Fort 52a "Jugowice"
Fortress Kraków
An auxiliary armoured fort, also known as "Łapianka", from 1896-1902 (according to other sources 1897-1898). It strengthened the defence of the fortress's southern flank and commanded the Vienna Road, today Zakopiańska Street; its main armament was four armoured turrets with 8 cm guns. It passed into civilian hands in 1958, when a fruit wine plant operated here, which badly devastated the building. After renovation in 2015-2019, since 2022 it has been used as the Museum and Centre of the Scouting Movement in Kraków, a branch of the Museum of Kraków.
History
Fort 52a, known as Jugowice or Łapianka, belongs to the ring of armoured forts that the Austrians built around Kraków at the end of the 19th century. It was one of fourteen similar forts closing the city's outer ring of defences. It stood by the Vienna road, today's Zakopiańska Street, and strengthened the southern flank of the fortress. It was armed with four armoured turrets carrying 8 cm guns. Nearby was an artillery battery for long-range defence.
The fort saw no fighting in the First World War. After 1918 it was taken over by the Polish Army, and during the occupation it was stripped of its modern armament. Later the site fell into decline: it housed a fruit-processing plant and a winery, and adapting the buildings for production badly damaged the fort and its surroundings.
The fort's location, layout and state of preservation decided its new life. In 2011 a competition was announced for a concept of a Scouting Movement Centre and Museum, and two years later the winning studio was commissioned to design the renovation of the barracks and combat block. The renovation lasted from 2015 to 2019, and in 2019-2022 a new building was added. Today the fort houses the Museum and Centre of the Scouting Movement, a branch of the Museum of Kraków, with conference rooms, accommodation, a camping field and a campfire area for about 300 people. Since July 2023 visitors can see the exhibition "Fort Jugowice. The Heritage of a Place" inside, devoted to the history of southern Kraków and the Kraków Fortress, its architecture and the Austro-Hungarian soldiers who lived there.
Did you know?
At the entrance to the exhibition stands a reconstructed section of a stone burster layer. Such layers were laid inside the earth rampart so that shells fired at the fort would explode well away from the concrete structure. The youngest visitors are shown around the fort's nooks and crannies by Jacek the cat.