FORTE CULTURA Tourist Guide Book

44 \\ TOURIST GUIDE BOOK EXPERIENCE CULTURAL HERITAGE TRAVEL ARCHITECTURE B order defences are equipped with various reinforcements and defensive systems to prevent attackers and to defend the claimed territory. The Roman limes is a model of highly fortified defensive and border lines between enemy peoples and religions. Today this fascinating fortification with numerous museums and excavation sites is a UNESCO world cultural heritage site and tourist attraction. A particular monument of the Cold War and fortified border de- fences is the Iron Curtain running from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic. Today it can be experienced as an interesting scenic tour. Territorial fortresses were built before the First World War and especially between the two World Wars in order to prevent annexation of territory. Mussolini’s Italian Alpine Wall with 350 infantry and artillery positions in South Tyrol was paradoxically directed against the allied German Reich from the time of 1938. Other deeply stag- gered fortification systems of the 20th century are, for example, the Stalin and Molotov Lines (Soviet Union), Ostwall (East Wall) and Westwall (West Wall) (German Reich) and the Rupnik Line (Yugoslavia). The Maginot Line in northern France, which was constructed to defend against an attack by the German Reich, is also famous. Its remains, bunkers, entrenchments, armoured turrets and logistical network remain as monstrous, but fascinating monuments (in their gigantomania), and recall Europe’s bellicose past. TERRITORIAL & BORDER FORTIFICATIONS Territorial and border fortifications From limes to the Iron Curtain – 2,000 years of fortification lines “Dragon’s teeth” – the Oder-Warthe-Bogen fortified front Part of a subterranean connected bunker system of Rupnik Line Sprawling fortification to protect relatively large areas as a territorial fortress or border defence.