Karlsborg Fortress () 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 Västergötland (), ...

by lake

Vättern Vättern ( , ) is the second-largest lake 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 Scandinavia. ...

, 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. Vä ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

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

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

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

Göta Canal The Göta Canal () 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 Aniansson, ''Sustainab ...

. The intent of the central defense idea was that the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

, 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 or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

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's largest buildings and consists primarily of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

from

Omberg Omberg () is a forested mountain in 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 Vättern, Lake Vättern and Tåkern, Lake Tå ...

History

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), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

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. After comprehensive visits to other fortresses in Europe, fortress architect Johan av Klen presented plans similar in style to Fort Winiary in Posen (present-day

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

). 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 consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

during this time, Vaberget Fortress 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 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 military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

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

Life Regiment Hussars The Life Regiment Hussars (; 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 up a draft of horses and ...

(K 3) are also based there. The Swedish Parachute Ranger School and the Swedish Operations Group 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 () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now inca ...

composed of 276

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

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 Karlsborg Municipality 1831 establishments in Sweden 19th-century establishments in Skaraborg County