Landskrona Citadel, Landskrona, Sweden

Landskrona Citadel was initially built 1549–1559 as a purely defensive fortification with two complete moats, the inner with a width of 70 metres. The outer (complete) moat is between 40 and 70 metres wide, and has cross fire bastions for artillery and guns. Outside the outer moat, a third narrower moat covers the northwest and northeast. There also exist remains of a fourth moat (between the two outer moats). The fortifications and moats system surrounding the castle is known to be one of Europe's largest and best preserved. In the area between the outer and far outer moat resides the oldest area of allotment-garden cottages of Sweden.

Landskrona was captured in 1644 by forces led by Gustav Horn, but returned to Danish possession the year after. It became Swedish again in 1658 as a result of the Treaty of Roskilde. Between 1667 and 1675, the citadel was expanded with extensive bastions. Thus on 2 August 1676, during a new war between Sweden and Denmark, the commandant Hieronymus Lindeberg surrendered himself and the castle to a Danish army unit. Until peace was restored in 1679, the castle was used as a center of command by the Scanian voluntary army corps ("Friskydter" in Danish-Scanian history, "Snapphanar" in Swedish) which fought together with the regular Danish army against the Swedish occupiers. Lindeberg survived the Danes but were later executed on order of Swedish king Charles IX. In the middle of the 18th century, the local military commander feared (quite suddenly) that the 15th century church Johannes Babtistæ Kyrka ("John the Baptist church"), which at the time was the second largest in Scania, must be destroyed. The reason was a fear for enemy cannons in the church tower. The whole church was demolished and a new one, Sofia Albertina, was built some decades later.

The castle was used as a women's prison from the late 19th century and some decades later. Today the castle is both a kind of museum (guided tours only, but not expensive, daily during the summer) and can be rented for private parties.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Florian F (8 months ago)
Really pretty old Citadel. Not super exciting to be honest, but nice for going for a walk or a run.

Guru Krishna Priya Sreenath (8 months ago)
The fort looks amazing. It a great experience. The fort is open, but the buildings inside it is closed. Outside itself great to see. A very ancient one with Redstone thick walls.

Joanna Vandenbring (9 months ago)
A great early-modern fortress that helped shape Scandinavia as it is today. This originally Danish fortress has seen many battles through the years, and it was the main Danish stronghold during the bitter Scanian War 1676-79 when King Christian V was often there. Unfortunately, much of the star-shaped fortifications have been pulled down, but the citadel remains and a few other buildings, too. It's in a lovely location with parklands and the sea all around, but unfortunately, the citadel and the buildings are no longer open to the public. There are less than a handful of guided tours a year, and everything is in a rather sad state compared to only a decade ago. There's also a lovely café on the other side of the moat.

søren christoffersen (2 years ago)
in the year 1590 it was one of the most modern Fords. that's all, and there isn't really anything to see apart from a park with some art, otherwise the castle is not worth driving for

Martynas Jurkšaitis (2 years ago)
The castle is worth a short walk. We walked arround it, and came to the main yard. It did not managed to keep its original historic buildings, but it was still fun hour spend.

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