Halifax Citadel

Citadel Hill is a National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Four fortifications have been constructed on Citadel Hill since the city was founded by the British in 1749, and were referred to as Fort George—but only the third fort (built between 1794 and 1800) was officially named Fort George. According to General Orders of October 20, 1798, it was named after King George III. The first two and the fourth and current fort, were officially called the Halifax Citadel. The last is a concrete star fort.

The Citadel is the fortified summit of Citadel Hill. The hill was first fortified in 1749, the year that Edward Cornwallis oversaw the development of the town of Halifax. Those fortifications were successively rebuilt to defend the town from various enemies. Construction and leveling have lowered the summit by ten to twelve metres. While never attacked, the Citadel was long the keystone to defence of the strategically important Halifax Harbour and its Royal Navy Dockyard.

Today, Parks Canada operates the site as the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site of Canada. It has restored the fort to its appearance when built in the Victorian era.

Text adapted from “Citadel Hill (Fort George)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Halifax Citadel ranks #3,057 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #18 of the 26 mapped in Canada. Founded 1749, it is older than 19% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 556 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 5,185 times in the last 60 days, more than 85% of the atlas. See how Canada compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