High Gate in Gryfice

The High Gate in Gryfice is a brick gate of the former town walls, built in the 15th century. It closed the Old Town from the south. Today it houses a tourist information point and the "Brama" Museum and Gallery, so you can go inside. Together with the Stone Gate, it is one of the two gates that have survived from the town's former fortifications.

The gate in the southern line of the walls

The gate stands at the southern end of the Old Town and was one of Gryfice's three gates. Its ridge faces Murarska Street, and perpendicular to it runs voivodeship road no. 109, here called Wysoka Brama Street. Besides defence, it also served as a toll point for merchants, craftsmen and peasants entering for markets and fairs.

An older gate from 1300 had earlier stood on this spot. In old sources it appeared under various names: Szczecin, Kamień, Nowogard or Stargard, after the strongholds to which the medieval roads led. Until the 17th century a wooden bridge over the moat joined it to the outer gate (barbican), and together with the wall it formed the town's southern defensive complex. The remains of the town's fortifications can be found at the defensive walls in Gryfice.

What the building looks like

The building has a rectangular plan measuring 9.5 by 11.7 metres and projects three fifths of its length in front of the line of the walls. It was built of brick laid in Wendish bond. The façade facing the town has a passage under two pointed arches, and the entrance to the upper rooms is by steep brick stairs at the side of the passage.

The façades are decorated with blind recesses: rectangular on the north and south, semicircular-headed on the east, some of them with blind tracery. Above the arch an arcaded frieze can be seen. After the first fire of the town in 1658 the body was lowered and covered with a hipped roof with a short ridge and a small four-sided turret. For this reason it still combines features of Gothic and Renaissance. On the east, remains of a wall in the same bond have also survived. The building is entered in the heritage register (no. 52 of 30 July 1955).

From school to museum

After the Napoleonic wars the gate ceased to serve a defensive function, and after the Second World War it stood unused. In the 1960s it was adapted by a vocational school complex, which organised cultural and educational events here and set up a mini museum. In the 1990s it housed a café and catering.

In December 2005 the Gryfice Land Museum was opened here, and in February 2006 the Town Council handed the building over to the Gryfice House of Culture. Exhibits on the history of the town were gathered and the "Brama" Gallery was set up, with art exhibitions and small chamber concerts. After a rebuilding as part of the revitalisation of historic monuments the building also became a tourist information point. The collections are presented by the "Brama" Museum and Gallery.

Practical information

• Address: Wysoka Brama Street, southern edge of the Old Town in Gryfice.
• A tourist information point operates in the gate. According to the municipality's website you can get maps of the "Trail of the Two Gates" and town maps there, as well as old postcards of Gryfice and emblems with Gryfice's historic monuments.
• The opening hours of the point and the museum change during the year, so check them before your visit on the municipality's website.
• Nearby are also the Stone Gate and the Gunpowder Tower (about 700 metres), and close by the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.