Explore the historic highlights of Verona
Verona, Italy
c. 30 AD
Verona, Italy
c. 1329
Verona, Italy
1354
Verona, Italy
0-100 AD
Verona, Italy
100 BC
Verona, Italy
1280
Verona, Italy
1187
Verona, Italy
1393
Verona, Italy
9th century
Verona, Italy
12th century
Verona, Italy
14th century
Verona, Italy
11th century
Verona, Italy
16th century
Verona, Italy
10th century AD
Verona, Italy
1451-1466
Goryōkaku (五稜郭) (literally, 'five-point fort') is a star fort in the Japanese city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. The fortress was completed in 1866. It was the main fortress of the short-lived Republic of Ezo.
Goryōkaku was designed in 1855 by Takeda Ayasaburō and Jules Brunet. Their plans was based on the work of the French architect Vauban. The fortress was completed in 1866, two years before the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is shaped like a five-pointed star. This allowed for greater numbers of gun emplacements on its walls than a traditional Japanese fortress, and reduced the number of blind spots where a cannon could not fire.
The fort was built by the Tokugawa shogunate to protect the Tsugaru Strait against a possible invasion by the Meiji government.
Goryōkaku is famous as the site of the last battle of the Boshin War.