Fort Claudia, Reutte, Austria

Описание: The Tyrolean Salt Road from Hall in Tirol to Lake Constance crossed the entire district of Außerfern, including the narrow valley of Ehrenberg through the Via Claudia Augusta. To defend this point, over the period of 600 years four strong point were built : Klause in the valley which was a fort, toll and taxation point with facilities for travellers to rest, Ehrenberg Castle built in the twelvth century, Schlosskopf Fortress built above Ehrenberg Castle and Fort Claudia from the seventeenth century.

Today at Klause one finds the museum and remains of the transit buildings. . The museum shows the story of the Middle Ages from the point of view of life at the castle and that of a pilgrim who writes back to the love of his life. He has gone off to the Holy Land but keeps regular correspondence over the course of ten years. Different rooms tell different stories including that of the Black Death and alchemy. There are also medieval helmets to try on and one can hold various swords and feel how heavy they are.

From the museum, we can walk up to Ehrenberg Castle which was completed towards the end of the thirteenth century. It is today a ruin but one can imagine how life was like there. The castle did not have a permenent garrison, at times there may have only been a dozen people there to maintain it. This in itself was a weakness and required good intelligence in order to garrison it quickly before an enemy appeared. This may explain why it was captured on two occasions despite its seemingly impregnable position. In 1546, the Protestant Schmalkalden occupied the fortress. In 1552, it was taken by the Elector Moritz of Saxony. In 1632 the Swedes were stopped at its walls. In 1703, Ehrenberg fell into the hands of the Bavarians during the War of the Spanish Succession.

When the castle no longer had a military purpose it was sold and quickly became a ruin. Fortunately in 1971, Fridolin Schennach from Reutte took over the condemned ruin and initiated a rescue operation with numerous other idealists.

At the other side of the valley we find Fort Claudia which was completed in 1645. Since 2014 the visitor can communicate with Ehrenberg and Fort Claudia easily via the Highline 179 bridge. It was built after the siege by the Swedes in 1632. In 1703 Fort Claudia was taken by the Bavarians, who then went on to capture Ehrenberg. After Ehrenberg was recaptured it was realised that another fortress was needed further up. In 1782 the fortress ceased to function as such although it was used as accommodation for at least a century afterwards.

Above Ehrenberg we find the Fortress at the Schlosskopf. It was completed in 1741 when it was realised that Ehrenberg had a fatal weakness - anyone controlling the heights above would control the castle. It is quite difficult to get up to the top unless one takes the path - the 'quick' way up took me almost thirty minutes and was quite tiring. Although it must have been very expensive to build, it was abandoned after only 41 years. In 1782 the troops were withdrawn and it fell into decay.