St. Florian’s Gate served as the main entrance to the former Kraków. It allowed entry to the city and was a military building. Currently, it is one of the most famous monuments in Kraków. It was built as a defensive tower. Its 34-meter silhouette rises picturesquely between the Barbican and the beginning of Floriańska Street. The first mention of it comes from 1307. It was expanded and increased in height until the 16th century. Until the 19th century, the role and layout of the inner area and some external parts were changed. The building was erected on a rectangular plan with dimensions of eight and a half meters and just over nine meters. Its walls are made of irregular, light-colored stones. Only the upper section is made of brick. A narrow strip of bricks also appears in the central part of the wall facing Floriańska Street. The building is covered with a brick hip tile roof. It is crowned with a steeple covered with a now green, copper sheet metal helmet and a gold-plated flag.

The gate opening is about three and a half meters high, almost four meters wide, and is topped with a sharp arc. In the wall on the west side, there is a small chapel. When entering from the side of the Barbican, you can see it on your right. Above the altar, there is a copy of the icon of Our Lady of Piasek.

Above the gate opening on the wall facing Floriańska Street, there is a porch. It is surrounded by a decorative stone balustrade made of gray sandstone. From the porch, you can enter the Chapel of the Virgin Mary.

The Pasamoników (Haberdashers’) Tower is one of the elements of Krakow’s medieval walls and defensive structures. It is situated at the beginning of Pijarów Street, at the intersection with Szpitalna Street. Its origins date back to the first half of the 14th century. It was expanded in the second half of the 15th century. The name comes from a guild of craftsmen – haberdashers, who made ornaments for garments. The guild was obliged to defend the tower in the event of a siege. The building represents the Gothic style. It is 31 meters high. Its oldest part – the base – was built on a square plan with a side length of seven and a half meters. Irregular, light-colored stones were used for construction to form a six-meter high tower. At the top, there is a semicircular brick section which was added later. Most of the bricks are red, but some are dark gray. The straight wall faces Pijarów Street. The semicircular part – the Planty Park. The tower is topped with a steep, pointed roof made of brick tiles and crowned with a slender turret with a metal flag.

The entrance to the tower is situated in the wall facing Pijarów Street. This is where the line between the stone and the brick is irregular. A four-and-a-half-meter high gate, which leads into the tower, is finished with a semicircular arch.

St Florian’s Gate – north elevation

The Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary is situated on the ground floor of St. Florian’s Gate. It was built during the renovation of the monument carried out in 1885-1886. The works were commissioned by Prince Władysław Czartoryski who wanted a chapel for his family. The interior was designed in the neo-Gothic style by an architect from Kraków, Wandalin Beringer. The style mimics the features of the Gothic style, such as sharp arches. The chapel was constructed inside the gate built on a rectangular plan, it is eight and a half meters long, nine meters wide, and almost twelve meters high. You can enter the chapel from the porch. In front of the entrance, there is a stone altar with a cross and a figure of Christ on top of it. Behind the altar, you will find a small stained glass window depicting the Virgin Mary. The chapel was painted with vivid colors. The walls are red and yellow, and the vault is blue.

Following the example of Gothic art, the chapel has a rib vault. The skeleton of the vault is made of thick arches which look like ribs. In the Czartoryski chapel, they are painted red and gold. They converge at the central, highest point of the vault, where the Pogoń coat of arms is located. It displays a knight on horseback, raising a sword. The line where the walls and the vault meet is semicircular.

The preserved fragment of the defensive walls of Kraków is situated between the Pasamoników (Haberdashers’) Tower, St. Florian’s Gate, and the Carpenters’ Tower. It is almost a hundred meters long. The walls come from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. Their highest part was added in the early 20th century. The walls reach a height of about 10 meters and are almost two and a half meters thick. They were mainly built of the so-called crushed stone. The pieces of light-colored stones are irregular. The highest section of the wall is made of bricks and covered with a roof, which also covers a wooden porch on the south side of the walls facing Pijarów Street.

The upper edge of the stone section of the walls is shaped like rectangular teeth, which is called a battlement. The ‘teeth’ occur at intervals and the gaps between them are now filled with bricks. Every other stone ‘tooth’ has a narrow rectangular embrasure.

The history of defensive structures, or fortifications, is as old as the history of human settlement, of the formation of the first big city and state centers in the world, and its origins are associated with the need to protect such centers. The term “fortification”, or “fortify” itself (as an action), comes from the Latin fortificatio and was created by combining two Latin words: fortis – ‘strong’ and facio – ‘to make’. Its general meaning, therefore, refers to strengthening, making a given area stronger and more secure. The term “fortification” also includes a structure or a facility that provides additional protection to a specific territory. Fortifications can be broadly divided into two categories: 1. field fortifications that are built on an ad hoc basis, to meet a sudden need, and 2. permanent fortifications used to protect a given area in the long term.

The history of permanent fortifications goes back to the 3rd millennium BC and is associated with the emergence of great ancient civilizations that developed in the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Ganges and Yangtze river valleys. The flagship example of a fortification, whose construction began around the 3rd millennium BC, is the Great Wall of China, which was constantly expanded over the centuries, ending up as a huge, monumental structure. Other great fortifications of ancient times include the Egyptian fortresses of Abydos or Semna.

