Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Torget, has some useful information. In summer, there is a second office at the fortress,
In-
fosenter (
10am-5pm mid-May-Aug)
.
History
Halden served as a garrison during the Hannibal Wars from 1643 to 1645. From 1644 it
was fortified with a wooden stockade. In the 1658 Roskilde Treaty between Sweden and
Denmark, Norway lost its Bohuslän province (and Bohus fortress), and Halden was left
exposed as a border outpost requiring heavy defences. When attacks by Swedish forces in
1658,1659and1660werescarcelyrepelled,theneedforbetterfortificationbecameappar-
ent, resulting in the fortress, which was begun in 1661.
Inthe midst ofit all, in 1659and 1716,the Halden resistance resorted to fire to drive out
the enemy, a sacrifice honoured with a mention in the Norwegian national anthem, which
includes the lines: '…we chose to burn our nation, lest we let it fall'. The fires also serve
as a centrepiece for a museum in the fortress on the town's history.
FurtherattacksfromtheSwedescontinuedintothe19thcentury.Inthefirstfewyearsof
the 20th century, Fredriksten Fortress was armed with increasingly powerful modern can-
nons,turret gunsandhowitzers. However,this firepower wasremoved duringthe 1906ne-
gotiations for the dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian union and the town nestled into
life as a quiet seaside village.
Sights
Fredriksten Fortress & Museums
FORTRESS, MUSEUMS
(Fredriksten Festning;
www.halden.museum.no
,
in Norwegian; adult/child incl all
museums Nkr60/30; fortress 24hr, guided tours & museums 10am-5pm daily 18
May-Aug)
CrowningthehilltopbehindHaldenisthe1661FredrikstenFortress,whichhas
resisted six Swedish sieges and never been captured.
To reach the fortress from the town, a half-overgrown cobbled footpath climbs from the
topofFestningsgatainSørhalden(aneighbourhoodof19th-centuryseacaptains'cottages)
up the unkempt lilac- covered slopes. The road for cars leads up from the same street.
On 28 July 1660 King Fredrik III of Denmark issued a declaration ordering a more
sturdy fortification above Halden. The pentagonal citadel, as well as the adjoining Gylden-
løve Fort to the east, was constructed across two parallel hills from 1661 to 1671, and aug-
mented between 1682 and 1701. Its crowning event came on 11 December 1718, when the
