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The area is constantly
being cared for by loving house owners, local authorities and archaeological
and historical professionals, and our children are taught to use the town with
care.
The armed forces have
put their stamp on Fredrikstad for more than 350 years, from the establishment
of the Smaalenske regiment in 1644 to its closure in 2002. The last parade
took place when the garrison colours were lowered for the last time on 31
December 2002.
Norway’s
national assembly, the Storting, has decided that the military buildings and
facilities in the fortified town are national cultural monuments and are to
remain under state ownership. Since the soldiers left a large number of
civilian enterprises have moved in. The old military buildings are now used
for a wide variety of purposes, mostly cultural. The Town Museum is located in
Toihuset, the previous storage house for the army.
Fredrikstad was founded in 1567 during the reign of King Fredrik II, after
King Olav II’s ancient town of Sarpsborg had been burnt to the ground by
Sweedish troops. It was built on the estuary of Glommas river, a promising
site for a market town, but for many years, despite the royal favours
conferred upon it, the town was slow to prosper. One reason was the many fires
that repeatedly reduced the wooden buildings to ashes. After Norway was
compelled to cede the province of Bohuslän with its fort to Sweden in 1658,
Fredrikstad assumed a position of strategic importance in the country’s
defence, and permanent fortifications were erected according to plans drawn up
by the quartermaster-General, Colonel Wyllem Cucheron. These were approved by
King Frederik III in 1663.
The
plans were based on the bastion system, from the Old Dutch school of
fortification. The whole town was enclosed by the fortress walls. The fortress
has five bastions with redans behind an earth rampart facing land and a solid
granite wall facing the river. Outside the ramparts lies the moat. The moat is
higher than the river, so it has a dam at each end. The fortress has three
gates in the wall facing the river and one gate at the side facing land, from
which a drawbridge crosses the moat. There are also three sally-ports. The
fortress was built by commandeered soldiers and peasants.
Fredrikstad fortress was considered to be a key point in the national defence
system as a depot for the army and naval forces stationed south of the Dovre
mountains. For the conduct of his operations against the Bohuslän coast,
Admiral Peter Wessel Tordenskiold set up his headquarters under the cover of
the fort’s cannons.
At
the peak of their glory, the fortifications mounted 200 cannons and could
muster up to 2000 men in the event of war. In August 1814 Swedish troops
embarking from Strömstad mounted an attack on the fortress, which by then was
considerably reduced in strength. After two days’ fighting the garrison was
forced to surrender, and the town was handed over to the Swedes. The fortress
was decommissioned in 1903.
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