Fort Va Poznań

ByTrips With Kids 24 April 201610 November 2026

We took the children to visit one of the buildings of the Poznań Fortress. We chose Fort Va "Zwischenwerk Bonin" located on Lechicka Street. It is one of 18 forts surrounding the city of Poznań, built by the Prussian army between 1887 and 1890.

Fun fact: the name Bonin honours Eduard von Bonin, and in 1931 the fort was given a Polish patron, General Ludwik Mierosławski. Some of the fort's rooms are an important winter home for bats, and the fort is part of the Natura 2000 site "Fortyfikacje w Poznaniu".

In April 2016, a festival was organized for the opening of the tourist season and we could take a guided tour through the fortification. This site is maintained by members of the Association of Fortification Enthusiasts "Kernwerk," who put a lot of work into bringing the fort to its current state.

At the gate we bought tickets. Affordable prices - adult PLN 8, and child PLN 6. Between May and September, every weekend you can take part in a tour similar to the one we did.

We started our visit at the gate, where we were able to see the drawbridge, which was reconstructed based on the one that existed here in the fort's heyday. Tour participants could raise and lower the bridge themselves using chains. It was spectacular.
Next, we went to the exhibition room to look at the exhibits. Then the guide told us about the latrines, and we went to the powder magazine.
In each of the places we learned about the history associated with the fort, about the purpose of each room. A moment later, we were on the stairs that led us to the artillery shelter. You could get from there to the courtyard. We also visited the barracks and shooting points.
An interesting experience was the postern passage, which is an underground passage connecting the buildings of the fort. This passage was the way for soldiers to reach firing positions located on the other side of the moat.

Interesting fact: the moat is currently not at its original depth. At the time when surrounding settlements were under construction, excess sand was thrown into the moat instead of being removed.