Brama Żuławska, Gdańsk

Brama Żuławska is a historic city gate in Gdańsk. Its brick-and-sandstone walls preserve a compact fragment of the city’s former defences. Notice the carved shield on the outer face: it bears Gdańsk’s coat of arms, while the date 1628 marks the year this gate was built.

Jan Strakowski designed it, when it was known as the Long Gardens Gate and guarded the route into Gdańsk from Żuławy. War with Sweden drove Gdańsk to replace medieval protection with new earthwork fortifications. This gate formed part of a ring that included fourteen Dutch-style bastions, low angular strongholds shaped to withstand artillery.

Set into an earthen rampart, it was covered by the neighbouring bastions called Lew and Wół, with the Motława overflow channel serving as a moat. The broad vaulted passage admitted vehicles, while smaller pedestrian passages flanked it; a guardroom occupied the space above. The ramparts lost their military purpose and were removed from the late nineteenth century onward.

Damage during the war was slight, and repairs followed in 1949. The gate remains, carrying the memory of a city edge that has long since become part of Gdańsk.