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Construction of city walls became popular in Europe in the 12th–15th century. Defensive walls were an unmistakable sign of a self-governing and prosperous city.

After the baptism of Lithuania in 1387, some of the cities received the right of autonomy; still, stonework walls of cities were not built due to certain internal and external reasons. Castles and their complexes were used for defence. At the beginning of the 14th century, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland stopped the main aggressor from the West (the Teutonic Order), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lived quite a peaceful life until the end of the 15th century and there was no need to construct reinforcements that required much time and money.

Two cities which had or still have defensive walls may be found in the present territory of Lithuania – it is Kaunas and Vilnius.

Historiography and historical sources state that there may have been two more defensive walls in the city prior to the current stonework defensive wall of Kaunas city – they were probably ramparts with a ditch and wooden fortifications.

Some authors who wrote about the 1st and 2nd defensive walls of Kaunas city state that both of these walls were made of stone, however later archaeological studies refuted this version of stonework fortifications. The defensive stone wall of Kaunas city was built only at the beginning of the 17th century.

The remaining two sections of the wall stretch to the north and to the south of Malūnininkai tower. Both of these sections form a blunt angle. The wall does not have any openings for shooting or galleries. The initial height of the wall was around 6 m. In 1966, to preserve the stonework of the defensive wall, its upper moving bricks were removed, cleaned and later used in the restoration of the wall. The protective layer of the stonework was comprised of special bricks lighter than the original ones, bound together in blocks using mortar, and a protective layer of concrete.

The tower is an oval red brick building with an irregular circular plan and two floors. It formerly had space between its two floors and is built on a rather sharp turn of the wall. Entrance to the tower can be found on the first floor from the north-western side.

The first floor was used for storing firearms. Wooden stairs lead to the second floor. There are 17 holes for shooting evenly spaced throughout the second floor perimeter. The profile of the shooting hole is shaped as a double funnel expanding outwards and inwards. Doors to the second floor had to lead to the shooters' gallery of the defensive wall. The exterior diameter of the tower is 7.33 m, interior diameter – 5.67 m, and height up to the roof – 9 m.

Sources:

  1. www.kpd.lt

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