Centre of Kalisz Fairy Tales, Legends and the Town's Founding

The Dorotka Tower is the only surviving tower of Kalisz's medieval walls – out of eighteen that once reinforced them. Since 8 December 2018 it has housed the Centre of Kalisz Fairy Tales, Legends and the Town's Founding: a multimedia exhibition about the town's legends and its Piast-era beginnings. It makes a short, family-friendly stop right in the centre, on plac Jana Pawła II.

The walls of Casimir the Great

Kalisz was enclosed by walls in the mid-14th century, and their construction is attributed to King Casimir the Great. The fortifications were 6 to 9 m high and 1 to 1.5 m thick, and were surrounded on all sides by branches of the Prosna river; four gates led into the town. After the fire of 1537, which destroyed the royal castle adjoining the walls, the defences were modernised. Of the eighteen towers only "Dorotka" survives, together with a stretch of wall beside it.

The legend of Dorotka

Two legends explain the tower's name. In the first, the beautiful Dorotka, daughter of the castle's starost, fell in love with a poor young shoemaker named Marcinek; her furious father had her walled up alive in one of the towers, which then took her name. In the second, the tower served as a prison for girls of loose morals, who were known as "Dorotkas".

What's inside

The centre was created as part of the Greater Poland region's Piast Trail project, with the involvement of the Greater Poland Tourist Organisation. The renovation and exhibition cost about PLN 800,000, of which PLN 600,000 came from EU funds. The exhibition tells the legends of Kalisz and the story of the founding of the town and the Piast state, and on information panels you can listen to two fairy tales in Polish and English: "The Legend of Dorotka and the Shoemaker Marcinek" and "The Silent Frogs". A mural entitled "The Piast Dynasty of Kalisz" was painted on the walls by the tower and can be seen without a ticket.

Tripto tips

A visit to the tower is combined with the Treasury of St Joseph's Basilica, shown by a PTTK guide – its treasures include the chalice of Casimir the Great and the paten of Mieszko III the Old. According to a 2023 city notice, in the summer season the centre was open Tuesday to Thursday 10:00–16:00, Friday 10:00–18:00 and at weekends 10:00–17:00, and closed on Mondays. Confirm current hours and prices at the Tourist Information office. Half an hour is enough for the tower, about an hour with the treasury. In summer, open-air concerts are held in the park by the tower.