History

The construction of the stone and brick town fortifications was started in the early 14th century in the place of older, wooden and earthen fortifications. The wall perimeter, circumscribed by a moat and reinforced with 16 fortified towers, was pierced with two gates - Gubińska Gate and Żarska Gate. In the late 15th century, a tower was built by the Żarska Gate. From the 17th century, the fortifications had lost their significance and gradually fell into ruin. In 1838, dismantling of the walls was started. The gates were liquidated in 1842. Only the tower of the Żarska Gate has remained. During the 1920s, a tenement house was added to the surviving fortified tower. The tower was renovated; its wooden ceilings were replaced with reinforced concrete ceilings. Roof cladding was replaced with sheet metal.

Description

The tower is located on the south-western verge of the Old Town, at 19 M. Kopernika Street, approx. 20 m to the south from the Lubsza river. From the east and the south it directly neighbours a residential building (no. 21).

The structure is made of brick, built on a round floor plan. Its body is cylindrical and has seven storeys. It is topped with a seven-sloped tented roof. It is integrated with a two-storey building with a very wide driveway on the ground floor, which provides access from the tower to the adjacent tenement house. The interior on each floor is comprised of a single space and covered with a reinforced concrete ceiling. The brick façades are pierced with regularly arranged slit embrasures - six on each of the five upper storeys. At the level of the uppermost storey, on the south and the north, there are round clock faces.

compiled by Marta Kłaczkowska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Zielona Góra, 17-12-2014.

Bibliography

• Garbacz K., Przewodnik po zabytkach województwa lubuskiego, t. 2, Zielona Góra 2012, s. 75-77.
• Kowalski S., Zabytki architektury województwa lubuskiego, Zielona Góra 2010, s. 207.
• Karta ewidencyjna, Mury miejskie, oprac. Nowakowski C., 1998 r, Archiwum Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Ochrony Zabytków Oddział Delegatury w Gorzowie Wielkopolskim.