Montjuic Fortress
In the suburbs of Barcelona on Montjuic Mountain there is a fortress of the same name. In different years, battles took place here that affected the fate of the entire region.
Previously, a simple watchtower stood on the mountain, but during the uprising of the Catalans in 1640, a fortress was soon built, which a year later was able to withstand the siege of the Los Veles Marquis. The original fort was transformed into a castle in 1694. Its foundation occupied the entire flat part of the peak, with three bastions facing the land, and another side looking at the sea. The small fortification that preceded it remained an internal fortification. During the war for the Spanish inheritance in 1705, the British captured the Montjuic fortress, but they could only dispose of it for six months until Philip V captured it. Later, he again passed from hand to hand.
In 1751, military engineer Juan Martino Kermeno proposed destroying the entire fortress and building a modern fortification with a large number of guns and barracks. In 1779-1799, the Montjuic fortress was reconstructed, which we can see today. The fort has 120 guns, barracks and a kitchen for 3000 people, a large moat. But all this military power was useless and the Spaniards surrendered it without a fight in the 1808 troops of Napoleon.
In 1842 and 1843, the fortress was subjected to artillery shelling during the uprisings, and at the end of the 19th century, political prisoners and workers involved in the uprisings began to plant here. Many of them were tortured to death. During the Civil War in Spain, rebels and sympathizers were planted and executed here. With the formation of the Franco regime, more than 4,000 Catalan prisoners were executed in Montjuic Fortress. In 1960, the prison was closed and a museum was made of it. In 1965, a onion firing range was opened in the Santa Eulalia cloak. In 2007, the fortress became the property of Barcelona. The fortress offers magnificent views of the sea, Barcelona and its port. You can get here on the footpaths of Montjuic Mountain, a cable car from the city center and buses leaving Plaza de España.
