Florian Gate
Encyclopedia
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, is one of the best-known Polish Gothic
Polish Gothic
The Gothic style arrived in Poland in first half the 13th century with Dominican and Franciscan orders. The first elements of the new style is evident in the foundation built during the bishop Iwo Odrowąż in Dominican Trinity church in Kraków...
towers, and a focal point of Kraków's Old Town. It was built about the 14th century as a rectangular Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
tower of "wild stone", part of the city fortifications against Turkish
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
attack.
History
Leszek II the Black
Leszek the Black , named after his black hair, was one of the High Dukes of the fragmented Kingdom of Poland. He ruled from 1279 to 1288, and was married to Agrippina of Slavonia with no children.- Life :...
, who in 1285 had issued a permit for erection of all city defenses. The Gate was manned by the Kraków Furriers Guild. According to records, by 1473 there were 17 towers defending the city; a century later, there were 33. Also, in 1565–66 a municipal arsenal
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
was built next to St. Florian's Gate.
The Gate tower is 33.5 meters tall. The Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
metal "helmet" that crowns the gate, constructed in 1660 and renovated in 1694, adds another meter to the height of the gate. It is the only city gate
City gate
A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. Other terms include port.-Uses:City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods and animals...
, of the original eight built in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, that was not dismantled during the 19th-century "modernization" of Kraków. The adjoining city walls and two additional, smaller towers have been preserved and today host street displays of amateur art available for purchase.
The south face of St. Florian's Gate is adorned with an 18th-century bas-relief of St. Florian. The tower's north face bears a stone eagle that was carved in 1882 by Zygmunt Langman, based on a design by painter Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings...
. Inside the gate is an altar with a late-Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
copy of a classicist painting of the Piaskowa Madonna.
Kraków's Royal Road begins at St. Florian's Gate, and the gate is a terminating vista
Terminating vista
In urban design, a terminating vista is a building or monument that stands at the end or in the middle of a road, so that when one is looking up the street the view ends with the site....
at its north end. Through it once entered kings and princes, foreign envoys and distinguished guests, and parades and coronation processions. They traveled up ulica Floriańska (St. Florian's Street) to the Main Market Square
Main Market Square, Kraków
The Main Market Square in Kraków is the most important market square of the Old Town in Kraków, Poland and a principal urban space located at the center of the city...
, and on up ulica Grodzka (Castle Street) to Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle
The Gothic Wawel Castle in Kraków in Poland was built at the behest of Casimir III the Great and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland. Their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hen's...
.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the expanding city had begun to outgrow the confines of the old city walls. The walls had been falling into disrepair for a hundred years due to lack of maintenance after the Partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
. The stagnant moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
fed by the Rudawa River
Rudawa River
Rudawa is a small river in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland; a tributary of the Vistula river. Rudawa joins Vistula in Kraków near the district of Zwierzyniec. Through the city, the flow of the river is controlled by artificial embankments...
was a dump for illegal garbage and posed health concerns for the city. Such dire circumstances inspired Emperor Franz I of Austro-Hungary to order the dismantling of the city walls. However, on January 13, 1817, Professor Feliks Radwański of Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
managed to convince the Session of the Senate of the Republic of Kraków to legislate the partial preservation of the old fortifications—St. Florian's Gate and the adjoining barbican
Barbican of Kraków
The Kraków barbican 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...
.
City walls
Until the 19th century, Kraków had massive medieval city walls. The inner wall was some 2.4 meters wide and 6–7 meters high. Ten meters outside the inner wall was an outer, lower one. The walls were punctuated by defensive towers 10 meters high. In the 19th century — just before they were demolished by the Austrian authorities — there were 47 towers still standing. Now there are only three Gothic towers left in all Kraków: the Carpenters', Haberdashers' and Joiners' Towers, connected to St. Florian's Gate by walls several dozen meters long.See also
- Polish GothicPolish GothicThe Gothic style arrived in Poland in first half the 13th century with Dominican and Franciscan orders. The first elements of the new style is evident in the foundation built during the bishop Iwo Odrowąż in Dominican Trinity church in Kraków...
- History of PolandHistory of PolandThe History of Poland is rooted in the arrival of the Slavs, who gave rise to permanent settlement and historic development on Polish lands. During the Piast dynasty Christianity was adopted in 966 and medieval monarchy established...
- KrakówKrakówKraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
- St. Florian
- St. Florian's ChurchSt. Florian's ChurchThe Collegiate Church of St. Florian is a historic church in Kraków, Poland. It stands at the northern end of Matejko Square and the former centre of the mediaeval city of Kleparz, now a district of Kraków. The edifice marks the beginning of the Royal Road....