Landskrona Citadel, Landskrona, Sweden

Landskrona Citadel was initially built 1549–1559 as a purely defensive fortification with two complete moats, the inner with a width of 70 metres. The outer (complete) moat is between 40 and 70 metres wide, and has cross fire bastions for artillery and guns. Outside the outer moat, a third narrower moat covers the northwest and northeast. There also exist remains of a fourth moat (between the two outer moats). The fortifications and moats system surrounding the castle is known to be one of Europe's largest and best preserved. In the area between the outer and far outer moat resides the oldest area of allotment-garden cottages of Sweden.

Landskrona was captured in 1644 by forces led by Gustav Horn, but returned to Danish possession the year after. It became Swedish again in 1658 as a result of the Treaty of Roskilde. Between 1667 and 1675, the citadel was expanded with extensive bastions. Thus on 2 August 1676, during a new war between Sweden and Denmark, the commandant Hieronymus Lindeberg surrendered himself and the castle to a Danish army unit. Until peace was restored in 1679, the castle was used as a center of command by the Scanian voluntary army corps ("Friskydter" in Danish-Scanian history, "Snapphanar" in Swedish) which fought together with the regular Danish army against the Swedish occupiers. Lindeberg survived the Danes but were later executed on order of Swedish king Charles IX. In the middle of the 18th century, the local military commander feared (quite suddenly) that the 15th century church Johannes Babtistæ Kyrka ("John the Baptist church"), which at the time was the second largest in Scania, must be destroyed. The reason was a fear for enemy cannons in the church tower. The whole church was demolished and a new one, Sofia Albertina, was built some decades later.

The castle was used as a women's prison from the late 19th century and some decades later. Today the castle is both a kind of museum (guided tours only, but not expensive, daily during the summer) and can be rented for private parties.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Timo John (3 years ago)
Very interesting

Marinus Mourik (3 years ago)
Nice fortress, not possible to visit inside but a nice walk around and inside is possible.

Tom Quigley (3 years ago)
Nice little city but could do with better signs for tourists

Henrik Eriksson (3 years ago)
Beautiful fort by the sea with man made canal. Good signage and cafe makes the walk great.

Michael Pold (3 years ago)
The area is really nice. You can walk around the castle, fish in the moat and enter the castle courtyard, but sadly there's no public access to the castle itself, except for a small exhibition about the castle's history.

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The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.

In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians. The county became a privileged refuge for persecuted Cathars.

The castle, often besieged (notably by Simon de Montfort in 1211 and 1212), resisted assault and was only taken once, in 1486, thanks to treachery during the war between two branches of the Foix family.

From the 14th century, the Counts of Foix spent less and less time in the uncomfortable castle, preferring the Governors' Palace. From 1479, the Counts of Foix became Kings of Navarre and the last of them, made Henri IV of France, annexed his Pyrrenean lands to France.

As seat of the Governor of the Foix region from the 15th century, the castle continued to ensure the defence of the area, notably during the Wars of Religion. Alone of all the castles in the region, it was exempted from the destruction orders of Richelieu (1632-1638).

Until the Revolution, the fortress remained a garrison. Its life was brightened with grand receptions for its governors, including the Count of Tréville, captain of musketeers under Louis XIII and Marshal Philippe Henri de Ségur, one of Louis XVI's ministers. The Round Tower, built in the 15th century, is the most recent, the two square towers having been built before the 11th century. They served as a political and civil prison for four centuries until 1862.

Since 1930, the castle has housed the collections of the Ariège départemental museum. Sections on prehistory, Gallo-Roman and mediaeval archaeology tell the history of Ariège from ancient times. Currently, the museum is rearranging exhibits to concentrate on the history of the castle site so as to recreate the life of Foix at the time of the Counts.

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