Kraków Barbican

Barbican Krakow

Historical Museum of the City of Krakow

The Barbican
Established 1967
Location Kraków, Poland
Coordinates 50°03′56″N 19°56′30″W / 50.06549°N 19.94164°W / 50.06549; -19.94164Coordinates: 50°03′56″N 19°56′30″W / 50.06549°N 19.94164°W / 50.06549; -19.94164
Type
    Collection size
      Visitors
        Manager Małgorzata Niechaj
        Director PL:Michał Niezabitowski
        Curator Małgorzata Niechaj
        Public transit access PL:Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne w Krakowie how to get there, see external links
        Website http://www.mhk.pl/branches/barbican

        The Kraków Barbican (Polish: barbakan krakowski) is a barbican – a fortified outpost once connected to the city walls. It is a historic gateway leading into the Old Town of Kraków, Poland. The barbican is one of the few remaining relics of the complex network of fortifications and defensive barriers that once encircled the royal city of Kraków in the south of Poland.[1][2] It currently serves as a tourist attraction and venue for a variety of exhibitions.[3]

        Today Barbican falls under the jurisdiction of The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków which has made it accessible for the tourists, who can tour its interior with outline of historical development of fortifications in Kraków.[4]

        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 embrasures. The barbican was originally linked to the city walls by a covered passageway that led through St. Florian's Gate and served as a checkpoint for all who entered the city.[5]

        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.[3] On its eastern wall, a tablet commemorates the feat of a Kraków burgher, Marcin Oracewicz, who, during the Bar Confederation, defended the town against the Russians and shot their Colonel Panin.[6][7]

        See also

        Notes

        1. ↑ Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2002-2009, The Sites on the UNESCO List. Krakow, at Poland.gov.pl
        2. ↑ Jane Perlez, Cracow Emerges From the Shadows in the New York Times, July 18, 1993.
        3. 1 2 Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk, The Walls, Barbakan and the Florianska in "Krakow" from the Internet Archive
        4. ↑ Museum's History at the Museum's Home page (in Polish)
        5. ↑ This article incorporates information available at the Polish Wikipedia, including English text at Verbia - Guided tours of Krakow Archived 2008-05-31 at the Wayback Machine.
        6. ↑ Beata Moore, Cracow: City of Treasures, 112 pages. Published by Frances Lincoln, ISBN 0-7112-2571-0
        7. ↑ Kraków – City portrait Archived 2008-06-08 at the Wayback Machine. at Compress VerlagsgesmbH, Wien, Österreich

        Bibliography

        Media related to Barbakan in Kraków at Wikimedia Commons

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