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Arte et Marte
or from fortress archives
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Not everybody knows that starting from Austrian times the fortress was also a prison. Russians developed this idea and gave it
The fragment of the fortress chambers – undershafters are next to the Old Lwowska Gate
a special character; imprisonment in the fortress was a substitute penalty for prisoners sentenced to transportation to Siberia. This penalty was intended primarily for political prisoners – independence activists. Convicts were not listed in the general register of prisoners of the Congress Kingdom of Poland. They were kept in the casemates located in the neighbourhood of town gates and were forced to repair fortifications, often with a ball chained to their legs. The most famous prisoner in Zamość Fortress was Walerian Łukasiński, a founder of the National Masonry and the National Patriotic Society (1786-1868). He was a soldier in the army of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807-15 and participated in the battle of Raszyn. In 1817 he was promoted to the rank of a major. In 1819 he set up the National Masonry and in 1821 the National Patriotic Society. In 1822 the conspiracy was discovered. On 25 October 1822 Łukasiński was arrested and in 1824 sentenced to 9 years of fortress imprisonment. From 6 October 1824 he was kept prisoner in the casemate of the Old Lwowska Gate and then in the casemate of the Old Lubelska Gate, where he initiated as prison riot. On 10 September 1825 he was sentenced to death but Great Duke Constantine changed the penalty and sentenced the prisoner to a total of 14 years of fortress imprisonment, public flogging and putting in fetters. Then the convict was transferred to the casemate of the Szczebrzeska Gate. During the November Uprising retreating Russian troops took Łukasiński with them and transferred him to Shlisselburg Fortress where, in spite of the fact that the term of the penalty was over, he was kept prisoner till he died in 1868, having spent 46 years in prison.

  • The New Lwowska Gate from the outside. The picture of the elevations. It was made with watercolor technique by Jan Paweł Lelewel.

  • The row of the chambers under the shaft, so-called “podwalni” (undershafters). It connects the Old Lwowska Gate and the New one. The view from the inside of the city. The watercolor by Jan Paweł Lelewel

    The view from the inside of the city. The watercolor by Jan Paweł Lelewel

  • In the picture, the profile of the fortifications of Zamość, which can be treated as projective. It comes from 1824. It is a development of the cross-section along the entrance road, probably to the New Lwowska Gate. The entry to the New Lwowska Gate looked almost identical like. It was painted by Jan Paweł Lelewel. (Urząd Miasta Zamościa) (The offic

    It comes from 1824. It is a development of the cross-section along the entrance road, probably to the New Lwowska Gate. The entry to the New Lwowska Gate looked almost identical like. It was painted by Jan Paweł Lelewel. (Urząd Miasta Zamościa) (The offic

  • The fragment of the fortress chambers – undershafters are next to the Old Lwowska Gate. The part that was adjacent to the cavalier of the Bastion VII, was changed to the prison. Here Walerian Łukasiński was kept as prisoner. The state before the reconstruction of the Old Lwowska Gate

    The part that was adjacent to the cavalier of the Bastion VII, was changed to the prison. Here Walerian Łukasiński was kept as prisoner. The state before the reconstruction of the Old Lwowska Gate