Konin - Ancient Town Walls

Ancient Town Walls

The construction of the town walls started (as in the case of the castle) in the second half of 14th century. They encircled the town as a defence line especially from the south, east and partly from the west side. The line of walls was never closed. There was no need to do it because of Warta river and its nearby marshy grounds and bogs - earthworks and retrenchments wrere good enough there. On the north side of the town there was a Toruńska Gatehouse (Brama Toruńska) just in front of the crossing of the river. On the south side was Kaliska Gatehouse (Brama Kaliska) - both named after two main towns, the destination points for merchants travelling through Konin. Town walls were strengthened by a chain of rectangular towers (with three walls, that means opened from inside of the town) creating bastion-like structures put forward out of the line of the wall itself. These fortifications were seriously damaged during Deluge (history), especially in The Siege of Konin in 1656. They were never repaired and restored afterwards, so on the turn of 18th century the authorities of the town decided to take them apart, to deconstruct and demolish if necessary. Last conspicuous parts disappeared after 1816. Nowadays there are no remains of the town walls in Konin.