FORTE CULTURA Tourist Guide Book

24 \\ TOURIST GUIDE BOOK EXPERIENCE CULTURAL HERITAGE TRAVEL ARCHITECTURE SINGLE FORTRESSES Fortress Bard [IT] B astioned single fortresses built between 1500 and 1900 are the most common type of fortification in central Europe. They offer tourists enormous architectonic variety, functions and experiences, whether as monumental mountain fortresses, as im- posing water fortresses, as formidable coastal fortresses or as fortresses within a city. Single fortresses always have a limited defence purpose, based on the direct range of the artillery. The flagships are the mighty hill fortresses of the highlands and the Al- pine region, such as the Saxon Königstein Fortress , the Rosenberg Fortress in Kronach , Hohensalzburg , the huge Fort Bard in the Aosta Valley and Fortezza . The fortress on Gellért Hill, towering high over Budapest , is a tourist attraction. The once largest bulwark of Moravia, Špilberk Castle in Brno, is visible for miles around. In the central European lowlands, moats were often used as an additional obstacle and defensive element. Today there are in some cases fascinating and romantic sceneries composed of landscapes and bulwarks, like the Heldrungen Fortress in Thuringia with its two moat systems. Coastal fortresses by the Baltic Sea, such as the Wisłoujście fortress in Gdańsk, and by the Mediterranean, such as the Fortezza del Priamar fortress in Savona , combine the particular charm of the sea with the massive fortified walls that were once equipped with cannons. Single Fortresses Monuments of power – diverse functions and architecture Stand-alone military construction of the modern era, consisting mainly of military buildings for the garrison and for muni- tion storage, as well as an invincible wall, entrenchments or moats, casemates covered with earth, bastions and batteries to defend better against enemy fire, in particular artillery. Single fortresses, which are adapted to the given topography, can function as hillside, river, sea or harbour fortresses.