- Type
- Fortress
- Built
- 1780 · 18th century
- Location
- Ústí nad Labem, Czechia
- Coordinates
- 50.5111°, 14.1506°
History
The fortress was built between 1780 and 1790 on the orders of Emperor Joseph II, who named it after his mother, Maria Theresa. It was meant to guard the Elbe valley against Prussia but was never besieged. It consists of the Main Fortress, which holds a garrison town, and the Small Fortress, used as a prison, where Gavrilo Princip, the Sarajevo assassin, died in 1918. After the German occupation the Small Fortress became a Gestapo prison in 1940, and in 1941 a ghetto was set up in the town. Around 140,000 people passed through it; more than 30,000 died there and tens of thousands were deported to extermination camps. Today the Terezín Memorial commemorates the victims.
What to see
Visits cover the Small Fortress with its cells, courtyards and a tunnel beneath the ramparts, as well as the Ghetto Museum and the former Magdeburg Barracks, with a reconstructed prisoners' dormitory and exhibitions on cultural life in the ghetto. The National Cemetery lies in front of the Small Fortress. A walk through the town reveals its grid of streets and massive brick ramparts and moats.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q523489
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