Warsaw Lunette
Fortress Kraków
A historic redoubt fort from 1850-1856 at the crossing of Kamienna Street and 29 Listopada Avenue, entered in the register of monuments. Among other things it guarded the toll gate of the Warsaw Road and was a modern redoubt fort for its time, at first thrust out in front of the core fortification line as a typical lunette. After Bastion IV was levelled in 1885 it was incorporated into the core ramparts and renumbered Bastion IVa. During the German occupation a Gestapo prison was housed here, and until 1950 a prison of the communist security service. Please be respectful - this is a place of remembrance for the prisoners.
History
The Warsaw Lunette is the oldest fort of Kraków Fortress. Neo-Gothic in appearance, it was meant to cover the city with artillery fire from the direction of the Russian border. Work was completed in 1856, and at that time it was the strongest defensive element of the whole fortress. Among other things it protected the toll gate on the Warsaw Road, and as a typical lunette it stood forward of the line of the core fortifications, because it defended the distant foreground.
As successive rings of forts surrounded Kraków, the Lunette, located close to the centre, lost its importance. In 1885 Bastion IV was levelled, and the fort was incorporated into the line of the core ramparts, next to the new Bastion IVb, and renamed Bastion IVa. It was modernised in 1888-1890, and from the 1890s it served as a storehouse and protected the railway junction and the fortress's freight forwarding. From 17 October 1907 a traditor was built on its left shoulder; fully equipped, it was put into service on 21 November 1908, at a cost of 38,320 crowns. When the ramparts and bastions of the core were demolished up to 1909, Bastion IVa was among those that were left standing.
Today the fort is also a place of remembrance. During the German occupation the Gestapo held prisoners here, and after the war, until 1950, it housed a Security Office prison where soldiers of the Polish underground were locked up. Inscriptions bearing witness to the suffering of this place remain on the walls; in 2010 the inscriptions in the cell known as the death cell were preserved. An expert report found, however, that there is no evidence that death sentences on soldiers of the post-war underground were carried out here. In June 2007 the fort was entered in the register of historic monuments, and in 2013 its gate was renovated.
Did you know?
Work on the Lunette began in 1849, that is even before the imperial decision to build the fortress, announced on 12 April 1850. That is why it is regarded as the oldest fort of Kraków Fortress.