Taavetti Fortress (), is a

fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

located in

Taavetti Taavetti (; Swedish: ''Taavetti'', also ''Davidstad'') is a village and administrative center of the Luumäki municipality in South Karelia, Finland. It has a population of 2,084. It is located along Highway 6 between Lappeenranta and Kouvola, and ...

in the municipality of

Luumäki Luumäki () is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in the Taavetti village. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the South Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

History

Taavetti Fortress was built at a strategically important road junction at the southern end of the

Salpausselkä Salpausselkä (; "Bar Ridge") is an extensive ridge system left by the ice age in Southern Finland. It is a large terminal moraine formation that formed in front of the Baltic ice lake during the Younger Dryas period about 12,250–10,400 year ...

. The walls of the fortress give it an almost circular shape.This Fortress is part of the southeastern Finnish

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

system built by Russia after the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790. During the first phase of construction which extends from 1773 to 1781, a fortress is built consisting of ramparts, measuring approximately 650 x 800 meters. During the second phase of construction from 1791 to 1796, the interior buildings of the fortress were raised. Military use of the fortress ceased in 1803 before the war in Finland. The ruins of the fortress were restored in the 1980s and open-air events are held here. The

Finnish Heritage Agency The Finnish Heritage Agency (, ), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a cultural and research institutio ...

has listed Taavetti Fortress as a Built Cultural Site of National Interest in Finland.

References

{{coord, 60.9227, 27.5575, type:landmark_region:FI, display=title Forts in Finland