Stone, brick, earth, wood

The word “casemate” comes from an expression “casa mortis” used in medieval Latin and Italian. It is a grim term meaning literally “the house of death”. However, it had nothing to do with prison or executions. Prison connotations result from the fact that former fortresses were often used as prisons, which was also the case with Zamość. Originally a casemate was a room which performed a military function – it was used for firing cannons, muskets and then rifles. Casemates were very dangerous places due to the presence of gunpowder, which had poisonous and suffocating properties. In spite of ventilation systems, artillerymen often died of gunpowder poisoning. When black gunpowder was used, there was also a lot of smoke. Deafening noise, terrible heat, a threat of explosions and cannon bursting (the whole crew died then) and, finally, attempts by the enemy to hit the spot made artillery service in casemates terribly dangerous.

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