Kraków has a perfect area with natural fortification properties in the form of Wawel Hill, which shows traces of human presence dating back to the Stone Age and representing the so-called Prądnik culture (70,000-48,000 BC). The hill was a convenient settlement area for millennia, it was where traces of the first Slavs appeared in the 6th century AD. The oldest relics of Wawel’s defensive structures, on the other hand, come from the 9th century. Those fortifications surrounding the entire hill are most likely associated with the state of Vistulans and with a possible residence on the hill owned by the “pagan prince sitting on the Vistula” mentioned in the life of St. Methodius. They took the form of an earth embankment. In the following centuries, the fortifications were expanded by adding wooden elements, including a palisade.

Wawel Hill becoming a ducal center provided an impulse for people to settle at its feet. The earliest settlements were established in the vicinity of Kanonicza and Grodzka streets, creating a gord, which in the 9th century was surrounded by an earth embankment.

The foundation of Kraków under German town law, i.e. the creation of an urban center, did include plans for surrounding Kraków with defensive structures. It was after another Tatar invasion in 1259 that it received serious consideration, however, the unstable situation in the fragmented country delayed the investment. It was Duke Leszek II the Black who, while in conflict with the magnates of Małopolska and Duke Konrad II of Masovia, had the support of the townspeople of Kraków and managed to provide the town with protection. In gratitude to the residents of Kraków, he issued a 1285 privilege allowing the construction of a wood and earth embankment surrounding the town. Although the works on such a large project were a burden to the municipal treasury, Kraków, which was experiencing rapid economic development at that time, was quick to build its first fortifications ensuring the safety of its residents. They did not have to wait long to test out the fortifications – at the turn of 1287 and 1288, Kraków was attacked by Tatars once again. This time, the town was successful in repelling the attack.

Although resistant to ranged weapons, wooden and earth fortifications were exposed to adverse weather conditions. Already at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, those fortifications started to be replaced with much more durable and safer brick fortifications. In Kraków, such a process dates back to the reign of Wenceslaus II (1291-1305). At that time, fortifications were built using stone bound with lime mortar. The height of the wall was even 10 meters, while its width was about 2.4 meters. On the top, there was a battlement on the outside (a crenellated wall about 0.5 meters wide), while on the inside, there was a footpath forming the so-called guard porch. From the porch, the defenders of the walls could directly hit the enemy with ranged weapons, aiming from the crenels. Sometimes, the walls had hoardings and machicolation boxes. Hoardings consisted of wooden porches hanging at the top front of the wall. They had holes in the floor so that it was possible to strike the enemy at the very base of the wall. It was also a good spot to pour hot water or tar over the enemies. Over time, wooden structures extending beyond the wall were replaced with brick ones, called machicolations; they were mounted on stone supports called corbels and protected the defenders much better.

The moat, which additionally raised the defensive value of the entire fortification system, was dug along the entire route of the city walls, except for sections with natural water reservoirs. Kraków had such wetlands near Okół, from the south-west side – around the Na Groblach area. Moats were usually supplied with water from the surrounding rivers – in Kraków, it came from the Rudawa River, whose course in the Middle Ages was different to its current one.

Another stage of the expansion of the Kraków fortification complex took place in the 14th century when the four-sided bay windows protruding in front of the fortifications were built into the walls at regular intervals. The bay windows, initially corresponding to the height of the wall at which they were situated, served as the base for the later Kraków towers. They significantly increased the defensive quality of the walls, allowing guards to open fire from the side from embrasures situated at the top. Later, they became the basis of the following fortified towers: Barber Surgeons’, Bellows Makers’, Tinsmiths’, Gunsmiths’, Ceklarzy, Blacksmiths’, Saddlers’, and the Executioners’. Such conclusions seem correct because of their rectangular shapes in the lowest stories.

The process of building the bay windows and then converting them into fortified towers was extremely costly and time-consuming. Until 1473, 17 towers were built in Kraków, in the 2nd half of the 16th century – there were 33 towers, and by 1648 – 47.

raft guilds were organizations gathering all craftsmen of a given trade in the city, e.g. shoemakers, blacksmiths, furriers, etc. They controlled the quality of products and their prices. They were the basic organizational unit of urban society during the Old Polish period. The guilds were headed by masters who had appropriate knowledge and experience in a given profession. They had to go through the entire process of vocational education from an early age, acquiring basic knowledge as apprentices, then performing slightly more complicated tasks as journeymen, in order to finally take the master exam, where they had to produce a perfect object. If their skills allowed and they correctly produced the ordered article – the so-called masterpiece, they became master tradesmen.

Since it was mainly the craftsmen’s duty to defend Kraków – representatives of municipal professional corporations who did not have knowledge and skills in the use of ranged or cold weapons, the city needed an additional organization with military training. This was the Kraków Brotherhood of the Rooster. Its name comes from the form of activity – shooting from a crossbow or a bow to a target put on a tall pole – a wooden image of a bird, i.e. a rooster.

