Boden Fortress

A young fortress

Compared with many of Sweden's other defence facilities, Boden Fortress is not particularly old, having only taken on its defence role in 1908. The remarkable thing about the facility is that it is Sweden's only girdle fortress. This means that several forts were built separately and then linked up by several smaller fortifications. The technique is quite common abroad, but rarely will you see it as compactly executed as in Boden.

Railway led to defence in the north

The fortress's various forts are blasted into the rock, following success with this method elsewhere in Sweden. However, in Boden the art of creating a rock fortress was taken to another level. The only thing that breaks up the hillside is the odd feature of concrete or steel.

The decision to build a fortress in Boden came about at the end of the nineteenth century. It was thought that the expansion of the railway network would increase the threat to northern Sweden, so the old strategy of central defences was abandoned.

Boden became upper Norrland's defence capital

In 1901 excavation work started on Degerberget, Gammelängsberget and Södra Åberget, but it took seven years before the forts were ready for use.

The linking fortifications followed a few years later. During the inter-war period and the Second World War, the defence facility expanded further. With the new garrison in Boden, the area took on great significance for the defence of upper Norrland.

International interest

Boden Fortress occupies an important place in Swedish military architecture, and has also attracted international attention.

Summer 1998 saw large parts of the fortress become a national monument and six months later it was decommissioned as a defensive outpost. .