Ørje Fortress (''Ørje fortene'') lies in Marker municipality in

Viken county Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The construction of the fort started in December 1901 and was completed the following year. The fortification guarded the heavily trafficked route through the community of

Ørje Ørje is the administrative centre of Marker municipality, Norway, not far from the Swedish border. Its population (2013) is 1,881. Ørje was founded in the 1880s around a timber-processing mill. Engebret Soot had built the first Norwegian cana ...

, which was an important entry point from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The fortifications consist of two parts: the northern fort and southern fort. The northern fort (''Ørjekollen fort'') lay southwest from the Ørje bridge and sluice (''Ørje sluser'') on the Halden Canal. The southern fort (''Lihammeren fort'') was at Likollen, 1 km further south. Both were positioned on elevated positions and were armed with four canons. Each of the forts had two 105 mm guns and two 75 mm rapid fire fortification guns. In accordance with the Karlstad Treaty (''Karlstadkonvensjonen''), the forts were taken out of service and demolished in 1905. A demilitarized zone was established. The guns were dismounted and relocated to

Hegra Fortress Hegra Fortress ( no, Hegra festning) is a small mountain fortress in the village of Hegra in the municipality of Stjørdal in Trøndelag county, Norway. Originally known as ''Ingstadkleiven Fort'' (also ''Ingstadkleiva Fort''), it was built betwee ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

. The site of the northern fort was restored and made accessible to the public in 1991. The area was cleared so that cannon positions and runways are visible.

References

Forts in Norway Marker, Norway Military installations in Viken {{Fort-stub