The Warsaw Barbican is a fortified semicircular fort that protected the fortress wall of the Old Town of Warsaw from the north-eastern side, at the Florian Gate. The Barbican itself is designed in the form of a wheel. In the center there was a square surrounded by a wall with 7 fortress towers. There are almost no such forts in Europe preserved.
The fortress walls of the Old Town, built in 1339, surrounded a small area. On the south side of this wall was the Castle Square. The distance from the Warsaw Barbican to the Castle Square is only 500 meters. There is a Market Square in the center of the Old Town.
The Warsaw Barbican was built in 1540, designed by the Venetian architect Giovanni Batista. He worked as an architect at the court of the Mazovian Prince. The height of the Barbican walls reaches 25 meters, and the thickness is 3 meters. On the 7 towers of the fort there were shooters who from three floors could fire at the enemy with guns. Now there are only 4 towers left from 7.
The prince made the decision to build the Warsaw Barbican because of the constant threat of an attack by Turkish troops. In the 16th and 17th centuries, this threat was very real and it was finally removed only in 1683. This year, after a two-month siege of Vienna by the Turkish army, the combined forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Poland defeated the Turkish army at the walls of the Austrian capital.
After that, the need to use the Barbican disappeared, although the main reason for the loss of its defensive value was the increased power of artillery. The walls of medieval fortresses are absolutely not adapted to place cannons on them. The trajectory of shots from high walls did not allow successfully defending the city, while the enemy`s guns could easily penetrate the fortress walls in the least protected places. By that time, fortresses with bastions in the form of stars began to appear.
After King Sigismund III moved the capital of Poland from Krakow to Warsaw in 1596, the city began to develop rapidly, new areas were built up. To the northwest of the Barbican, the quarters of the New City appeared. Thus, the Barbican itself was in the center of residential development. Subsequently, the Barbican became part of an apartment building.
During the events of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, the Warsaw Barbican, like other buildings of the historical center, was blown up by German troops. In the period 1952-54, the Barbican was restored according to old drawings and pictures. Now the Warsaw Barbican is one of the most favorite places where not only tourists, but also locals come.
Together with the Barbican, a part of the fortress wall was restored, as well as many houses that formed a very cozy pedestrian zone. There are always a lot of young people walking near the fortress walls. Street musicians and artists gather here. Jousting tournaments are held on the square in the center of Barbikan.
