Kongsvinger Fortress: A Danish-Norwegian Frontier Fortress in Norway

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History

Kongsvinger Fortress is a Danish-Norwegian frontier fortress in Norway, at Kongsvinger on the west side of the Glomma River. Developed between 1673 and 1784, it took its principal form in the late seventeenth century, when bastioned fortification methods were adapted to the hill at Tråstadberg. The fortress guarded routes between Värmland in Sweden and Christiania, now Oslo, as well as the north-south route along the Glomma, and was intended to prevent Swedish forces from advancing into Norway.

Vinger before the fortress

The site belonged to a landscape with religious, commercial, and military importance. A pilgrimage route from Sweden to the shrine of Saint Olaf at Trondheim passed through Eidskog, Vinger, and Elverum. Saint Olaf, or Olaf II of Norway, was the medieval king later venerated as a Christian saint. Vinger also figured in the Norwegian civil-war period. In 1224, forces led by Sigurd Ribbung fought King Haakon IV’s army at Vinger. Ribbung’s troops were defeated and fled.

The crossing near Tråstad was especially valuable because it carried routes toward central southern Norway. During the wars between Denmark-Norway and Sweden, Colonel G. Reichenwein, commandant at Vinger, proposed fortifications there in 1647. A simple pentagonal redoubt was built west of the Glomma in 1657 and 1658, and was completed in the summer of 1658. A second star-shaped sconce stood at the later site of the 1697 church. A map from the 1720s described that work as a decayed sconce from the 1657 and 1658 war.

The war of 1657 and 1658 showed that the river sconce could not withstand a prolonged siege. In 1661, General Inspector Henrik Ruse sought to strengthen defenses along the coast and the Swedish frontier. In 1673, Governor Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve described new construction on Tråstadberg. He planned an eight-foot-high breastwork overlooking the river and the older sconce, and stated that a garrison of 300 men could oppose 10,000 attackers. A position and magazine had already been started, and the work became known as Vinger Sconce or Gyldenborg. Ole Elingson was its first company commander.

From sconce to fortress

Vinger Sconce was not attacked during the Scanian War of 1675 to 1679, a conflict between Denmark-Norway and Sweden, although its guns fired on a Swedish reconnaissance unit. A Norwegian attack launched from Vinger in February 1679 made little progress into Sweden because it lacked sufficient artillery.

Expansion into a fortress began in 1681. Johan Caspar de Cicignon prepared the first plan, but its scale and cost led to a revised design by Anthony Coucheron. King Christian V approved Coucheron’s plan on 8 October 1681, and construction began in spring 1682. The new fortress was named Kongens Vinger in January 1683, a name that later contracted to Kongsvinger. The main part was completed in 1684, although building continued for several years and the overall development extended to 1784.

The project created a permanent military settlement. Soldiers and their families settled on the slope south of the fortress, while merchants and craftsmen supplied the garrison. Along with construction of a new church, the fortress helped Kongsvinger develop as a fortress town. King Christian V visited in 1685, and his initials remained visible on the fortress wall.

Wars of the eighteenth century

Kongsvinger’s position shaped Norwegian military planning during the Great Northern War, the wider conflict in which Sweden fought several neighboring powers from 1700 to 1721. By October 1709, 1,500 men were stationed at Kongsvinger. When King Charles XII of Sweden planned an invasion of Norway in 1716, Kongsvinger, Basmo, and Fredriksten were heavily manned. The Swedish attack fell on Basmo, and Kongsvinger was bypassed.

The fortress also became part of the national triangulation of southern Norway, begun in 1779. Its flagpole served as the origin point for the national coordinate system and for the first map series produced under that system.

War with Sweden and the nineteenth century

During the Napoleonic Wars, the wider European conflict that brought Denmark-Norway and Sweden into renewed military tension, Kongsvinger was prepared for war. The Skjær Sconce was built west of the fortress in 1808, existing batteries were readied, and further sconces were added to the northwest and southwest. Swedish forces reached the Glomma after the battle of Lier on 18 April 1808, but they did not cross the river or besiege Kongsvinger. An interim armistice was signed at Kongsvinger on 10 March 1809.

In 1814, the battle of Matrand took place on the Eidskog road a short distance from Kongsvinger. It was the bloodiest engagement between Swedish invaders and Norwegian forces during that campaign. The Swedish side lost 337 men, many of them captured, while the Norwegian side suffered 139 killed and wounded.

