been occupied for two years by a Swedish-Transylvanian garrison l ...

, and Russian troops during the

Polish–Russian War of 1792 The Polish–Russian War of 1792 (also, War of the Second Partition, and in Polish sources, War in Defence of the Constitution ) was fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on one side, and the Targowica Confederation (conservat ...

. The building was threatened with demolition early in the 19th Century. However, in 1817 two senators of the

Free City of Kraków Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

Feliks Radwanski Feliks is a variant spelling of the given name Felix, used in Poland and the Baltic states, as well as in the transliteration of the name Felix from Russian. Feliks may refer to: *Feliks Ankerstein (1897–1955), Polish Army major and intelligen ...

and

Jan Librowski Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

, convinced the Senate to preserve the Barbican and other parts of the old fortifications.

Design

The Barbican was originally a large, circular tower with an interior open space with a diameter of . It was built of brick and stone and stood four stories tall. It had seven watch towers. The walls were about at their base and at the top. The Barbican's exterior gate, the Kleparz Gate, was protected by a large, semi-circular moat wide and deep.

Features

Considered a masterpiece of medieval military engineering, the circular fortress of the Kraków's ''Barbakan'' was added to the city's fortifications along the coronation route in the late 15th century, based on Arabic rather than European defensive strategy. On its eastern wall, a tablet commemorates the feat of a Kraków

burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Bu ...

, Marcin Oracewicz, who, during the

Bar Confederation The Bar Confederation ( pl, Konfederacja barska; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles (szlachta) formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia (now part of Ukraine) in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish� ...

, defended the town against the Russians and shot their Colonel Panin, according to a legend, using a

czamara Czamara (from Polish language; plural ''czamary''; also known in the English language as Cracow/Kraków coat; originally es, zamarra, french: chamarre, german: Tschamarre, Arabic: ''samur'' - fur coat) was a type of outer garment in the Polish–L ...

button instead of a bullet.Beata Moore
Cracow: City of Treasures
112 pages. Published by Frances Lincoln, Kraków – City portrait
at Compress VerlagsgesmbH, Wien, Österreich

Gallery

BASA-1771K-1-1163-29-Krakow, Poland.jpeg, Kraków Barbican in the 1930s Krakau - Barbakan.jpg, Gate to the former fortified passage facing

to the south Kraków 149.jpg, Kraków Barbican modern entrance KR067.jpg, Barbican's defensive walls and the connecting bridge from before their 19th century dismantlement

History

Design

Features

Gallery

See also