Fortifications

Town Walls in Byczyna

Byczyna is one of the few Polish towns whose medieval fortifications have survived almost intact. A ring of brick and rough-stone walls, in places built of field boulders, encircles the old town in an oval line over 900 metres long — along Okrężna, Wałowa, Zamoyskiego, Floriańska and Błonie streets.

Stone core and brick addition

The first walls were raised in the mid-13th century as a ring of stone wall preceded by a dry moat; marshes protected the town from the north. In the mid-14th century the walls were heightened with a brick section — on the outside they then reached 5.5–7 m, with a thickness of 1.3–1.7 m. A preserved section of the moat now merges with the municipal park in northern Byczyna; it took its present shape in 1940, and trout have been raised there for years.

Gates and the bastion

The circuit is closed by two 15th-century gate towers. The German Gate (Western) on Okrężna Street is built of rough stone up to the height of the walls, with brick above; its present pointed-arch passage was cut through the ground floor at the end of the 19th century. The Polish Gate (Eastern) on Zamoyskiego Street went down in history as the place where Archduke Maximilian Habsburg capitulated after being defeated by Jan Zamoyski's forces in the 1588 Battle of Byczyna. The southern stretch was reinforced in the 16th century with the Sand Bastion, pierced by numerous loopholes.

Practicalities

The walls are freely accessible around the clock; a full circuit of the old town is the most rewarding walk. Nearby: the Gród Byczyna stronghold (5 km) and the monuments of Wieluń (27 km).