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The Vyborg town wall (russian: Выборгская городская стена, fi, Viipurin kaupunginmuuri, sv, Viborgs stadsmur) was a defensive structure built around the town of Viborg (today
Vyborg Sightseeing City Guide.
Saint Petersburg.com. Retrieved 22 June 2014. According to legends, one of the towers exploded during the Russo-Swedish War in 1495 and the Russian invaders escaped in great fear. The incident is known as the Viborg blast.
File:Фрагмент бастиона Панцерлакс.JPG, The Panzerlachs Bastion
File:Круглая башня. г. Выборг.jpg, The Round Tower
File:Выборг. Башня Ратуши.JPG, The Town Hall Tower
History of the fortresses from the Middle Ages to the early 19th century
Castles and Fortifications in Finland
The Vyborg town wall (russian: Выборгская городская стена, fi, Viipurin kaupunginmuuri, sv, Viborgs stadsmur) was a defensive structure built around the town of Viborg (today Vyborg
Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...
, 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 encompassing one-eig ...
). It was completed during the Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
era in the 1470s and demolished mainly in the 1860s as Vyborg was a part of the Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...
. Some minor parts of the wall are still preserved as well as two round towers
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Towers are specific ...
.
History and construction
The foundations of the Viborg town wall were laid byErik Axelsson Tott
Erik Axelsson (Tott) (c. 1419–1481) was a Dano-Swedish statesman and regent of Sweden under the Kalmar Union, jointly with Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna in 1457 and alone from 1466 to 1467.
Biography
He was born in Scania during the reign of K ...
, the stadtholder of Viborg Castle. It was constructed by the same builders who completed the St. Olaf's Castle in 1475–1477. They were most likely invited from Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
. The wall was 5–6 meters high and had originally 10 towers with a combination of circular and square designs. Two of them, the Town Hall Tower and the Round Tower
A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fu ...
, built in 1540s, are still preserved. In the late 16th century the wall was strengthened with several bastions and the so-called "Horn Fortress", located east from the original wall. The only remaining bastion is the Panzerlachs Bastion at the south-west corner of the Horn Fortress.Saint Petersburg.com. Retrieved 22 June 2014. According to legends, one of the towers exploded during the Russo-Swedish War in 1495 and the Russian invaders escaped in great fear. The incident is known as the Viborg blast.
Gallery
See also
*Siege of Vyborg (1710)
The siege of Viborg took place in the spring of 1710 during the Great Northern War (1700–1721), as a second attempt by the Russians to capture the fortress port of Viborg (Vyborg), near the modern border between Russia and Finland, after a fa ...
Sources
History of the fortresses from the Middle Ages to the early 19th century
Castles and Fortifications in Finland
References
External links
* {{coord, 60.7079, N, 28.7379, E, source:wikidata, display=title City walls Buildings and structures in Vyborg Fortifications in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Leningrad Oblast