In April 1485 king Vladislav II Jagellonský (Vladislaus II the Jagiellonian) relocated from the Old Town court to the safety of the Prague Castle. At the same time he initiated an extensive reconstruction of the castle. Within the framework of this reconstruction the renovation of the original Romanesque and gothic walls was carried out with a design by Benedict Reid (Rejt). The rampart on the north side of the castle was strengthened with a new wall from the castle side which featured three gun towers, known as Daliborka, White and Powder Tower.
The later tower was strategically the most important, especially after 1522 when the tower gained a new floor. The four-storey tower featured several ‘loop-holes’ from which different calibre cannons could be fired from. The basement then featured five ‘loop-holes’ for firing hand guns.
The tower used to house the plant of the bell-founder Tomáš Jaroš (from 1569) or an alchemist laboratory, but it was also used as a gunpowder plant and a store for the produced gunpowder and artillery shells.
At the end of the 1970’s the tower underwent complete reconstruction. Currently it is open to the public and used as an exhibition place. The tower is 27.4m in height.
