Carlsten Fortress
The fortress Carlsten ( Swedish Karlstens fästning ) is located on the island of Marstrandsö in the southern archipelago of the Swedish province of Bohuslän .
history
The Swedish town of Marstrand, which had been in Sweden since the Peace of Roskilde in 1658, was of great importance as a trading center: Since its port rarely froze over, part of the west Swedish merchant fleet loaded and unloaded its cargo here. To secure this important port for Sweden, Carl X. Gustav therefore decided to build a fortress on the top of the island.
In 1658, Johan Wärnschöld drafted a plan to fortify Marstrandsö, but for a long time only a provisional fortification could be built. A wooden fort was hastily built on the top of the mountain above the town by the large windmill , so that an attack by the Norwegians in autumn 1659 could easily be repulsed. Only at the beginning of 1666 was a rhombus-shaped reduit built in place of the fort, which was expanded in 1671–73 by a square one-story tower, the Carlsten, at the highest point of the building site. This complex formed the later core of the castle, the citadel. On July 23, 1677 the fort surrendered to Ulrik Gyldenlǿve , the Danish governor of Norway , who had enclosed it. In 1681 the expansion work on the fort and the reconstruction of the tower began according to a design by the then commandant Karl Gustav Frölich and the architect Erik Dahlberg . This work was completed in 1685: In addition to a moat, the castle now also had a round tower several stories high, which enclosed the earlier square tower. Later, external works and residential quarters were added according to Frölich's design. This work was almost finished and the fortress was generally in good shape when the Norwegian admiral Peter Tordenskiold attacked Marstrand on July 10, 1719. Since the bombardment through the fortress Carlsten could not achieve much, he took the city without difficulty. A rumor that Tordenskiold was expecting large reinforcements forced Carlsten's commander, Henrich Danckwardt, to surrender on July 15th. After the fortress was returned after the peace treaty of November 12, 1720, the minor damage to the fortifications was repaired.
In 1770, in memory of this defeat, the Secret Committee decided to build battery works on the roof of the residential quarters. In 1779 the tower was changed so that it could serve as a beacon . In addition, the fortress was fully defended in 1780–83. The plan to strengthen the fortress, decided in 1834 and expanded in 1840, extended the work to 1851. At this time steam power was introduced into the sea and since war against Denmark was now unlikely, Carlsten's importance diminished. In 1878 the committee responsible for the fortress proposed that the garrison, two fortress artillery batteries of the Göta artillery regiment , be relocated to Vaxholm and Karlsborg and that the fortress, which was in good condition, should only be poorly maintained. As a result, the garrison marched on May 1, 1882, after which the flag of the fortress was lowered. The assembly was brought to Karlsborg. The fortifications continued to be maintained, however, and in the autumn of 1906 part of their naval defense equipment was made available for use by the ship's boy corporation in Marstrand, which had been set up since early 1907. This corporation used the fortress until it was dissolved in 1937. The beacon had already been replaced by the pater noster fire in 1868 .
Although Carlsten had actually been used as a regular military fortress, it was both in the first as in the Second World War military occupation again, among other things, anti-aircraft guns fitted. Even during the Cold War , a small unit of the Swedish army remained in the fortress, which was now used for air surveillance. An essay on the stair tower in the citadel dates from this time. It was not until 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union that the military finally left the fortress.
Construction and use
The construction of the fortress Carlsten was hard work: Since there was not enough material on the island, the stone blocks had to be landed by ship and then brought to the tip of the island by hand. In order to obtain sufficient labor for this unpleasant and arduous task, a new punishment was introduced in the Swedish case law: the so-called "Marstrandarbeit", the penalty of which ranged from a few years to life. Prisoners from all over the country have now been used for this work. Among them were mainly felons convicted of murder , robbery , forgery and violence, but also petty criminals such as thieves and vagabonds.
In order to prevent attempts to escape, the prisoners were given an ankle cuff to which an iron ball weighing two kilograms was attached by means of a chain. Reclusive prisoners or those suspected of escaping were forced to wear a so-called iron crown ( järnkrona ), an iron vest weighing up to 36 kilograms. Due to the hard work and poor living conditions, the mortality rate was high. Every winter up to 20% of the prisoners died. Marstrands work was abolished in 1854 and most of the prisoners were transferred to Gothenburg the following year .
The most famous prisoner at Carlsten Fortress was Lasse-Maja . This successful thief had long escaped the arm of the law. When he was finally caught, he was sentenced to life on the beach in 1813. Thanks to his cooking skills, which he had acquired as a “housekeeper”, Lasse-Maja spent a large part of his time in prison as a cook. In 1839 he was pardoned by King Karl XIV. Johann after 26 years imprisonment in Carlsten .
In 1935 the fortress was placed under state protection as Byggnadsminne .
Web links
- Entry in the bebyggelseregistret des Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish)
Coordinates: 57 ° 53 ′ 10 ″ N , 11 ° 34 ′ 42 ″ E