The gunpowder tower was an integral part of the third defensive line, which was
laid around the center of Lviv, starting in 1522. The active phase of construction of the third line
occurs after 1527 (after the great fire of Lviv) and lasts until the end of 1540. Construction took
place over a twenty-year period when the city was exempt from paying taxes to the state royal
treasury and could spend money for the modernization of fortifications.
4 6
In the article we prove that the date of its construction of the Powder Tower should be
considered within years 1522-1535 based on the analysis of the defense parameters of tower, its
architectural and typological characteristics. Although in the literature we often find the date of
construction of the tower as 1554-1556. At this time, in our opinion, there could be some
modernization of the building only - the construction of an additional last tier, covering galleries
or installing a roof over the entire building. It was impossible to build a defensive object of such
volume during 2-3 years. Therefore, given the great fire of the city in 1527, the following dating
scheme seems very logical: the beginning of work - 1522, completion - in 1535 and modernization
- in 1554-1556.
The environment around the Powder Tower, in addition to the extraordinary value of
architectural space, has preserved archaeological remains of a unique complex of fortifications
XIV-XVI centuries. Revitalization and architectural and landscape transformations of the
territory around the Powder Tower should be considered as a complex regeneration and
museumfication of the eastern presidence of the fortifications of the middletown of Lviv, which
consisted of three defensive lines - High Wall (Porta Rutenika, Mularska and Rymarska Towers),
Low wall (City Arsenal and the Royal Arsenal, four small basteyas), the Third Belt of
Fortifications (Royal Bellevard, Powder Tower, Carmelite Firt, “piatta-forma” Bastion, Royal
Rondel).
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