Městské opevnění (Kolín) Town walls

The city fortification in Kolín is a national cultural monument. It includes the remains of medieval walls, park walls, moat and bastion. The system was built in the second half of the 13th century as evidence of the strengthening of the royal cities under the rule of the Přemyslíkovs.

King Přemysl Otakar II gave the order to build the fortification. According to the documents from the period after 1253, the monarch demanded the defence of the royal city and supported it by forgiving its tax, customs and myth payments for four years. The construction probably took place between 1253 and 1261. Kolín walls served as a model for other cities such as Čáslav, Česká Kamenice, Ústí nad Labem, Vysoké Mýto, Jaroměřice nad Rokytna and Jihlava.

The building system matched the shape of the original city. The longest side led over the steep cliff of the Elbe River. The main wall of the castle was ten to twelve meters high, two metres wide, reinforced with half-cylinder baskets and ended with a battlements. For the construction was used roula and svor, the wall profile narrowed upwards. The fortification was completed by a park eight to eleven meters wide with an outer wall five meters high and a moat almost twelve meters wide.

The gate system included four main inputs. On the south side there was a smoking gate or a Pojny gate, decorated with a city emblem. In the west there was a monastery gate, probably named after a nearby Dominican monastery. Máslav or Mountain Gate led east and after the fire in 1734 it was rebuilt baroque by Josef Jedlička. The northern path consisted of the Elbe, Zálázská or Wrocław gates leading to the wooden bridge over the Elbe.

The fate of the fortifications was influenced by reconstructions and natural influences. In the middle of the 15th century, the north fortification was strengthened by the Tower of Laundry. At the beginning of the 16th century, Vojtěch of Pernštejn started rebuilding the castle into a castle, which led to the integration of the Monastic Gate into the castle building and the construction of the New or Prague Gate. At that time, the fireplaces and semi-circular bastions were added to the walls. The walls were damaged by fires and rain; in the 19th century they gradually stormed out, mainly because of the railway (1842- 1844) when the north wall was demolished. After the fire in 1796 they continued to dissipate, but between 1877 and 1878 he repaired a part of the walls on the Bartholomew Suites by Dean Jan Nepomuk Svoboda, which led to the creation of a parish garden.

Today the preserved parts of the fortifications are registered as a cultural monument. These include a wall between the streets of Kouřimská and Kutnohorská, a moat in the street Na Valech and an outer wall with a bastion from the 16th century. There is also a Vinohrad connection in Na Valech Street. The back of the houses between the streets of Na Valech and Smořimský show the remains of the main wall wall with shooting rooms.

The preserved sections allow you to see the history of urban defence and architecture of medieval Kolína. Visiting these places offers an understanding of an earlier extensive system that has shaped the city's face for centuries.