About This Location
The Kraków Barbican is the round brick fortress just outside the Old Town, built in 1498-1499 to strengthen the city’s main northern entrance at St. Florian’s Gate. It once sat behind a water-filled moat and was linked to the gate by a fortified passage, creating a serious checkpoint for anyone trying to enter Kraków. A few details make it easy to imagine how it worked. The walls are about 3 meters thick, the roofline is topped by seven turrets, and there are around 130 loopholes for archers and later firearms. Even without going inside, it feels more like a small castle than a simple gatehouse. Most of Kraków’s medieval walls were pulled down in the early 1800s, when the city decided the defenses were outdated and wanted more open space. This stretch survived thanks to determined locals - including Senator Feliks Radwański, who famously argued that the walls protected the city from strong winds and drafts. The surviving fragment, with the Barbican and St. Florian’s Gate, is now one of the best places to picture what the fortified Kraków once looked like.