Fort N-1 "Zwierzyniec"
Fortress Kraków
A close-defence fort, part of the inner, secondary defensive position of the core of Fortress Kraków, built in 1908-1909. It has a brick, stone and reinforced-concrete structure, a moat with a flattened slope and an outline similar to a barbican; a shelter-and-barracks block stands in the gorge line. In 1926-1927 it was adapted into a Polish Radio broadcasting station. Its remains stand at Malczewskiego Street.
History
Fort N-1 "Zwierzyniec", also called Core Infantry Fort 1, was built in 1908-1909 on what is now Malczewskiego Street. At that time the Austrians were dismantling the old core of Kraków Fortress: by 1909 the curtain walls of the rampart and bastions I to VI had been demolished, with only three of them kept. The role of the core was taken over by the fortifications of the second ring, which were modernised by building small infantry forts marked with the letter N (from the French "noyau", core). The Zwierzyniec fort belongs to this series - it was a standard close-defence work intended to defend an inner, secondary defensive position.
The fort was rectangular in plan, with an outline close to that of a barbican, a moat with a flattened slope and a shelter-and-barracks block along the gorge (rear) line. It was built of brick, stone and reinforced concrete. In 1926-1927 it was converted into a Polish Radio station. It is worth noting separately that Polish Radio's Kraków station began broadcasting on 15 February 1927, the second in the country after Warsaw - although it is not known whether it was broadcasting from this particular fort. Remains of the fort survive on Malczewskiego Street.
Did you know?
In Zwierzyniec, on Malczewskiego Street, stands the 123-metre mast of the Malczewskiego Radio Transmission Centre. It lies at the foot of St Bronisława's Hill, crowned by the Kościuszko Mound.