Norway entered a union with Sweden in 1814, and the frontier fortifications were then considered unnecessary. Kongsvinger was evacuated, and many redundant buildings were demolished or sold. The fortress left active service in 1823 and passed into state ownership, while continuing to serve other military purposes. The decline of the garrison contributed to an economic collapse in Kongsvinger, whose economy had depended heavily on the military presence. Later commercial rights helped the town recover.

A military engineering brigade emphasized the fortress’s importance in 1846. The first Akershus Commission, in 1855, considered it ineffective without additional outworks, but proposed construction was rejected for lack of funds. A later Akershus Commission judged the fortress important, particularly in relation to the Solør Railway.

Modernization and survival

Growing tension over Norway’s position in the union with Sweden led to renewed modernization of the Glomma frontier around the turn of the twentieth century. The Kongsvinger Bridge remained an important route, and the fortress was judged unable to withstand a new war alone. Buildings exposed to direct fire were to be removed, the walls were strengthened, casemates were built, and positions for twelve guns were installed on the upper ramparts.

The twin forts Vardåsen and Gullbekkåsen were constructed in 1901 and 1902 as parts of the modernized frontier system. Kongsvinger increasingly served for accommodation and storage rather than active artillery combat. After the peaceful dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905, a demilitarized zone about 34 kilometers wide was established and frontier fortifications within it were to be demolished. Kongsvinger Fortress lay outside the zone and was considered too old and unusable to justify destruction, so it survived with Vardåsen and Gullbekkåsen. The demilitarized zone was abolished in the 1990s.

The fortress was legally protected as a monument in the 1920s, and much of the surrounding area received protection from Norwegian heritage authorities in 1971. In 1939, the crew of the German ship Deutschland, which had seized the City of Flint, was interned there with eight captured pilots. After Germany invaded Norway in April 1940, the Norwegian commandant surrendered without fighting and the fortress came under German control.

Occupation and later military use

During the German occupation, the fortress housed a training establishment for the Norwegian SS and later courses primarily for the German SS unit under Vidkun Quisling’s direct command. The SS was the Nazi German paramilitary organization, while Quisling was the Norwegian fascist leader whose collaborationist regime operated under German occupation. From 1943, prisoners from the Grini police prison camp were held at Kongsvinger and used for repair work, potato peeling, and other labor. The fortress was extensively restored during the occupation.

Fighting took place at Vardåsen Fort, about one kilometer west of Kongsvinger Fortress, where Captain Gösta Benkert resisted German forces. The action involving the fort’s 1905 guns was among the important Norwegian engagements of 1940, and Max Manus served in Benkert’s company. From 1945, Norwegian collaborators were interned at Kongsvinger Fortress.

The Norwegian artillery non-commissioned officers’ school occupied the fortress after the Second World War and remained until 1959. The Norwegian Home Guard then took over the site, with part of that organization transferred to Værnes in 2002. A monument to Norwegian soldiers who died while serving with the peacekeeping force in Lebanon was unveiled at the fortress on 24 October 2000.

Conservation and interpretation

A section of the fortress wall collapsed in July 2005, and another section was closed later that year because of landslide danger. Restoration was interrupted in 2006 when archaeological finds were discovered in soil behind the collapsed wall. Work was completed in 2009, the Commander’s Garden was reinstated, and responsibility passed to the Norwegian Army’s Department for Culture and Tradition.

The former Provision House now contains the Kongsvinger Fortress Museum. Its exhibitions cover Norwegian military history, archaeological finds reaching back to the Stone Age, civilian life, wartime courier traffic across the Swedish border, photographs from the dissolution of the union, and works by the former fortress caretaker Ole Boger. The fortress is owned by Forsvarsbygg’s national fortifications organization and has shaped Kongsvinger’s cultural life for more than three centuries.

Remains

Kongsvinger Fortress occupies a hill west and north of the Glomma and follows the terrain in an irregular star-shaped plan. Its walls are approximately six to ten alen high, using a historical Scandinavian unit whose value varied but was roughly the length of a forearm. The steep eastern side was incorporated into the defensive setting, while the main works concentrate on the more approachable sides. Local granite, fieldstone, timber, and brick form the surviving buildings and defenses.

Walls and outworks

Bastions and curtain walls

Anthony Coucheron’s design used a tenaille system, a recessed angular arrangement in a bastioned fortress, with major outworks to the north, south, and west. It incorporated the half-bastions Prince Georg and Princess, each projecting defensive work with one full flank and one shortened flank, joined by a straight eastern curtain wall. The plan has features associated with the methods of the French engineer Vauban, but it was substantially altered to suit the hill.

