Luckily preserved throughout Kraków’s development St. Florian’s Gate used to be the city’s main gate, the most representative and the most important Porta Gloriae. The first written mention of the gate itself dates to the year 1307, but it is important to remember that Kraków received the permission to erect city walls from Leszek the Black in 1285. Although the city had some defenses in place before that, these were just wooden fortifications. Numerous towers were built along the new walls, of which 8 included gates to the city – St. Florian’s Gate was one of them. It’s probably the most famous and the most beautiful medieval tower in Poland.

The structure consists of two parts – the gate itself and the tower above it called the Furriers’ Tower (during the middle ages the furrier’s guild was responsible for manning this part of the city walls). The building is 34,5m high. The wall facing the Barbican is adorned with an effigy of the Piasts’ Eagle made by Zygmunt Landman and designed by Jan Matejko himself. On the other side of the gate (visible from Floriańska street) there’s a late Baroque relief depicting saint Florian putting out fires in a building engulfed in flames. Florian is the patron saint of Kraków but also of fire fighters. Next to the portal there are still visible grooves that were used to bar the passage with a grate every night. St. Florian’s Gate is managed by the Historical Museum of Kraków and it’s a part of the Defensive Walls tour – during the season it’s possible to go inside and see Neo-Gothic Czartoryscy’s chapel.