Fort 49 "Krzesławice"
Fortress Kraków
A typical single-rampart artillery fort, an important element of the north-eastern stretch of the so-called third ring of the Austrian fortifications of Fortress Kraków. It stands in the Na Stoku estate on Architektów Street, in the Wzgórza Krzesławickie district. The fort houses the Fort 49 "Krzesławice" Youth Culture Centre, and its surroundings serve as a recreational park with paths and benches. The first building works date from 1872-1878, and in 1881-1886 it was rebuilt as an artillery fort. On 18-20 November 1914 the fort's artillery shelled the advance units of the Russian army in the first phase of the so-called Battle of Kraków.
History
Fort 49 "Krzesławice" was built in stages. Around 1872 a timber and earth redoubt stood here; in 1878 it was rebuilt as an intermediate fort, and in 1881-1886 an artillery fort was built on the hill known as Łysa Góra. Its 12 cm and 15 cm guns were to defend the Proszowice road and the railway line to Kocmyrzów. In 1878 Jan Matejko and Marian Gorzkowski visited the fort twice; two years earlier Matejko had bought a nearby estate in Krzesławice. From 1895 to 1897 Wincenty Witos served here as a gunner.
In November 1914, in the first phase of the Battle of Kraków, the fort's artillery fired on the vanguard of the Russian army approaching the city. During the German occupation the fort, far from the centre, became a place of execution: from autumn 1939 to November 1941 the Germans shot 440 people here, prisoners from Montelupich prison and St Michael's prison on Senacka Street, among them many members of Kraków's intelligentsia. In 1945 the remains were exhumed and laid in a mass grave behind the fort. Bullet marks can still be seen on its walls.
After the war the fort was a workers' hostel for the crews building Nowa Huta, and from the 1960s it fell into ruin: part of it was blown up, the ramparts were levelled, and storerooms were set up in part of it. The turning point came in the 1990s, when the Fort 49 "Krzesławice" Youth Culture Centre opened in the fort. Conservation work continues to this day.
Did you know?
From 1928 to 1939 the fort had the mast of a Polish counter-intelligence listening station, which collected, among other things, material for breaking the Enigma code.