by
Zygmunt Vogel.|left The barbican was erected in 1540 in place of an older
gate to protect Nowomiejska Street. It was designed by Jan Baptist the Venetian, an
Italian Renaissance architect who lived and worked in the
Mazowsze region of 16th century
Poland and was instrumental in the redesign of the 14th-century city walls, which by that time had fallen into disrepair. The barbican had the form of a three-level semicircular
bastion manned by
fusiliers. It was 14 meters wide and 15 meters high from the bottom of the
moat, which surrounded the city walls, and extended 30 meters from the external walls. Almost immediately after its inception, the 4-
tower barbican became an
anachronism serving virtually no practical purpose. This was largely a result of the rapid advancement in
artillery power. It was used in the defense of the city only once, during the
Swedish invasion of Poland, on 30 June 1656, when it had to be recaptured by the Polish army of
Polish king John II Casimir from the Swedes. In the 18th century, the barbican was partially dismantled as its defensive value was negligible, and the city benefited more from a larger gate which facilitated movement of people and goods in and out of the city. In the 19th century, its remains were incorporated into newly built
apartment buildings (
kamienica). During the
interwar period, in 1937–1938,
Jan Zachwatowicz reconstructed part of the walls and the western part of the
bridge, demolishing one of the newer buildings in the reconstruction process. However, a lack of funds delayed the barbican's planned complete reconstruction, and the 1939
invasion of Poland by
Nazi Germany put the plans on hold..During
World War II, particularly the
Siege of Warsaw (1939) and the
Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the barbican was largely
destroyed, as were most of the Old Town's buildings. It was rebuilt after the war, during 1952–1954, on the basis of 17th-century
etchings, as the new government decided it would be cheaper to rebuild the barbican and the nearby city walls as a
tourist attraction than to rebuild the tenements. In its reconstruction,
bricks were used from historic buildings demolished in the cities of
Nysa and
Wrocław; most of the barbican was rebuilt, save for two exterior gates and the oldest tower on the side of the Old Town. It is currently a popular tourist attraction. == See also ==