Kruttornet: Visby's Gunpowder Tower and the Ring Wall
Kruttornet is the oldest surviving part of Visby's ring wall, a squat stone tower beside Almedalen that began life in the mid-1100s as a lone defensive keep. You cannot go inside it: the tower has been closed to the public because it is not safe to be there. This guide covers what the tower is, why it is shut, how to see it from the wall, and how to fit it into a walk around the ringmur.
Plan around the wall, not the tower. The ring wall itself is free and open at all times, so Kruttornet works best as one stop on a promenade of an hour or so rather than a stand-alone outing.
What Kruttornet is
Kruttornet, the Gunpowder Tower, stands at the northern edge of the walled town where the ring wall meets Almedalen. It is the first and oldest section of the ringmur, originally a single free-standing defence tower before the rest of the circuit grew around it. Its name comes from its later use as a powder store.
The build date is what makes it notable. The tower was built in the mid-1100s, which puts it several generations before most of the wall and towers you see on the same circuit. Read it as the seed of the fortifications rather than a showpiece interior.
Why you cannot go inside
The tower interior has been closed to the public because it is not safe to be there. Stairs need replacing, floors need levelling and stones have come loose from parts of the inner ceilings. Until that work is funded and done, the doors stay shut.
Gotlands Museum would like to show the tower again, and a building antiquarian there has described it as part of our shared cultural heritage that as many people as possible should be able to see. That sentiment does not change the practical position: no renovation money has been found, so there is no reopening to plan around.
Treat the closure as the documented situation rather than a temporary blip, and do not build a Visby day around an interior visit. If access matters to you, ask at Gotlands Museum in the town before you walk up, since that is the body that would open it.
What you can still see and do
The exterior is the point. Walk the stretch of wall beside Kruttornet and you get the tower's full bulk from below, plus the old town roofline and the open ground of Almedalen behind you. The wall is always open and costs nothing, so a look at the tower can slot into any wander through the centre.
Several points on the circuit let you climb into towers, and a few quiet corners off the main path reward anyone willing to poke about. Kruttornet is not one of the climbable ones, so spend your energy on the sections that are. A full lap of the ringmur is a pleasant, low-effort history walk rather than a demanding hike.
Where Kruttornet sits and how to reach it
The tower is inside the walled town, at the point where the ringmur runs alongside Almedalen. From the harbour end of town you walk up through the lanes and are at the wall in a few minutes; from anywhere in the old centre it is a short walk rather than a trip.
Because the tower sits on the wall rather than in a museum compound, there is no gate, kiosk or timed entry to negotiate. Arrive on foot, find the tower from the outside, and carry on along the wall. The wider set of town sights, including the museum quarter and the botanical garden, fills out the rest of a day in the centre.
How much time to allow
Give Kruttornet five to ten minutes of your walk, and the wall section around it half an hour at an easy pace. The tower is a stop, not a destination: there is no interior to tour, no exhibition and no queue, so the time you spend is the time you choose to stand and look.
If you have a single day in town, pair a wall walk with one indoor sight and one green space rather than trying to circle the whole circuit twice. The circuit itself runs over three kilometres past more than thirty towers, which is more than enough walking for a short break.
Tickets and access
The ring wall is free and open at all times, with no ticket and no closing hour to work around. That is the practical answer for Kruttornet too: you pay nothing to see it from the outside, at any hour, on any day.
There is no published price, opening time or booking arrangement for the tower interior, because the interior is not open. Do not budget for a Kruttornet ticket. The one line worth carrying: if tower access would make or break your trip, check with Gotlands Museum shortly before you travel.
Nearby on the wall
The same circuit holds Jungfrutornet, a 1400s tower with the grisly story of Unghanses dotter walled up alive for betraying Visby to the Danes, and Sankt Göransporten, where a slung stone still sits lodged in a firing recess on the fourth floor after some long-ago attack. Both add more to a wall walk than Kruttornet's sealed interior can.
Kruttornet is also a natural link between the wall and the town's museums. The Gotland Art Museum sits within the old town, and the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation that covers the walled town is the reason the ringmur repays a proper look rather than a quick photo.
Should Kruttornet be on your Visby list?
Yes, but as a point on the wall walk rather than a sight you set aside an afternoon for. See it from outside, read the information on the wall, then keep moving towards Jungfrutornet and Sankt Göransporten. The whole thing costs nothing and fits into any stroll through the centre.
Skip it only if you have already walked the wall elsewhere and are short on time. Anyone who wants the town's history indoors should go to Gotlands Museum; anyone who wants the fortifications themselves should start here, at the oldest stone in the circuit.