Kraków Defence Walls, Stare Miasto, Poland

The defences of Kraków date back to the 13th century and consisted of a wall with 39 towers and 8 gates, surrounded by a moat. The Wawel Castle defended one end of the town, and the Barbican the other. Today you can still see the Castle and the Barbican, and a small section of the wall by St Florian's Gate.

But the site of the old wall has been replaced by a garden, The Planty, that encircles the city. As you walk around the garden you can still see fragments of the walls and the gates.

User Reviews

Viorel Ciuna (4 years ago)
The renovated defensive wall of Krakow citadel, became one of the main touristic attraction of the town. Near this wall, the the artists expose their paints or different other art manufactures. It is a very nice place to be visited!

Torben Mauch (4 years ago)
Die Verteidigungsmauer ist eine schöne Abwechslung beim Besuch von Krakau. Allerdings sehr klein. Der Film zur Geschichte der Stadt ist leider sehr einfach. Das Highlight ist dann die Kapelle direkt oben im Florianstor UND die Aussicht auf die Florianska Straße. Nichts für Menschen mit Gehbehinderung. Eintritt angemessen.

Róbert Maták (4 years ago)
Just took photo and moved to the next thing

Ryszard P (5 years ago)
Po zniszczeniu miasta przez Tatarów w 1241 roku ustalono nowe granice miasta o wymiarach 800x700 metrów. Na początku XIV wieku system murów obronnych posiadał 8 bram wjazdowych: Rzeźniczą 1280 r. Grodzką 1298 r. Floriańską 1307 r. Sławkowską 1311 r. Mikołajską 1312 r. Szewską 1313 r. Wiślną 1314 r. i Nową 1328 r. Dodatkowo w 3 km. pasie murów wybudowano 47 baszt. Zabór austryjacki nakazał wyburzenie umocnień co trwało do 1814 roku. Dzisiaj idąc plantami możemy zaobserwować udostępniony obrys murów oraz baszt z ich ówczesną nazwą.

Emi Svemir (5 years ago)
Bestens gespendete 16 Zlots für Familien Eintrittskarte. Für die 16pln bekommt man Eintritt zu gleich 3 Monumente

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Photo from Flickr, copyright joiseyshowaa

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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