The northwest defenses formed a double tenaille system, while the south and southwest used a half-tenaille system. The original connected outworks on the north, south, and west generally had walls three alen thick and three alen high; the western outwork reached six alen in height. The northern outwork was later replaced by a covered way, a protected passage along the outer edge of a fortress. The other two outworks were rebuilt, and from 1718 the covered way extended around the eastern side. Financial difficulties delayed completion until 1748.

Glacis, gates, and sally ports

A glacis, or sloping embankment covering and protecting the lower defenses, was added last and originally carried palisades. The principal route approaches from the south. The main gate lies beneath the King’s Battery and has been protected by a ravelin, an outwork placed before a curtain wall or gate, since 1691. The southern approach was too steep for horse-drawn carts, so carts used the Skjær Gate in the northwest.

Small sally ports, or gates through which defenders could leave a fortress, were built into the defenses. Examples survive in the ravelin, near the Small Powder Tower, and beneath Prince Carl’s Battery. Two internal doors led to two underground wells. The palisades along the glacis were approximately five to six alen long and described as seven to eight timber diameters thick. They were sharpened at both ends, treated with flame against rot, and set vertically in the ground.

Water supply and early tower

The fortress was initially supplied with water from outside. Two wells later made its water supply independent and improved its ability to withstand a siege. The original tower of the Vinger Sconce was retained as an element of the new fortress.

Principal buildings

Gyldenløve Tower

The Gyldenløve Tower was a three-storey donjon, a fortified central tower, on the highest point of Tråstadberg. It originated as one of the first buildings of Vinger Sconce, or Gyldenborg. Powder storage in the tower was proposed in 1692, but the building was not made bombproof. Lightning struck it on 30 June 1733, causing the ammunition store to explode and sending debris into surrounding buildings. After King Christian VI visited on 7 July 1733, he ordered a replacement tower on the same site.

Provision House

The masonry Provision House in the southeastern corner dates from 1682 and is one of the fortress’s oldest buildings. A vaulted structure between it and the fortress wall was added in 1696 as a powder store, but damp conditions ended that use after completion of the Small Powder Tower.

Lightning destroyed the Provision House’s east gable around the turn of the nineteenth century. Twenty-one years later, the building was extended eastward to the same height and width, incorporating the former bakery and two ovens. Vaults were inserted between 1744 and 1749, the building was extensively renovated, and the roof was extended over the former powder store. Two further ovens were installed in 1774. The first floor became the fortress museum in 1980 and was inaugurated by King Olav V in 1982.

Commander’s House

The Commander’s House was purchased at Nordre Nor and moved to the fortress in 1683. It stands between the Provision House and the main gate above an ammunition store dating from the Vinger Sconce. The two-storey building had a basement, attic, and four projecting bays. Its half-timbered construction with masonry infill was unusual in Norway at the time and was used mainly for administrative buildings, especially in Oslo.

The house was repeatedly altered and restored. Its second floor was removed in 1694 and reused as a separate officers’ building, which burned completely in 1701. The Commander’s House later received timber paneling, new stoves, wall repairs, and a renewed roof after leaking walls and structural settlement. The relocated second-floor structure was replaced by a masonry house in 1702 to 1704.

Small Powder Tower and Arsenal

The Small Powder Tower was built in 1683 and 1684 north of the Provision House on the southeastern bastion. Its granite outer walls are 90 centimeters thick, and a vault spans the interior. After the Gyldenløve Tower explosion, a new powder store was built below the King’s Battery in the covered way.

The Arsenal was completed in 1737 and replaced the Gyldenløve Tower as the principal storage building. Formerly also called the Great Powder Tower, it is a two-storey structure measuring 24 by 20 alen. A three-storey carriage-house extension was added in 1771 and 1772, followed by a small fire-engine house behind it in 1774 to 1776. The yellow building stands at the fortress’s highest point.

Powder House and Laboratory

A powder house approved in 1809 was built in 1810 and 1811 within the covered way. This small, elongated granite-and-fieldstone building has a gabled roof. Its store was emptied after active service ended in 1823, when its ammunition and guns were transferred to other fortresses.

The building now called the Laboratory began as a forge in the covered way in 1743. A coal shed was added in 1745, and the building was enlarged in 1749. Another two-room shed stored artillery, while coal moved to a new building. Around the turn of the nineteenth century, the forge was converted into a laboratory, probably in connection with construction of the Powder House, and a new forge was built beneath the Queen’s Bastion. Since 1812, the building has been known as the Laboratory and has served storage and depot purposes.

