Fredriksberg Fortress

Fredriksberg fort is a Norwegian fortification located at the highest point of Nordnes in Bergen.

The Norwegian fortress Fredriskberg lay strategically placed on Nordnes’ highest point with a precipitous cliff face to the sea on the west side. Dutch Engineer Major General Henrik Ruse (1624-79) initiated the fortress construction, planned with three bastions and a half bastion on the land side and a wall on the side adjacent to the cliff. The fort was built between 1666 and 1667. It was built after and in many respects because of the Battle of Vågen. It is named after King Fredrik III of Norway.

The construction stalled and the fortifications decayed. A 1695 inspection of Bergen by Christian V of Denmark’s son, Christian Gyldenløve was the impetus which restarted work on the fortifications. By 1706 construction had been completed, albeit in a less complicated layout than originally planned.

Fredriksberg served among other things as a place of execution. Katten, the bastion, was also built in 1666 in what today is the Nordnes Park. The Lavette houses were built in 1810 and 1843 as military storages. After the city fire in 1916 they were used as temporary housing.

The grounds in front of the Lavette houses were used as a place of execution until the Swedish counterfeiter Jacob Wallin was executed in 1876.

The Nordnes Park was built 1888-1898 partly on some of the old fortifications.

The fortress has also been part of the Bergen Fire Fighting Service. It was a fire watch station from 1667 and a fire station from 1905 to 1926.

Today part of the fort is rented by Nordnæs Bataillon—a social club/buekorps.

Text adapted from “Fredriksberg Fortress” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fredriksberg Fortress ranks #5,893 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #24 of the 26 mapped in Norway. Founded 1666, it is older than 25% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 626 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Norway compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