barbacane

The origin of barbican is genuinely uncertain. Old French barbacane may come from Arabic bāb al-khānā (gate house) or from Medieval Latin barbacana, possibly from a pre-Roman Iberian language. The word entered English in the thirteenth century. Whatever its origin, it named a specific defensive structure: an outer fortification protecting the entrance to a castle or city, usually a walled passage or tower positioned in front of the main gate.

The barbican's purpose was to extend the killing zone. Attackers who breached the outer defenses still had to pass through a narrow, fortified corridor before reaching the main gate. Arrow slits lined the walls. Murder holes — openings in the ceiling — allowed defenders to drop stones, boiling water, or heated sand on anyone below. The barbican at Carcassonne in southern France preserves this architecture intact.

The most famous surviving barbican in England is the Barbican at the Tower of London, though it has been substantially altered. The Barbican Gate at Lewes Castle in Sussex and the barbicans of York and Newcastle retain their medieval form more completely. In Poland, the barbakan of Kraków, built in 1498, is one of the finest examples in Europe — a circular brick fortress connected to the city wall by a narrow neck.

The Barbican Centre in London, opened in 1982, takes its name from the medieval fortification that once stood on the site. It is a brutalist concrete arts complex. The word that once meant 'the structure designed to kill invaders' now means 'the building where you see the London Symphony Orchestra.' The name is the only surviving connection.