Kyminlinna is a fortress located near the town of Kotka, Finland.
Kyminlinna Fortress History
At the start, the Kyminlinna Fortress was supposed to have two complete bastions and two half-bastions.
Soon, it became quite clear however, that such a small fortress would be unable to defend such an important area the first fortress was demolished, and another bigger one was started to build in 1803. In the end, the Kyminlinna fortress contained five bastions and several other defensive structures and it was constantly reinforced, until the end of the 1808-1809 Russo-Swedish war. The place is a clear and good example of the fortification construction in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
After the peace agreement in 1809, the Kyminlinna Fortress like all the other fortifications which the Russians and Swedes had been building, was left useless, as the border area was now far away from the Loviisa – Kotka angle.
Also from a military point of view, this kind of fortification had lost nearly all of its meaning, as military technology had developed and cannons got much more effective. In 1835, Tsar Nikolai I gave an order, which disbanded all of the garrisons and fortifications in South-East Finland.
Kyminlinna Fortress was used by the Finnish army until 2005.
Kyminlinna Fortress Location
Kyminlinna Fortress is located next to the city of Kotka: 48700 Kotka, Finland.