Montjuic Fortress

There is a fortress of the same name in the suburbs of Barcelona on Montjuic Mountain. In different years, battles took place here that influenced the fate of the entire region.

Previously, there was a simple watchtower on the mountain, but during the Catalan uprising in 1640, a fortress was hastily built, which a year later was able to withstand the siege of the Marquis of Los Velez. The original fort was converted into a castle in 1694. Its base occupied the entire flat part of the peak, with three bastions facing the land and another side facing the sea. The small fortification that preceded it remained an internal fortification. During the War of the Spanish Succession in 1705, the British captured the Montjuic fortress, but they could only manage it for six months until it was captured by Philip V. Later, it changed hands several more times.

In 1751, Juan Martino Cermegno, a military engineer, proposed destroying the entire fortress and building a modern fortification with a large number of cannons and barracks. In 1779-1799, the reconstruction of the Montjuic fortress, which we can see today, was carried out. The fort now has 120 cannons, barracks and a kitchen for 3,000 people, and a large moat. But all this fighting power proved useless and the Spaniards surrendered it without a fight in 1808 to Napoleon's troops.

In 1842 and 1843, the fortress was shelled during the uprisings, and at the end of the 19th century, political prisoners and workers involved in the uprisings began to be imprisoned here. Many of them were tortured to death. During the Spanish Civil War, rebels and their sympathizers were imprisoned and executed here. Since the establishment of the Franco regime, more than 4,000 Catalan prisoners have been executed in the Montjuic fortress. In 1960, the prison was closed and turned into a museum. In 1965, an archery range was opened in Santa Eulalia Trench coat. 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 via the hiking trails of Montjuic Mountain, the cable car from the city center and buses leaving Plaza de Espana.