Loviisan maalinnoitus (Landfästningen i Lovisa)

English translation (from the Finnish)

The text above is the record as published by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), in Finnish. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto); it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

The Loviisa land fortress and the associated Svartholm sea fortress were fortifications built by Sweden after the territorial losses under the Treaty of Turku in 1743. The Loviisa land fortress, representing Swedish fortification technique of the latter part of the 18th century, is an important part of the defence history of the realm's eastern border.

The Loviisa land fortress and the Svartholm island fort off its shore form the eastern outwork of the main fortress of Suomenlinna, built off Helsinki. The purpose of the Loviisa land fortress was to monitor traffic on the Suuri Rantatie. The old coastal road runs through the Garnison area on the west side of the bastions. Of the fortification plan drawn up by Augustin Ehrensvärd, what survives are the granite-built bastions Rosen and Ungern, constructed along the Suuri Rantatie, and the associated earthen ramparts. Behind the bastions can be seen quarrying areas and stoneworks from the 1750s, the partly built foundation of bastion Adolf Fredrik, and earthwork areas of the ramparts. The bastions Rosen and Ungern, whose embrasures face the road, belonged to the eastern outwork of the fortress. Loviisanlahti once extended as far as bastion Ungern.

In the northern part of the town of Loviisa, along Puistokatu, stands a two-storey commandant's house, connected with the fortification plan, which is one of the few realised stone buildings of the fortification plan. A typical Hårleman-style baroque classicist official's residence serves as the Loviisa town museum. Along Vallikatu stands a stone bakery building that belonged to the fortress, and along Itäinen Tullikatu two two-storey stone barracks from the 1750s.

History

By the Treaty of Turku in 1743, the westernmost branch of the Kymijoki became Sweden's eastern border. Sweden lost all its fortresses on the eastern frontier. In 1747 the Diet resolved to build two twin fortifications to secure the country's eastern border: a depot fortress and naval base in Helsinki and on the islands in front of it, and a border fortress at Degerby and on the area in front of it.

The town of Degerby was founded in 1745, after Hamina had passed to the Russian side. The town became the new provincial capital and fortification work began there. The first fortification plan was drawn up in 1744 by the fortification colonel A.J. Nordenberg. The aim was a town of stone buildings surrounded by bastions, to which a suburb outside the fortification zone was to be connected. The final fortification plan for the town, based on Nordenberg's proposal, was drawn up by A. Ehrensvärd in 1747. The town plan, fortification and urban planning for Loviisa represented a new kind of town in Finland, following the stylistic ideals of classicism, with its broken outlines. Construction of the fortifications began the following year under Ehrensvärd's direction. Of the plans, only the bastions Ungern and Rosen with their earthen ramparts were realised, along with a few stone buildings: the Komendantintalo, the so-called Fortifikationshuset, and the Lilja barracks. The Komendantintalo was built in 1755 to drawings by Samuel Berner. The actual settlement and the timber town developed on the southern side of the fortification.

The Garnison area originally belonged to the Degerby fortress, but in the early part of the 19th century the area was divided into building plots for townspeople. The first buildings had already been erected in the area in the 18th century. Most of the building stock was built in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Loviisa fortress lost its military significance when Finland was annexed to Russia in 1809. The fortification area was taken into use as pasture and, in the 1890s, for recreational use. The bastion Ungern was restored in the 1960s and 1990s, and the walls of the bastion Rosen have been restored since the 1940s; in addition, its protective canopy was built in 1979. Restoration of the walls began in 2005, with the aim of preserving the original parts and the ruin-like character.