The origins of the organization are unknown. They might have been associated with the construction of brick fortifications around the city. Written sources do not mention the Brotherhood of the Rooster until the 15th century. The activities of the city dwellers involved mainly shooting with a crossbow or a bow, later – with firearms and black powder.

n the Old Polish period, there were so many craft guilds in Kraków that it was possible to entrust each of these organizations with a different fortified tower. During the periods of peace, the guilds also looked after the gates, and during a siege they manned them with their craftsmen. The furriers’ guild was responsible for St. Florian’s Gate, the Sławkowska Gate was looked after by tailors, the Butchers’ Gate (later Mikołajska Gate) – by the butchers’ guild, the Nowa Gate – by bakers, the Grodzka Gate – by goldsmiths, the Szewska Gate – by shoemakers, and the Wiślna Gate – by locksmiths. As for the guilds taking care of the fortified towers after the completion of the construction process in 1648, we know of the following fortified towers from the north of the city:

– two Innkeepers’ towers, the Haberdashers’ Tower, the Carpenters’ Tower, and the Woodworkers’ Tower (those three exist to this day), the Swordsmen’s Tower, two Shoemakers’ towers, and the Executioner’s Tower

St. Florian’s Gate played a special role in the entire fortification system of Kraków. It guarded the passage to one of the largest streets in the city – Floriańska Street, which led directly to the Main Square. It was also part of the route leading south through the Main Square and Grodzka Street to Wawel and the Royal Castle. Hence, it was called the Royal Route – Via Regia. It was this route that was used by Polish kings to enter Wawel Hill, where they always got a tumultuous welcome. Since St. Florian’s Gate guarded the most important entrance to the city, it also had appropriate additional fortifications. At the end of the 15th century, when the city was threatened by the raids of Turks and Tatars, King John I Albert decided to build one more element of the city’s fortifications in the fore field of St. Florian’s Gate – the Barbican, which was erected in 1498-1499. At that time, it was a completely innovative defensive element of the city and an extremely strong point fortifying the entire system. The wide moat, a series of drawbridges, and portcullises made it practically impossible to force it during an attack. What is more, the Barbican was connected with St. Florian’s Gate by the so-called ‘neck’ which was a narrow passage enclosed with walls on the sides and with a portcullis and gates.

The city had to withstand an incomparably greater siege in the 17th century during the Second Northern War, in Poland referred to as the “Swedish Deluge”, which resulted from the Swedes’ desire to dominate the Baltic Sea and the claims of Polish monarchs from the House of Vasa to the Swedish throne. The Scandinavian troops reached Polish Pomerania on July 19, 1655, and with no resistance from Poles, they advanced quickly into the country. Upon the news of the invasion, Kraków decided to strengthen its fortification system to better prepare the city for defense during the siege. It was already at the beginning of August 1655 that the renovation of the city walls began and another defense line in the form of earth embankments was created in front of the proper fortifications. They stretched from St. Florian’s Gate to the Mikołajska Gate, while further in the south, sconces with palisades were placed up to the Grodzka Gate. Access to some of the city gates was blocked with boulders and earth.

The next big battles for Kraków and its siege took place in the 18th century, in the last years of the independence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After signing the “Treaty of Perpetual Friendship” with Russia on February 24, 1768, when the protectorate of Russia over Poland became official, a group of magnates decided to form a confederation against Russia. It took place in Bar in Podolia, hence the name – the Bar Confederation. The Kraków voivodeship was also the site of formal protests of citizens against the undermined independence – the signing of the confederation act took place in Kleparz on June 20, 1768. Wishing to deal with the disobedient voivodeship as soon as possible, Russia sent its troops to Kraków. On June 22, the city was attacked by a unit of Russian troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Bock. The attack is associated with a legend about the inhabitants of Kraków, who resisted the attack, defending the city walls. Since the attack of the Russians was carried out from the north, the defenders from the section between St. Florian’s Gate and the Haberdashers’ Tower got involved in the fights – representatives of the haberdashers’ guild (craftsmen who manufactured leather belts and fabric fringes). One of the haberdashers, Marcin Oracewicz, a Kraków burgher and a member of the Brotherhood of the Rooster, was a skilled shooter. He decided to target Lieutenant Colonel Bock who was in charge of the storming Russian troops. Since he had run out of ammunition, he loaded his musket with a button from his żupan. He managed to hit the commander and stop the attack on the city. A commemorative plaque attached to the walls of the Barbican reminds us of the legend. Although the first attack was repelled, Russian forces were growing in numbers, and on July 27 they surrounded the entire city. The numerous attacks of Moskals – especially at the Sławkowska and Mikołajska gates, where the defenders ran out of supplies, broke their fighting spirit. Soon the city was captured.

In the 19th century, some modifications were made to the existing fragments of city walls – a small brick wall was added to put a roof over the guard porch, which had been missing before. In the 1890s, by the decision of Prince Władysław Czartoryski and according to the design of Wandalin Berninger. the room above St. Florian’s Gate inside the tower gained a neo-Gothic chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The chapel was equipped with a stone altar with a large cross, which was originally located on the façade of the historic house “Under the Cross”.