FORTE CULTURA Tourist Guide Book

20 \\ TOURIST GUIDE BOOK EXPERIENCE CULTURAL HERITAGE TRAVEL ARCHITECTURE FORTIFIED CITIES F or centuries high city walls were considered the best protec- tion against all attackers. However, gun powder and cannons revolutionised the architecture of traditional city fortifications from the 15th century. Cannons needed raised and reinforced positions, free fields of fire and sufficient room for the crews oper- ating the cannons. Towers were reduced to bastions, rising earth walls supplemented steep walls, and cannons, visible from afar, announced the new defensive capabilities of many European cities. The Italian engineer Sanmicheli, whose defences were constructed from 1533 onwards in Verona, is considered one of the brilliant thousand inventors. A closed chain of bastions encircled cities, often additionally protected by dug-out moats. Northern Italy is particularly rich in such fortress cities, with Bergamo, Urbino and Treviso being notable examples. The bastion fortress of the city of Dresden constructed after 1546 is regarded as one of the models of the fortress construction of the modern era in Germany. The Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) greatly accelerated bastion fortress construction. Kings, princes and cardinals vied to secure their es- tates. The richer the city, the more formidable the fortress. It was thanks to Vienna’s wealth that it could resist two Turkish sieges. The layouts of most European cities still reflect their earlier bastion fortifications. Fortified cities Bastions replace medieval walls FURTHER FORTIFIED CITIES Czech Republic Olomouc Prague Italy Ferrara Padua Piacenza Treviso Verona A city surrounded by fortifications (bastions) of the modern era with irregular geometry. The new, star-shaped fortifications were a response to the further development of artillery, which the medieval city walls were no longer a match for. The function of the round or corner bastions jutting out of the line of the rampart was to accommodate the cannons, in order to be able cover the space immediately in front of the rampart sideways. Fortifications of city Gdańsk