The Fort de Mutzig, also known as Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II, is located near the town of Mutzig. It is one of the fortifications built by Germany at the end of the 19th century to defend Strasbourg.
The province of Lorraine had been captured during the Franco-Prussian War, prompting an arms race in the form of fixed fortifications on the parts of France and Germany. The fortress saw no significant fighting during the First World War, and was handed over intact to the French Army after the Armistice of 1918, with the exception of about half of its 105 mm guns, salvaged in 1917 by the Germans. The French Army designated Mutzig a rear defense of the Rhine frontier.
During the Second World War the fortress was occupied for a time by German artillery and infantry regiments but on June 13, 1940 forces were ordered to evacuate the area and all the guns were decommissioned. Despite this, it was later bombed by the German Luftwaffe when it was suspected that French troops had taken possession. However, part of the Wehrmacht's 215th Infantry Division was in fact in the fortress at the time and more than 70 German soldiers were killed in the Stuka attack.
In November 1944 the US Third Infantry Division took the fortress, which was then thinly occupied by German forces who were forced to surrender after a short time for want of ordnance and reinforcements.
After the Second World War the fortress was used by the French Army for exercises up until the 1960s when it was abandoned but remained in the possession of the military. As the fortress never saw substantial military action, it remains one of the best preserved pre-World War I sites in existence. This enormous site, which retains almost all its original equipment, has been under a process of restoration by a joint German–French group since 1984 and in 1995 a Museum was opened to the public together with some restored areas of the site. Local historical reenactment groups also make use of the fortress. Since 2014 the fortress has been known by its original name, the Kaiser Wilhelm II fortress.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.