Kyminlinna (literally, 'the castle of

Kymi Kymi may refer to: *Kymi, Greece, a town in Euboea, Greece *Kymi, Finland, a former municipality in Finland *Kymi (constituency), a constituency in the Finnish Parliament *Kymi (region), or ''Kymenlaakso'', the region of Finland *Kymi B.C., a basket ...

') 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 the northern part of island of Hovinsaari in

Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also a diverse school and cultural city, which was formerly part of the old Kymi parish. ...

, on the south coast of

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 ...

. Kyminlinna is part of the

South-Eastern Finland fortification system South-Eastern Finland fortification system is an extensive defensive system formed by three concentric fortress chains in South-East Finland built by Russia in the 1790s. The purpose of the fortification system was to protect the capital of ...

built by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

after the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. Kyminlinna formed the northern part of a double fortification, together with

Ruotsinsalmi sea fortress Ruotsinsalmi sea fortress ( fi, Ruotsinsalmen merilinnoitus, sv, Svensksund, russian: Морская крепость Руотсинсальми; both names meaning ''Swedish Strait'') is a fortification system in Kotka, Finland. It is part ...

, where Kyminlinna was intended to repulse land-based attacks along the

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

Physical description

Kyminlinna is a five-corner-

caponier A caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' ...

approximately in diameter. The surface area of the fortress is approximately . The fortress is surrounded by incomplete

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

s, which also form part of the ditch system intended to drain the grounds. There is a

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

in area despite of the draining intentions. The eastern part of the ramparts are dissected by the Kotka railway built in 1890, and the Kymintie road built in the early 20th century. The national road 7 goes through the outer ramparts of the southern part of the fortress The fortress houses 23 buildings, most of which have been empty after

Finnish Defence Forces The Finnish Defence Forces ( fi, Puolustusvoimat, sv, Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime the Finnish Border Guard (which i ...

ceased using the fortress, and some of which are in varying states of disrepair.

History

The first fortification in the Kyminlinna location was a

bastion fortress A bastion fort or ''trace italienne'' (a phrase derived from non-standard French, literally meaning ''Italian outline'') is a fortification in a style that evolved during the early modern period of gunpowder when the cannon came to domina ...

of a few hundred metres in diameter, built between 1791 and 1795. The construction of the fortress was initially supervised by the Russian Marshall

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 ...

, later followed by the Dutch-born General

Jan Pieter van Suchtelen Jan Pieter van Suchtelen, Count of Liikkala, ''Pyotr Kornilovich Suhtelen'' (2 August 1751, Grave – 6 January 1836, Stockholm), was born in the Netherlands, and was a general in the Russian army during the Russo-Swedish War (1808–1809). ...

. This so-called 'Suvorov fortress' was demolished to make room for the new, six times larger Kyminlinna, which was built in 1803-1808. General Suchtelen designed the new fortress and supervised its construction. The fortress was not quite ready by the time

Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic ...

began, and lost its intended military usefulness after the border between

and

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 ...

moved from Kymi River to

Torne River The Torne, also known as the Tornio ( fi, Tornionjoki, sv, Torne älv, , se, Duortneseatnu, fit, Tornionväylä), is a river in northern Sweden and Finland. For approximately half of its length, it defines the border between these two countr ...

. Kyminlinna did not see action during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, when the Ruotsinsalmi sea fortress was destroyed. During 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 ...

Kyminlinna was used by

Red Guards 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 ...

as a training centre. Kyminlinna fortress saw its only battle during the civil war on April 9, 1918, when a German unit attacked the red guards based in the fortress. The battle resulted in few casualties, among them the German soldier Willy Heinz, who is buried in the Kotka old cemetery. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Kyminlinna was used as refugee camp for

Ingrian Finns The Ingrians ( fi, inkeriläiset, ; russian: Ингерманландцы, translit=Ingermanlandts'i), sometimes called Ingrian Finns, are the Finnish population of Ingria (now the central part of Leningrad Oblast in Russia), descending from Lut ...

. The fortress was also used as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp, tuberculosis hospital and civil guard firing range. Kyminlinna was used by Finnish Defence Forces between 1939-2005. The area is currently owned by the Finnish government real estate enterprise

Senate Properties sv, Senatfastigheter , logo = Senate logo.gif , type = Liikelaitos Senate Properties 2009(Finnish). (≈ unincorporated entity, unincorporated state-owned enterprise) Ministry of Finance 2009. Senate Properties 2009/ref ...

Gallery

File:Kyminlinna1.jpg, The main gate on the south-western side of the fortress File:Gate of Kyminlinna.JPG, Gate detail File:Tunnel in Kyminlinna.JPG, A partially collapsed tunnel File:Kyminlinna, North-eastern gate and the guardhouse.jpg, Guardhouse and the north-eastern gate of the fortress

Sources

Finnish national board of antiques Kyminlinna researchhttp://www.ymparisto.fihttp://kulttuuriymparisto.nba.fi

External links

Visual montage of the fortress (in Finnish)
{{Authority control Forts in Finland Buildings and structures in Kymenlaakso