Barbican, Warsaw

A semicircular fortified outpost of red brick, the Warsaw Barbican once guarded the northern gate of the medieval walls between the Old and New Towns. Built in the mid-16th century by the Venetian architect Giovanni Battista, it formed part of the ring of defences protecting the burgher settlement. Largely dismantled in later centuries, it was reconstructed after the Second World War from surviving fragments and old engravings. Visitors can walk the ramparts, and in warmer months the walls host buskers and stalls selling prints.