Lappeenranta Fortress (Finnish: Lappeenrannan linnoitus) is a

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

located in

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

History

In 1649, after a visit to Vipuri, the Governor-General of Finland,

Per Brahe the Younger Count Per Brahe the Younger (18 February 1602 – 12 September 1680) was a Swedish soldier, statesman, and author. He served as Privy Councillor from 1630, Lord High Steward from 1640, as well as Governor-General of Finland in 1637–1640 and 16 ...

, decided to establish a new town near the waterways. The land use plan was compiled in 1649 by Erik Nilsson Aspgren. On September 20, 1652, the Diet of Stockholm decided to grant special rights to

. In early 1653, Erik Nilsson Aspgren handed over special rights to the governor Johann Rosenhan. After the

Treaty of Nystad The Treaty of Nystad (russian: Ништадтский мир; fi, Uudenkaupungin rauha; sv, Freden i Nystad; et, Uusikaupunki rahu) was the last peace treaty of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. It was concluded between the Tsardom of ...

, in the fall of 1721, Sweden established a border commission headed by Axel Löwen, general and state counsellor. In 1722, Axel Löwen established a small garrison to ensure the crossing of the border and the return of refugees. Axel Löwen, Johann Henrik Friesenheim and Brent-Olof Stockenberg then decided to strengthen Lappeenranta. To secure the Lappeenranta bitumen trade, pits and

chevaux de frise The ''cheval de frise'' (plural: ''chevaux de frise'' , "Frisian horses") is a defensive obstacle, which existed in a number of forms and were employed in various applications. These included underwater constructions used to prevent the passa ...

were set up and 112 soldiers were sent to protect the trading post. In 1723, the brothers Carl Friedrich and Anders Johann Nordenberg were chosen to design the castle along with Jacob Johann Faber. Most of the construction work was done between 1722 and 1728. When the Hat Party came to power in the late 1730s, it allocated additional funds to expand the fortifications, led by Adam Reinhardt Bruno. However, the fortification work was stopped by the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743.

Russian garrison, 1743–1812

At the beginning of Russian rule, the border guard regiments were often changed. The Lappeenranta fortifications were rebuilt in the 1750s. In the 1790s, the castle came under the command of

Alexander Suvorov Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Суво́ров, Aleksándr Vasíl'yevich Suvórov; or 1730) was a Russian general in service of the Russian Empire. He was Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy ...

, who continued to develop it as part of the fortification system of southeastern Finland. During the

Russo-Swedish War Wars between Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and ...

, the Saimaa fleet became the third garrison of Lappeenranta. In 1785, during the Russian period, the Orthodox Church of Lappeenranta was also built, making it the oldest

Orthodox church of Finland The Orthodox Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko, lit=Finnish Orthodox Church; sv, Ortodoxa kyrkan i Finland, lit=Orthodox Church in Finland; ) is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Const ...

The camp of prisoners of war

After the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

, the

White Guards (Finland) The White Guard or Civil Guard (, ; ; ) was a voluntary militia, part of the Finnish Whites movement, that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guards in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. They were generally known as the "White Guard" in ...

established the Lappeenranta prison camp at the castle, which was notorious for the arbitrary executions that took place there. This camp had nearly 3000

Red Guard Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

prisoners, about 500 of whom were executed.

References

{{coord, 61, 03, 58, N, 28, 11, 00, E, type:landmark_region:FI, display=title Military history of Finland Forts in Finland