Vaxholm Fortress
Coordinates: 59 ° 24 ′ 11 ″ N , 18 ° 21 ′ 34 ″ E
The fortress Vaxholm or the Castle Vaxholm is now no longer used Fortification on the island Vaxholmen near the town of Vaxholm in the archipelago of Stockholm . The fortress was built in 1548. In 1604 the fortification was reinforced and in 1833 a complete reconstruction took place, which gave the fortress its present appearance. Since 1935 the Vaxholm fortress has been designated a state monument by the Statens fastighetsverk .
From 1916 the fortress was part of a line of fortifications, which stretched from Värmdö via Rindö , Vaxholm fortress, Vaxö , Edholma to Lillskär . The name of this line was Vaxholmslinie .
history
The strategic importance of the square for the shipping route to Stockholm was recognized early on . At the beginning of the 16th century, the imperial administrator Svante Sture had a fortress built on Vaxholmen. At the Diet of Västerås (1527) in 1544, the Swedish King Gustav Wasa introduced a nationwide defense plan. This included the future fortress on Vaxholmen. This was primarily intended to protect Stockholm, but also to take customs from the passing ships. The first fortification was built for this purpose in 1548. This consisted of a simple fort , which was made entirely of wood. King Gustav Wasa himself chose the place for this first fortress. In the reign of Johann III. this wooden fort was replaced by a round defense tower . In 1604 the fortress was further expanded and in 1612, when the fortifications halted a Danish attack, it was reinforced with ramparts and other fortifications around the tower.
Over the next two centuries, the facility was continuously expanded. However, some of these expansion measures were never completed. During this time, the fortress was mainly used as a customs post. During the Russian devastation in 1719, the fortification was attacked by Russian galleys , but these were repulsed by a counterattack from the fortress. Swedish warships were also used. In addition, the access to Stockholm was blocked with obstacles. The Swedish squadron consisted of four warships , five frigates and 12 galleys, which very satisfactorily blocked the sea access to Stockholm.
The fort
On February 1, 1808, Russian troops crossed the border with Finland as part of the Russo-Swedish War . Due to the subsequent Peace of Fredrikshamn on September 17, 1809, the former Swedish territories Finland and Åland fell to Russia. Due to these circumstances, the strategic importance of the fortress Vaxholm increased again significantly. In 1833, a complete reconstruction of the fortress began, which gave it its current appearance. The Swedish officer Carl Fredrik Meijer was responsible for the conversion . The old fortifications including the tower were completely demolished in 1833. Instead of this, a completely new system has now been built. This was designed according to what was then a very modern system, which was inspired by the ideas of the French engineers Marc René Montalbert (1714 to 1800) and Lazare Carnot (1753 to 1823). Karlsborg Fortress acted as a further source of ideas . Central to this fortification system were the tower and buildings with several floors as well as cannons, which were set up in bulletproof casemates . The masonry of the fortress was 2.2 meters thick and the central tower, which had five floors, was built into the so-called northern line, which consisted of elongated buildings. These served as barracks for the approximately 1,200-strong crew . The neo-classical style of the defense tower was very reminiscent of Meijer's work on Karlsborg Fortress. In front of and to the side of the tower were outdoor facilities, donjons and capons . Some of the defenses were designed as a redoubt , similar to the north-western fortress on the island of Rindö .
The renovation was completely completed in 1863. But due to the technical progress in the development of the artillery , the fortress was already out of date by this time. The test was put to the test in 1872 when an armored boat with a new type of ammunition shot at the walls of the fortress and these were penetrated by the projectiles . At the same time, the ships became too big over time to be able to pass the narrow route in front of the fortress. For this reason, the Oxdjupet , which had previously been made impassable, was dredged again and at the same time the Oskar-Fredriksborg fortress was built on the new route. The Vaxholm Fortress lost more and more of its military importance. The common name of all fortifications on the approach to Stockholm was Vaxholm Fortress from 1942 .
Vaxholm Fortress was a stopover on the optical telegraph line between Söderarm and Stockholm Palace. In the museum you can still see part of the control system that Abraham Niclas Edelcrantz used to maneuver the optical telegraph.
jail
The fortress was used as a prison during the 18th and 19th centuries . The prisoners included the publicist Magnus Jacob Crusenstolpe and General Georg Carl von Döbeln . One curiosity is that Pippi Longstocking's father was imprisoned here in Taka-Tuka Land in the film Pippi . The fortress then served as the backdrop for a pirate castle .
Surname
The origin of the name Vaxholm is not exactly clear. The most widespread theory is that the name comes from the Swedish word Vaktsholm ( German island on which one stands guard ).
today
Today there is a fortress museum in Vaxholm Fortress, which shows, among other things, exhibitions about Sweden's coastal defense, former life in the fortress, the prison and the readiness in the archipelago during the Second World War . The fortress has been a national monument since 1935 and is administered by the Swedish state. The fortress is now inhabited by the Swedish Himmelstrand family.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ State Monument Administration (Swedish)
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Information about Vaxholm Fortress (Swedish)
- ↑ a b c d e Information from the Swedish state about the fortress (Swedish)
- ↑ Thomas Roth: Det senare 1900-talets svenska befästningskonst (Swedish) ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 76 kB)
- ↑ SFV - Siaröfortet ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Vaxholm Fortress Museum (Swedish)
