Pillboxes in Przemyśl

In its thousand years of history, the city of Przemyśl was fortified multiple times. There is a medieval castle on top of the Zniesienie hill built by the Polish king Casimir III the Great, there are impressive remnants of 19th century fortifications, built to defend the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which survived several sieges in WWI, and there are also multiple bunkers built by the Soviets in 1940-41 as part of the Molotov Line of fortifications. There are over twenty such objects along the river San and within the town borders, comprising the so-called Przemyśl Fortified Region. There are many more around, as the entire line of fortifications was stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains.

I figured that photographing these pillboxes may be an interesting little side project, so I went for a couple of walks along the river to photograph them. I haven’t reached all of them for the lack of time. Also, some are inside industrial parks, and unavailable for general public.

I am not super happy with these photos, because I hoped for some better angles and more interesting backgrounds. There are a couple of decent shots though.

The sequence follows the physical locations of the bunkers. Let’s go!

ul. Sanocka

The first bunker is the one in the best shape. Located by the river, just off the city centre, it acts as a small museum and can also be seen from the inside. It is also painted in the original camouflage scheme.

Wybrzeże Wilsona

About a kilometre down the river, there is another pillbox, just by the bridge, next to a supermarket.

To see further pillboxes, we have to follow the river bank and leave the city centre. We pass some old warehouses and a former slaughterhouse.

ul. Bystrzyckich

The next bunker awaits us just across the street from the Galeria Sanowa shopping mall.

We go along the embankment, entering the Wilcze neighbourhood. The next bunker was originally embedded within older WWI entrenchments. These were levelled when a bridge was built for a new ring-road. However, the pillbox is still in its place, just under the bridge.

ul. Sanowa

Once we go past the bridge, we turn right to ul. Słoneczna. Next pillbox is just a few hundred metres away, conveniently tucked away in someone’s garden.

ul. Słoneczna

Next, we turn left into ul. Polna, and reach WWI fort “Wilcze” at ul. Szańcowa. The pillbox is embedded within older WWI fortifications.

We go back down ul. Polna and turn left into ul. Wilczańska. The next pillbox is a few hundred metres away just by the road.

ul. Wilczańska

As we continue down ul. Wilczańska, we turn left next to the Orthodox Church and reach ul. Szańcowa again. Behind a football pitch, we find one more pillbox embedded in WWI entrenchments.

ul. Szańcowa

This one is extremely overgrown, and difficult to reach.

Now, we can either follow along ul. Szańcowa, or go back to ul. Wilczańska and go along the ring road. I went along ul. Wilczańska, lured by the hotel sign.

We go along the road to a place where both streets meet, and follow along ul. Sybiraków. We reach another pillbox, located by the train tracks.

Here, I had to end my exploration and return to the city centre. There are some more pillboxes nearby, and I plan to visit theme some other day.

I hope you liked walking with me in the less touristy parts of Przemyśl.

Till the next one!

Jaku