The structure constitutes an example of the so-called new Prussian school and elaborated 18th- and 19th-century fortification craftsmanship.

History

In 1864, designs of the fortifications were prepared. The construction started already in 1865. Initially, it was to be an initial structure of a makeshift earthen work, forming a starting point for the proper investment. In the years 1871-1873, the fort was extended to its present shape, as a standard shelter for infantry and artillery. It was used for this purposes until the interwar period of the 20th century. In 1934, it was adapted for a military equipment storehouse. After World War II, it was managed by the army. It was used, until 2001, as a munition depot, among other things. Currently it is owned privately, and every year, reconstructions of the battle of the Nysa Stronghold are organised in it.

Description

Fort no. 2 is located on the left bank of the Nysa Kłodzka river, in an open field of a former military training ground. The standard fort for infantry and artillery with one rampart was built based on a design of the so-called Biehler forts, as an external structure of the Nysa Stronghold. It was projecting around half of a kilometre towards north from the complex of the so-called High Ramparts.

The main body of the fort was built on a plan of a flattened pentagon with an angled back wall. The fort is comprised of brick and stone casemate structures, reinforced with earthen structures. The main building and its wings are covered with massive earthen structures, while the back wall (so-called gorge wall) is enclosed by a wall with a gate with a fortress lattice. In the dry moat protecting the structure, divided longitudinally with the so-called Carnot wall, there are four two-storey caponiers. At the foot of the head rampart, there is the main shelter with residential and kitchen casemates and workshops.

The stone and brick façades of the single-storey shelters face the central internal yard. In the interior of the fort, there are barrel vaults and ceilings on steel beams. Within the fort, there are few surviving elements of the original fittings, including, inter alia, parts of the fittings of latrines, caponier, metalwork elements of gates, shelters, window joinery, and historical window shutters and lattices, and steel balustrades. On the fort yard, there is a fort well.

The building is accessible to visitors.

In the summer season (April - September) the site is rendered available for visiting upon prior telephone appointment with the tourist information centre in the Bastion of St Hedwig in Nysa. www.twierdzanysa.com

compiled by Aleksandra Ziółkowska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 09-12-2015.

Bibliography

• Studium konserwatorskie miasta Nysy, M. Małachowicz, Wrocław-Nysa 2000 r.
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytków architektury i budownictwa, Twierdza Nysa - Fort II (Regulicki), oprac. Małachowicz M., 2002 r., Archiwum Narodowego Instytutu Dziedzictwa w Opolu.