Karlsborg, den 9 juni 2006, Oscar II valv

Karlsborg Fortress ( sv, Karlsborgs fästning) is situated on the Vanäs peninsula in

Karlsborg Karlsborg (, outdatedly ) is a locality and the seat of Karlsborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 3,551 inhabitants in 2010. This garrison town lies at the shore of lake Vättern in Västergötland. History The town of Karl ...

by lake

Vättern Vättern ( , ) is the second largest lake by surface area in Sweden, after Vänern, and the sixth largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden, to the southeast of Vänern, pointing at the tip of ...

, the province of

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

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 ...

. Construction on the fortress began 1819 to realize the so-called ''central defense idea'' adopted by the Swedish military after the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. The site was chosen by Baltzar von Platen in connection with the construction of

Göta Canal The Göta Canal ( sv, Göta kanal) is a Swedish canal constructed in the early 19th century. The canal is long, of which were dug or blasted, with a width varying between and a maximum depth of about .Uno Svedin, Britt Hägerhäll Anianss ...

. The intent of the central defense idea was that the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

, the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

and central command functions would, in the event of an attack against the kingdom, pull back and ensconce themselves in this fortress in the middle of the country. Even the

gold reserves A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of v ...

of the central bank of Sweden were to be safeguarded in the fortress in times of trouble. The fortress is one of northern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

's largest buildings and consists primarily of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

from

Omberg Omberg () is a forested mountain in the western Östergötland County in Sweden. Administratively it is split between the municipalities of Ödeshög in the south and Vadstena in the north. It lies between Lake Vättern and Lake Tåkern. Geologi ...

. Construction was begun in 1819 on 100

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s (250 acres) of land. The fortress was to house a garrison of 6,000 enlisted men and an additional 8,000-10,000 people. The walls were mostly complete in 1830, and after comprehensive visits to other fortresses in Europe, fortress

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Johan av Klen presented plans similar in style to the

Fort Winiary Fort Winiary was part of ''Festung Posen'' ("Fortress Poznań"), a system of defensive fortifications around the Polish city of Poznań. Origins Fort Winiary was first constructed under Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian rule in the 19th century. ...

in Posen (present-day

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

). Due to its great expense and reduced funding, the fortress wasn't in operation until 1870, and wasn't fully completed until 1909. To compensate for the rapidly evolving technology of

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

during this time,

Vaberget Fortress Vaberget Fortress ( sv, Vabergets fästning) is a fortress located five kilometers west of Karlsborg Fortress, by lake Vättern, in Västergötland, Sweden. The southern fort at Vaberget Fortress was the first fort in the world that fully used th ...

was built in the early 1900s five kilometers west of Karlsborg to provide additional protection to the main fortress. The town of

has sprung up next to the fortress. It was initially mostly living quarters for personnel employed at the fortress, but grew to a sizable community, in part due to Göta Canal which passes through the town. Ever since the fortress lost its intended central defensive role in 1918 it has been used as a

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

for Göta Signal Regiment (S 2), and since 1984

Life Regiment Hussars The Life Regiment Hussars ( sv, Livregementets husarer; designated K 3) is one of the world's oldest regiments still active. The regiment descends directly from units set up by King Gustav I of Sweden (Gustav Vasa) in 1536, when Sweden set ...

(K 3), are also based there. The

Swedish Parachute Ranger School The Parachute Ranger School ( sv, Fallskärmsjägarskolan, FJS), is the Swedish Army's paratrooper ranger school and the home of ''Fallskärmsjägarna'' (Parachute Rangers) and ''Särskilda operationsgruppen'' (Special Operations Group). The scho ...

and

Särskilda operationsgruppen ''Särskilda operationsgruppen'' (English: ''Special Operations Task Group'', abbreviated SOG, literal translation: ''Special Operations Group''.) is a special forces unit within the Swedish Armed Forces which has been active since 2011. The uni ...

are also housed in the fortress. Next to the fortress is a munitions factory. Karlsborg has been a Swedish listed building in Sweden (''byggnadsminne'') since 1935. The garrison church is especially worth visiting. The church is housed in the central building of the fortress, "the last stand", on the second floor above the Fortress Museum. The church was once intended as an assembly hall for the

in times of troubles. A

chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...

composed of 276

bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...

s instead of crystal prisms hangs from the ceiling.

References

*http://sweden-tourist.com/sights/en/karlsborg-en.html *http://www.vastsverige.com/en/b/46472/The-Karlsborg-Fortress *http://www.vastsverige.com/en/b/46473/The-Fortress-Museum-in-Karlsborg *http://coldwarsites.net/country/sweden/karlsborg-fortress-museum-karlsborg

External links

{{Commonscat, Karlsborgs fästning
Karlsborg Fortress

Karlsborg Municipality
(in Swedish) Forts in Sweden Museums in Västra Götaland County Military and war museums in Sweden National redoubts