Something which we often see visitors bemused by are the three metal poles hanging on the outside wall of the Stary Ratusz (the old town hall). They’re clearly something to do with length though the Polish only explanation didn’t enlighten us a great deal. We recognised a couple of the terms but we fear we might have got a couple of these wrong even with the help of the internet. Here’s what the Polish explanation means. If someone notices we’ve got a term wrong, we’d be grateful if you’d drop us a line and correct us.

On the bars are lengths of metal corresponding to the nineteenth century measurements Foot (31.4cm), Cubit (66.7cm), and the Prussian Half Rod (188.3cm) which have also been marked with the measurements used before 1816: Foot (28.7cm), Cubit (57.4cm) and Fathom (172.1cm).