Stara Prochownia, Medieval gate and cultural center in New Town, Warsaw, Poland
Stara Prochownia is a Brick Gothic gate structure in Warsaw's New Town, positioned on the Vistula River escarpment below the Barbican. The building combines medieval brickwork with a Neoclassical facade added later, and contains restored cellar sections that connect to other underground spaces throughout the Old Town.
Queen Anna I of Poland had the gate built in 1582 to prevent fires from spreading between the Old Town and a wooden bridge. In the 17th century it became a ammunition storage facility, and by 1769 architect Jakub Fontana oversaw its conversion into a prison.
The building's name references its past as a gunpowder storage facility, and visitors can sense how this military function once shaped the area's character. The center now brings educational activities and gatherings to a space that was once guarded and restricted.
Visitors can explore the restored cellar sections on foot, which form part of an underground network connecting to other spaces in the Old Town. The site sits at the riverside level and is accessible from above via the Barbican area.
Hidden architectural details from different periods emerge when exploring the underground sections of this structure. The layers of its various functions are literally embedded in the building itself, from its original purpose as a protective gate to its later industrial and civic uses.
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