Fortress Josefov
Encyclopedia
Fortress Josefov , ( or Josephstadt), is a large historic defence complex of 18th-century military architecture, built between 1780-1790, in eastern Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. Together with fortress Terezín
Terezín
Terezín is the name of a former military fortress and adjacent walled garrison town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.-Early history:...

, it was intended as protection against attacks from Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

, but its military importance, like other such fortresses built across Europe, was minimal as decisive battles were often fought elsewhere. Today it is part of the city of Jaroměř
Jaromer
Jaroměř is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It is located 15 kilometers northeast of the district town of Hradec Králové. The town lies at the confluence of three rivers, notably the Mettau and the Elbe...

.

Design

After the coronation of Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

, new fortifications began to be built for the defence of the northern border of the Empire. The defence of Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

 was entrusted to Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...

, which was fortified by powerful forts. When the work was completed, the fortification of Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Hradec Králové Region of Bohemia. The city's economy is based on food-processing technology, photochemical, and electronics manufacture. Traditional industries include musical instrument manufacturing – the best known being PETROF pianos...

 began in the years 1766-88. The Emperor Josephh II himself had the Josefov fortress to be built around the area of Plesy
Plesy
Płęsy is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dziemiany, within Kościerzyna County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately east of Dziemiany, south-west of Kościerzyna, and south-west of the regional capital Gdańsk....

, near the town of Jaroměr.

Designed by the French architech Louis Querlonde de Hamel and fortified by octogonal-shaped, bastion-like brick walls extending over 289 hectares, the fortress is an ingenious system of fortifications in the form of an anphitheater with extensive three-storeys deep underground corridors formed in cretaceous rocks, and running for a labyrinth of 45 kilometers, like of which cannot be found anywhere else in Europe. It had three distinct sections - the main fortress with its residential and public function, the lower Crown fortress with a fortified island, and a forward redoubt in the fortress Brdce. The town had four gates. The dominant part of the whole Fortress Josefov is the Empire Church, which was built between 1805-10. Before that, there stood a fountain, which was made by the Czech J. Malinský in the year 1817.

The Josefov fortress was originally named Pies, and only later, in 1793, was it renamed Josefov. In 1948 the fortress town was incorprorated into Jaroměř and today, both fortress and town, are part of a national conservation area preserving 18th century, military building trechniques and classicist urbanism.

Today

Over the years, the fortress has been converted into a residential district. The biggest extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...

 music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

 in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

 Brutal Assault
Brutal assault
Brutal Assault is an extreme metal open-air music festival taking place in the 18th century army Fortress Josefov in Jaroměř, Czech Republic. It takes place each August traditionally on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the beginning of the month. The festival was started in 1995 featuring mostly...

takes place here each August, with the music stages built against the outer walls. Metalheads from all over Europe occupy the fortress for three days each year.

External links

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