Wieluń Town Hall and Kraków Gate

Wieluń has a town hall whose tower is a medieval city gate. In 1842 a late Neoclassical building designed by Henryk Marconi was added to the Gothic Kraków Gate – the only one of the town's old gates still standing. The clock on the tower has a story of its own: it was moved here in 1940 from the parish church that the Germans had blown up.

History: a gate that became a tower

The Kraków Gate was built in the 14th century to guard the road into town from Kraków. It was later given an extra storey; today its square lower section is topped by octagonal storeys, the highest being the narrowest. In the early 19th century the old Gothic town hall on the market square was demolished, and the town decided to build a new one by the Kraków suburb, attached to the gate. That is how the gate survived – and its tower became the town hall tower.

The clock from St Michael's

Nearby stood the Gothic parish church of St Michael the Archangel, a collegiate church from 1419. A clock was installed on its tower in 1893. In the German air raid of 1 September 1939 – at 4:40 a.m., in the first minutes of the Second World War, killing more than 1,000 residents and destroying 75% of the town centre – the church was badly damaged, and in 1940 the Germans blew it up and demolished it down to the foundations. The clock was then moved to the town hall. The church's foundations were uncovered and partly rebuilt in 1988–1991 and can be seen by the old market square, a few minutes' walk from the town hall.

What to see

• The Kraków Gate with its stone base, brick upper storeys and octagonal clock tower.
• The town hall façade – a two-storey Neoclassical building on a rectangular plan.
• The foundations of the parish church and a boulder commemorating the bombing of 1 September 1939.
• Sections of the town walls and the site of the former castle nearby.

Tripto tip

The town hall on Plac Kazimierza Wielkiego houses the town authorities, so it is best viewed from outside as part of a walk round the old town. Allow 30–40 minutes for the gate, the church foundations and the walls. For the full story of Wieluń, visit the Wieluń Regional Museum. The best photos come at dusk, when the clock face is lit up.