Barracks and guard buildings

Old Barracks

The Old Barracks was built in 1702 to 1704 after the former second floor of the Commander’s House burned in 1701. A longitudinal partition divided the masonry building into six rooms on the north side and five rooms with a common room on the south side. It could house up to 150 soldiers. Its cellar contained a laundry and oven until 1780.

A prisoner room was created in 1807 because the main guardhouse was overcrowded. After 1814, rising numbers of forced laborers led to further rooms and barred windows, and the building became known as the Prison. Electricity and a sewer connection were added in the early twentieth century. During the German occupation, it was remodeled with a reading room, fireplace room, dining room, and period-style common room. The southern stairs became a terrace, the courtyard level was raised, one northern door was blocked, another became a French balcony, and offices were later installed.

New Barracks

The New Barracks was completed in 1773 on the site of the former carriage house after an extension to the Old Barracks was rejected. Soldiers occupied the first floor, noncommissioned officers’ quarters stood at both ends, and officers occupied the second floor. Designed for 200 people, it contained two ovens, two laundry rooms, and storage rooms in the basement.

The building had unplastered masonry walls, and its basement was later vaulted to prevent fungal growth. Its roof changed from a half-hipped form to a gabled roof in the early nineteenth century, and the building was electrified. A water tank with an electric pump was installed in 1922 and supplied the New Barracks, Old Barracks, Commander’s House, and stable. Renovations during the German occupation included concrete stairs and refurbished rooms. Small residential units were added in the 1990s, and from 2009 interior demolition removed fittings installed from the 1940s onward.

Guardhouses and stable

The Old Guardhouse replaced the 1683 guardhouse in 1706. This single-storey building originally had separate guard rooms for soldiers and officers. From 1741, prisoners were housed with the guards, and a separate soldiers’ room was created two years later when prisoners received permanent quarters there. Repairs in 1769 provided a new floor, leaded-glass windows, a stove, and replacement furnishings, followed by further restoration in 1788. A masonry prison floor was installed in 1794, the building was strengthened against bombardment in 1814, and electricity arrived in 1917. Since 2002, it has served as offices.

The Outer Guardhouse in the covered way was built in 1750 with separate rooms for soldiers and officers. It was strengthened in 1814 and later housed the fortress provost and chief military judicial official. From the 1970s it served as the caretaker’s residence, was vacated in 1992, and was then restored with sleeping accommodation.

The stable was constructed in 1742 as a fire-engine house and horse stable. It was extended to the Small Powder Tower in 1777 to provide more room for cattle. Toilets, showers, and a sauna were added during the German occupation in 1941 to 1943, and the building continues to provide shower, changing, and toilet facilities.

Casemates and artillery

Casemates

Six or seven casemates, vaulted fortified chambers, were built in the northwest interior in 1688 and 1689. Their original timber construction was vulnerable to rot, so five masonry casemates replaced it to support the hill batteries. One served as a laboratory, while the others could accommodate more than 200 men.

Three further casemates were built in the ravelin in 1695 and could accommodate 114 people. They were reconstructed between 1739 and 1742. After completion of the Old Barracks, the casemates were no longer needed in peacetime, but they returned to use during later wars and were criticized as unhealthy quarters.

Batteries

The fortress batteries included the King’s Battery above the southern main entrance, the Queen’s Battery in the southwest, the Crown Prince’s or Prince Frederick’s Battery in the northwest, Prince Carl’s Battery and Prince William’s Battery in the northwest and northeast, Wedel’s Battery on the ravelin, and Gyldenløve’s Battery in front of the Commander’s House. Battery names varied over time, and the batteries in the covered way appear to have had no names.

Most fortress guns were cast in Norway at places including Fritzøe, Fossum, Moss, and Christiania. Iron guns were stationed at the fortress, while bronze guns were used mainly with field artillery because their thinner barrels made them lighter. Early gun carriages were wooden, often made from oak supplied by Copenhagen, and painted red and gold in Oldenburg colors.

Wooden gun carriages usually lasted ten to twelve years. During peacetime, guns were dismantled and stored in the carriage house, although some remained on the walls for security and signaling. From the 1720s, stone-and-earth gun platforms were built and required frequent repairs because of weather damage. Guns were also installed in the covered way from the 1730s.

After 1823, only a few salute guns remained at Kongsvinger, while the other guns were distributed among different fortresses. In 1902, Vardåsen and Gullbekkåsen each received two 12-centimeter Schneider-Creusot turret guns and twelve 7.5-centimeter field guns. The turret guns were removed in 1938 and 1939. The 7.5-centimeter field guns were used at Vardåsen Fort against German forces in 1940 and were later replaced by 8.5-centimeter guns.

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