Fortifications

City Walls of Świdnica

Świdnica, the medieval capital of the duchy of Świdnica-Jawor, was one of the best-fortified towns in Silesia. The first mention of its fortifications comes from 1285, when Duke Henry IV Probus obliged the Jews of Świdnica to stand guard and help build the walls. Stone fortifications were therefore already growing in the 13th century.

A triple ring

The circuit measured about 2.3 kilometres and ran along today's Żeromskiego, Muzealna, Konopnicka, 1 Maja, Wrocławska streets and Niepodległości avenue. Seven gates led into the town, including the Strzegom Gate in the north and the Dzierżoniów Gate, known as the Lower Gate, in the south; the Mikolasch gate was used by pupils of the parish school, hence its other name, the School Postern. When the works were completed in 1623, the fortifications formed a triple ring with more than 70 towers and bastions.

From fortress to demolition

Hussite troops failed to take the town in 1429, but the Thirty Years' War badly damaged the defences. In 1743–1753, when Świdnica was raised to the rank of a fortress, part of the walls was torn down, and in 1807 the remains were blown up on Napoleon's orders.

Relics to see

Today the medieval defences are recalled by the bastion of the Strzegom Gate on Basztowa street, the 16th-century chapel of St Barbara on Zamkowa street and fragments on Niepodległości avenue and Wrocławska street — most probably the original walls from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. Earthworks uncovered the relics of the Kraszowice, Peter and Kaptur gates. At 1 Muzealna street you can see a Renaissance portal of 1537, created when the castle was rebuilt after a fire — the only visible trace of the residence on whose site the Capuchins later built their monastery.