{"id":388,"date":"2021-05-03T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=388"},"modified":"2021-05-04T15:30:24","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T15:30:24","slug":"fort-donhoff-kaliningrad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/fort-donhoff-kaliningrad\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort D\u00f6nhoff, Kaliningrad"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Trip to Fort D\u00f6nhoff<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Updated: 3 May 2021 | originally published 24 January 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K\u00f6nigsberg, the former East Prussian capital which preceded Kaliningrad, was heavily fortified by two formidable rings of forts and interconnecting walls punctuated with bastions and other defensive structures. Today, these forts exist in various states of repair and disrepair, some extensively damaged as a result of military action in WWII, others being cared for by people who are renting them on a lease basis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, we learnt that one of the forts belonging to the outer belt was being meticulously restored with a view to opening it as a tourist destination. Then, as now, a good friend of ours arranged for us to visit the fort. In January 2020, we were introduced to the entrepreneur who had taken on this ambitious restoration project. We were to meet him again at Fort XI to see how things were developing. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort XI (Fort D\u00f6nhoff), one of K\u00f6nigsberg\u2019s forts within the outer defensive ring, is currently undergoing an extensive renovation programme. Already welcoming tourists, the massive and intricate structure is being painstakingly repaired, brick by brick, wall by wall, room by room. As I said to Arthur, the man behind the plan, \u201cYou\u2019ve done a lot since we were here last in 2015.\u201d Said he, with more than a touch of irony, \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having turned off the main highway, you arrive at the fort after travelling down a long narrow road that opens up into the visitors carpark. At the end of WWII and until recently, the fort was requisitioned and used as a munitions and armaments store. This explains why the perimeter of the fort is ringed with barbed wire fences, coils of barbed wire and a secondary metal gate, and why there are rusting warning signs and spotlights stationed in the trees. At this point you have not entered the red-brick fort. You are not in 19th<\/sup> century K\u00f6nigsberg, or K\u00f6nigsberg World War II, but atmosphere-wise you are very much back in the Cold War era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fort
Soviet entrance to the fort (summer 2015)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where\u2019s James Bond when you need him?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not looking at all like James Bond, any of us, our\nfriend Venzel, Olga and I pass through the Soviet military gate, which is now\non the skew and decidedly rickety. We pass a portable cabin, which, for the\ntime being, functions as a front office, pay-desk and souvenir shop, and walk\nthe short distance to the fort\u2019s gate proper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main entrance to the fort, built, as with the rest of the structure, in Neo-Gothic form, stands a few metres away from the later entrance, the banks on one side and the flatter terrain on the other still protected with military fencing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two tall pillars of the entrance continue to\nsupport the original iron gates to the fortress. They are awesome in every\nrespect, thick and heavy with hinges and handle to match. What an excellent logo\nthey would make for border control in Britain when we finally leave the EU.\nHmmm, I think I should copyright this one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fort
Mick Hart at the entrance to Fort D\u00f6nhoff, Kaliningrad, Russia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inside the compound, immediately inside, nothing much\nseemed to have changed from our last visit: small building on the left, small\nshed-like building to the right. But this position does give the visitor a\ncommanding view of the front of the fort: the hardstone track crossing the moat\nto the great arched doorway; the side walls of the fort fanning out to form the\nopen end of a chevron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our host, Arthur, the fort\u2019s lease owner, greeted us,\nand we walked together towards the fort entrance. As we crossed the narrow\nbridge, I could see immediately that repointing and cleaning work had been undertaken\nand that the old windows had all been replaced with wooden-framed double-glazed\nunits. The overgrowth, and the rubbish that it contained, along both outer\nwalls of the fort had been cleared, the grass on both sides of the footpath in\nfront trimmed and the vegetation stripped from the moat. Arthur explained that\nthey had managed to lower the level of the moat by one metre, which must have\nhad a beneficial effect in combatting rising damp inside the fort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rare bits and rabbits<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The mown grass banks that slope gently down towards the moat side contain a small profusion of little wooden houses. These were not homes for a rising population constructed on a green belt, but executive homes for rabbits. Arthur explained that they had a number of resident rabbits, curious and exotic species, half-a-dozen of which could be seen bobbing around munching the grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gathering outside the entrance to the fort to discuss what had been achieved since we were here last, I observed that an outer door had been added. This new door followed the original contours of the arch. The frame was black steel, the inner criss-crossed with vertical and horizontal struts in the manner of a portcullis, the intervals between the squares infilled with double-sided, ribbed, translucent plastic. This theme, I would soon discover, had been adopted throughout the fort. The portcullis effect was highly suitable to the surroundings in which it had been employed, whilst the translucent plastic served two fortuitous purposes: letting in light whilst retaining heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fort<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And heat there was, not in every room and corridor,\nbut certainly in the rooms where renovation was complete. The heating of\nchoice, and it could hardly have been any other bearing in mind the fort\u2019s\nlocation, is wood burners. Nothing more, except for open fire hearths, would be\nappropriate. The stoves have a retro-look about them and fit well into the\nbackdrop of red-brick walls and vaulted Gothic ceilings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We passed through two ante-chambers containing relics from World War II: munition shells, military helmets, various items of field gear all discovered either in the fort itself or in the grounds surrounding it. The walls are interspersed at regular intervals with printed and pictorial information boards depicting the history of K\u00f6nigsberg\u2019s defenses, the particular fort we were in, and the RAF bombing raids and subsequent battle which saw K\u00f6nigsberg reduced to ruins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n