Taavetti Fortress ( fi, Taavetin 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 Taavetti 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 i ...

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 Bo ...

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 years ...

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

fortification 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'' ...

system built by Russia after the

Russo-Swedish War Wars between Russia 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> ...

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 ( fi, Museovirasto, sv, Museiverket), 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 ...

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 Military history of Finland History of Russia History of Sweden