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Kraków guide

The Barbican and the northern walls: Kraków's defended edge

From the Czartoryski Museum past the Barbican and the Grunwald Monument to St Florian's Basilica, a route along the line where Kraków's old walls stood. It suits first-time visitors who want the city's defensive history without the crowds of the Main Square.

Most visitors head straight for the Main Square. The northern edge of the Old Town tells a different story: the one of walls, a moat and a monument built to remind a partitioned nation of an old victory. Four stops here show how Kraków defended itself, and how it later chose to remember.

A museum behind the walls

The Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich began in 1796, when Princess Izabela Czartoryska started collecting Polish keepsakes at Puławy. The collection reached Kraków in 1876 and the museum opened here in 1878. Its best-known work is Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine, which the family bought in 1798. The main building was closed for restoration in 2010 and reopened in December 2019. Head first for the painting, then head for the old walls and the Barbican.

Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich w Krakowie
Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich w KrakowieMuseumLeonardo's Lady with an Ermine is the reason to buy a ticket, the museum's best-known painting. The collection began at Puławy in 1796 and opened here in 1878.Photo: Zygmunt Put, CC BY-SA 4.0

The round fort at the gate

The Barbican is a round brick outwork built around 1498 to guard the way into the city. Count the seven small turrets on top, then look at the walls, pierced by 130 loopholes. A covered passage once joined it to St Florian's Gate, so anyone coming in had to pass through both. Walk round the outside first, then step into the courtyard and read the displays on the city's fortifications.

Barbican
BarbicanMuseumWalk the full circle outside, then enter to see the courtyard and the exhibition on the city's defences.Photo: Jeremiah Z. Cockroach, CC BY-SA 4.0

A monument rebuilt

Cross the road to Matejko Square and the Grunwald Monument. Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the pianist who later became prime minister, paid for it, and it was unveiled on 15 July 1910, five hundred years after the Polish-Lithuanian victory over the Teutonic Knights. King Władysław Jagiełło sits on his horse at the top. The Germans blew it up between 1939 and 1940, and a new version was opened in 1976. Stand back to see the king, then walk close to read the plinth.

Grunwald Monument
Grunwald MonumentLandmarkStand back to take in the equestrian figure of Jagiełło, then step up to the plinth. This is a rebuilt monument; the original was destroyed in 1939 to 1940.Photo: Jeremiah Z. Cockroach, CC BY-SA 4.0

The oldest corner

At the north end of the square stands Bazylika Świętego Floriana, on a site that has had a church since the twelfth century. What you see now is mostly Baroque, rebuilt after wars in the seventeenth century. Karol Wojtyła served here as a young priest from 1949 to 1951; as Pope John Paul II he made it a minor basilica in 1999. Step inside if the doors are open, and sit for a few minutes after the walk.

Bazylika Świętego Floriana
Bazylika Świętego FlorianaPlace of worshipThe interior is Baroque, so look up if the doors are open. Karol Wojtyła served here as a priest from 1949 to 1951.Photo: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0

The walls are mostly gone, but the Barbican and St Florian's Gate still mark their line. From here, St Florian's Gate leads back towards the Main Square.