Jugowice Fort. Site Heritage

In the past, there were settlements on the site, the names and memories of which survived their incorporation into Krakow in the form of estate and street names. Hidden in the hilly terrain are traces of the area’s past – mine heaps and buildings left over from the largest sulphur mine in this part of Europe, a spa with sulphuric healing waters, numerous manor houses, picturesque churches and chapels, as well as forts and other fortifications built by the Austrians as part of the Krakow Fortress. One of these forts, No. 52a, called “Jugowice”, houses the exhibition “Jugowice Fort. Site Heritage”.

The exhibition is devoted to the history and traditions of the southern part of Krakow and the Krakow Fortress, the history of its construction, architecture and inhabitants – Austro-Hungarian soldiers. It tells the story of everyday and festive life, peace and war – all in historic interiors that bear witness to history.

The tour of the fort begins with a walk through a wide corridor where there used to be an earth embankment that protected the monolith of the fort from the front, which protruded in the direction from which a potential enemy might come. Along the way, you can see an “exposed” concrete wall, normally covered with earth, along with the fort’s visible drainage system. At the entrance to the exhibition, a section of the stone detonation mantle has been reproduced on the “exposed” wall set in the earth embankment, which was designed to cause shells fired at the fort to explode away from the structure.

On entering the fort, visitors turn left to the former dressing room, where there is a model of the Jugowice Fort and information about its construction and history. The tour then returns to the entrance and leads into a large room that was originally one of the living quarters of the soldiers – the crew of the fort. In this room, the history of the Krakow Fortress and the Krakow garrison is presented, as well as information about the “Southern Ring of the Krakow Fortress” tourist route, which links the forts and other fortress monuments on the southern bank of the Vistula. This room also describes the participation of the Krakow Fortress and soldiers associated with Krakow in the operations of the First World War.

Visitors then proceed through narrow, winding corridors, past the equipment of the commandant’s room, the latrine and the ammunition hoist, to the western battle block. In the artillery emergency room, located between the wells of the two artillery towers, you can learn about the history of the fort’s artillery throughout its historical development, especially during the heyday of the Jugowice Fort. In the next room – another soldier’s dwelling – there is a board presenting the civil heritage of the Jugowice Fort area. It presents the history and the present of the areas that are now part of Krakow’s District X: the history of the settlements that existed in these areas before they were incorporated into Krakow, as well as their current shape, already within the city limits. You can find out more about the sulphur heritage in the broadest sense, with reference to the centuries-old mining of native sulphur in Swoszowice and the therapeutic effects of sulphuric waters.

The exhibition then returns to the military theme and leads along another corridor to the eastern battle block, whose artillery emergency room is flanked on both sides by former ammunition warehouses, still much cooler and damper than the other rooms in the fort.

In the room dedicated to the civil heritage of the site, there is a memory deposit, a place where, as in the Podgórze Museum, people with material about the history and heritage of District X can share their knowledge and memories with others. The memory deposit has a display case for the temporary storage of artefacts related to history and heritage. There will also be a magnetic board in this room, next to the display case, on which copies of photographs documenting the past and texts of memories will be posted.

The aim of the exhibition is to present the most important exhibit, which is the fort itself, as accurately as possible, so the project tries to cover as little as possible of the original walls and the remaining furnishings of the fort today. In parallel with the history of the fort, the fortress and its civil environment, special panels in each room provide information on the original functions of the rooms and corridors, complemented by a visualisation of their appearance at the beginning of the 20th century.

A separate story is told on a tour designed for the youngest visitors to the exhibition, who can explore the nooks and crannies of the fortress with Jacek the Cat as their guide. For older children and teenagers, there are educational stands where they can find out how the inhabitants defended their cities, and learn about the history of the Krakow Fortress and the sulphur heritage of Swoszowice.