Royal Arsenal

This strategically important edifice was erected at the foot of Wawel Castle in 1533 by King Sigismund the Old (Zygmunt Stary). Situated just next to the Grodzka Gate, the Arsenal was a part of the city's system of fortifications. Not far away from it, the defence walls joined the castle's defences closing the ring of fortifications around the city. Thoroughly rebuilt by Ladislaus IV Vasa (Władysław IV Waza) in 1642, the Arsenal has since born his name. The rebuilt structure of brick and stone blocks in early baroque style replaced the original, single-storey building with two garrets on the sides and three gates. It housed more than 50 cannon and a foundry.

The decorative, rusticated portal of the central gate, the foundation stone of black marble and its inscription, and barrel vaulting on the ground floor are all preserved in the building from the time of King Ladislaus IV Vasa. There is a similar portal, possibly made by the same team, standing nearby in the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentian) monastery at ul. Stradomska 4.

In the 19th century, the building was twice rebuilt and increased in height as it was transformed into barracks. The construction of the fourth floor, hidden behind the parapet wall, was associated with a critical simplification of the façade in the modernist style which took place in 1927, when the building was, in turn, adapted to the needs of the Institute of Geography of the Jagiellonian University to the design of Stanisław Filipkiewicz. Since 2005, it has housed the Institute of Polish Philology of the University.