Fragment of wooden water supply pipe from Kraków

The piece of wooden pipe presented here was used in a historic water supply line in Kraków. It is a pine trunk drilled internally using simple tools. The first hydroengineering solutions that can be considered to be a water supply network were built in Kraków in the 14th century. Before that, city dwellers had to draw water from public, municipal, or private wells, or use the services of water carriers who delivered water in tanks. Kraków’s water supply came from water received through a rurmus (a machine supplying water at the appropriate pressure) from a branch of the Rudawa river. The rurmus operated as follows: the water wheel took the energy to move from the river flow and transferred water to a tank placed at a height, the purpose of which was to ensure adequate pressure in pipes supplying the city with water. Manufacturer: maker unknown, circa 17th century Inv. No.: MIM1369/IV-31 Model prepared on the basis of photogrammetric measurements. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA