FEATURES, ORIGINS, VALUES AND LEGAL PROTECTION
Torun’s ring of forts was built in stages. The first phase of construction was carried out in the years between 1878 and 1884, the following stages of development and modernization lasted until 1914. As a result, during this period approximately 200 different semi-brick defensive fortifications were created, arranged in a circle with a circumference of about 20km and a distance of between 3km and 3.5km from the city centre. Fort IV was built between 1878 and 1884 as the third consecutive fort in Torun’s ring of fortresses. The fort is representative of the main type of standard artillery fort. It was designed with a single wall with the shape of a flattened pentagon. The central section is a stately, two-storey barrack block which housed the soldiers and officers quarters of the infantry, artillery and the sappers, the command centre, the kitchen stores and even a prison. The underground section includes the reinforced tunnels leading to its flanking caponiers from the upper courtyards. The fort is surrounded by a moat of masonry-lined counterscarp, formed in a semi-circle around the caponiers. On the counterscarp is a wall and portcullis that surrounds the whole structure that is maintained in good condition. In 1894, the fort received its own name Yorck, commemorating the Prussian General Johann Yorck von Wartenburg. The fortress did not play any military role during World War I, which probably prevented its destruction. When it was acquired in 1920 by the Polish Army it was in a good technical condition, though stripped of any equipment and weapons. In 1926, the name of the fort was changed to “Zolkiewskiego”. It remained in the hands of the military until demilitarization after 1956. Over the next 30 years it was partially dismantled and improperly exploited, one of its users was a company cultivating mushrooms, and gradually, like many other post-military buildings in Poland, fell into disrepair.
In 1971, Fort IV was declared a monument and protected by law but this did not protect it from further devastation.
The transfer of the fort, by the city, into private hands prevented it from being given the title of a “permanent ruin”. A wide range of restorative and adaptive work was carried out due to efforts and financing by the new owner. Currently Fort IV, Yorck – Zolkiewski, is the only fort of the Torun Fortress that has been adapted and opened fully to the public. It is also considered the best revitalised structure of this class in our country. It has its own tourism infrastructure which includes accommodation, catering and an underground tourist route.
The fort’s tourist route leads through the right wing of the fort, goes through the entrance courtyard which has the guardhouse and the stables, over the bridge to the main gate. It then leads through the defensive barracks, the main underground passage with a powder magazine, a leading casement block with armoured observation positions for the artillery and infantry, the inner courtyard, the upper wall with emergency shelters and artillery emplacements, the sections of the lower wall, the flanking caponiers with underground corridors and elevated casemates with a shooting gallery.

TOUR ORGANISER
Tourist and Catering Company (PTG) “Torun Fortress”
87-100 Torun
Ul Chrobrego 86
Tel: +48 56 655 82 36 or +48 56 655 81 34
e-mail: biuro@fort.torun.pl
www.fort.torun.pl

Booking of guides, times and programmes offered by the Tourist and Catering Company (PTG) “Torun Fortress”

ACCESSIBILITY OF FACILITIES BY VISITORS
The fort is open to the public every day in the following months:
April till September, between 09.00 and 20.00.
October till March, between 09.00 and 16.00
Night-time tour of Fort IV with a guide, at 20.00
Sightseeing is unaccompanied but there is the option to hire a guide.
We recommend comfortable, athletic shoes and warm clothing in the summer.
We recommend taking your own torch.
Only visiting the fort’s infrastructure is suitable for people with physical disabilities.