Fort Monostor

The Romans built the first fortification where the Danube and Waag rivers meet. It would become the border between the Roman Empire and the barbarians to the north. The first real fortress was built to provide a defense against the Ottoman Empire and was strengthened between 1663-1673 by adding the new fortress. During the Napoleonic Wars, when Vienna was occupied by French troops, Emperor Francis I fled with his court to the fortress. The emperor decided to expand Fort Monostor in Komárom to become the strongest military fortification system in the Habsburg Empire. Between the years 1850 and 1871, five fortresses were to be built as a defense line and became "The Gibraltar on the Danube". A total of about 200,000 soldiers could be stationed there. The Sandberg, which is the official name of Fort "Monostor" became the cornerstone of the defense. 2000 masons, a total of 10,000 people, would work on the gigantic complex which would have 3 km of underground passages. The three flanking bastions were connected by a surrounding moat, casemates and galleries linked on both sides. Its gigantic dimensions housed 640 rooms that could accommodate 8,000 soldiers. During WW1, the fort functioned as a reporting point for conscripts and as a training center. During World War II, it once again housed Hungarian soldiers who fought for Hitler on the Don in present-day Ukraine. The fortress was also used as a camp for Polish and French refugees between 1939 and 1942. In addition, it was temporarily used in 1944 as a transit camp for Jews and Gypsies.

After WW2, the fortress walls provided shelter for numerous Hungarian families who were deported from Czechoslovakia (especially the Sudetenland). Thousands of wagons with ammunition were brought in from the closely guarded objects. Between 1945 and 1991, the Soviet Red Army converted Fort Monostor in Komárom into the largest ammunition depot in Central Europe. Due to the careless use by the occupying Soviet army, the fortress was badly neglected. After the Soviets left the fortress in 1991, the military life of the fortress ended. Everything was taken from the buildings and transported to the Soviet Union. For example, several thousand wagons with ammunition were removed. The Fort Monostor in Komárom, now a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage List, is currently the largest fortress in the early modern period in Central Europe. It is turned into a museum.

For current visiting hours, please visit the website of the museum.

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Source

• Text: Cheapskatetravel & Kaj Metz
• Photos: Cheapskatetravel