Kraków City Walls

Of the more than three kilometres of medieval walls that once ringed Kraków, only about 200 metres survive – thanks to one professor who argued in the city senate that the walls protected St Mary's Basilica from nasty winds blowing in from the suburb of Kleparz. Kraków's city walls on Pijarska Street consist of St Florian's Gate, three towers and a covered wooden wall-walk that you can now walk along as part of a Museum of Kraków route. The rest of the fortifications live on in the Planty park, where small pedestals mark the spots where the towers once stood.

History: from wooden palisade to city park

After the Mongol raid of 1241 Kraków had no defences, and Duke Leszek the Black only granted permission to fortify the city in 1285. Under Wenceslas II stone walls began to rise, and under Casimir the Great they were joined to the fortifications of the Okół district below Wawel. The city was surrounded by a double ring of walls and a moat 6–10 m wide, fed by the Royal Millstream. Seven gates led inside, closed at night with oak doors and a lowered iron portcullis. In the 15th century the Barbican was built in front of St Florian's Gate and completed in 1498.

Each tower was defended by a different craft guild – hence names such as the Haberdashers', Joiners' and Carpenters' Towers. By the 17th century the fortifications were in decline, and in 1806 Emperor Francis II of Austria ordered them demolished. In 1810–1814 the moat was filled in and most of the walls pulled down; the Planty park was laid out in their place.

Who saved the walls

The stretch by St Florian's Gate survived thanks to Feliks Radwański (1756–1826), an architect, Jagiellonian University professor and senator of the Free City of Kraków. He argued, tongue in cheek, that the walls shielded St Mary's from the Kleparz winds, which carried stench and rubbish and lifted ladies' skirts. On 13 January 1817 the senate voted to preserve a section of the fortifications for posterity.

What to see

• St Florian's Gate – first recorded in 1307, about 34 m high. On the outside is an eagle designed by the painter Jan Matejko in 1882; on the city side a Baroque relief of St Florian, and in the passage a small shrine of Our Lady of the Sands.
• Three towers: the Haberdashers', Joiners' and Carpenters' – on stone bases, raised in brick in the 15th century. The hexagonal Carpenters' Tower guarded the city arsenal.
• The guards' wall-walk – a wooden gallery on the wall between the gate and the Haberdashers' Tower, which the museum route follows.
• The pedestals in the Planty – stone models of the lost towers and low walls tracing where the fortifications once ran.

Tripto tip

The City Walls route (a branch of the Museum of Kraków on Pijarska Street) is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:30–18:00, last entry 30 minutes before closing, and closed on Mondays. A standard ticket costs PLN 22, reduced PLN 16, family PLN 44; the walls are also part of the combined "Medieval Kraków" route (PLN 64). This is as of October 2026 – the museum sometimes changes hours in bad weather, so check its announcements before you go. Allow 30–45 minutes for the wall-walk and towers, about an hour with the Barbican. The walls look best from the Planty side, and the easiest starting point is St Florian's Gate at the end of Floriańska Street, a few minutes from the Main Market Square.