Karlsborg Fortress
Encyclopedia
Karlsborg
Karlsborg is a locality and the seat of Karlsborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 3,574 inhabitants in 2005. This garrison town lies at the shore of lake Vättern in Västergötland.-History:...
by lake Vättern
Vättern
Vättern is the second largest lake in Sweden, after Lake 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
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Construction on the fortress began 1819 to realize the so-called central defense idea adopted by the Swedish military after the Finnish
Finnish War
The Finnish War was fought between Sweden and the Russian Empire from February 1808 to September 1809. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire...
and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. The site was chose by Baltzar von Platen in connection with the construction of Göta kanal.
The intent of the central defense idea was that the royal house, Swedish government
Government of Sweden
The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden is the supreme executive authority of Sweden. It consists of the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers appointed by the Prime Minister. The Government is responsible for their actions to the Riksdag, which is the legislative assembly...
, Riksdag
Parliament of Sweden
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
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
Official gold reserves
A gold reserve is the gold held by a central bank or nation intended as a store of value and as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders , or trading peers, or to secure a currency....
of the central bank of Sweden
Sveriges Riksbank
Sveriges Riksbank, or simply Riksbanken, is the central bank of Sweden and the world's oldest central bank. It is sometimes called the Swedish National Bank or the Bank of Sweden .-History:...
were to be safeguarded in the fortress in times of trouble.
The fortress is one of northern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's largest buildings and consists primarily of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
from Omberg. Construction was begun in 1819 on 100 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s of land. The fortress was to house a garrison of 6,000 enlisted men and an additional 8 to 10,000 people. The walls were mostly complete in 1830, and after comprehensive visits to other fortresses in Europe, fortress architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Johan av Klen presented plans similar in style to the Winiary fortress in Posen (present-day Poznan
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
).
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
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
during this time, Vaberget Fortress
Vaberget Fortress
Vaberget Fortress is a fortress located five kilometers west of Karlsborg Fortress, by lake Vättern, in Västergötland, Sweden. The southern fort at Vaberget Fortress was the first fort in the world that fully used the protection provided by the bedrock itself by having all of its functions...
was built in the early 1900s five kilometers west of Karlsborg to provide additional protection to the main fortress.
The town of Karlsborg
Karlsborg
Karlsborg is a locality and the seat of Karlsborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 3,574 inhabitants in 2005. This garrison town lies at the shore of lake Vättern in Västergötland.-History:...
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 kanal which passes through the town.
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
for Göta signalregemente
Göta signalregemente
Göta signalregemente , designations S 1 Sk and S 2, was a Swedish Army signal regiment, one of the few new formations raised in the 20th century. It was disbanded in 1997...
, S 2, and since 1984 Livregementets husarer, K 3, are also based there. Fallskärmsjägarskolan
Fallskärmsjägarskolan
Fallskärmsjägarskolan, commonly known as FJS, is the Swedish Army's Parachute Ranger School and the home of Fallskärmsjägarna and Särskilda Skyddsgruppen...
and Särskilda Skyddsgruppen
Särskilda Skyddsgruppen
Särskilda Skyddsgruppen is a special operations unit of the Swedish military which became active in 1994. The exact number of operatives is classified but is thought to be between 60 and 80, with an average age of 31...
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 riksdag
Parliament of Sweden
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
and the government in times of troubles. A chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
composed of bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
s instead of crystal prisms hangs from the ceiling.
External links
- Karlsborg Municipality (in Swedish)