Seventh Fort

The Seventh Fort or VII Fort is a defensive fortification built in Žaliakalnis district of Kaunas, Lithuania, during implementation of the first phase of the construction of the Kaunas Fortress. It is located near the Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. This Fort became the last brick fortification of Kaunas Fortress. The Seventh Fort is close to the central defenses and it is located in the rear of Kaunas Fortress. The first owner of fort was the 11th company of Kaunas Fortress Artillery (Imperial Russian Army). In 1915, German Army occupied the Fort without resistance. The Seventh Fort is one of the best surviving examples of a two-rampart fort, showing the typical design of a 19th-century Russian brick fort. Many authentic elements survive, such as iron window frames, ammunition warehouse gate fragments. During the Fort's restoration, a number of authentic interior details (interior decoration, paving, fittings of ammunition storage doors and gate) was found.

The fort project was prepared by Military Engineers Board of the Russian Empire in 1882, while modifying a typical design of two-rampart brick fort of 1879. The contract for the construction of the Seventh Fort was signed on 7 July 1883 between the contractor reserve lieutenant colonel Nikolay Shevtsov and Fortress Engineering Board. The Fort construction was completed around 1890. All buildings of the fort are typical fortification buildings of red brickwork with vaulted overlays, resistant to 8-inch projectile hits. The largest buildings are the barracks with the central postern. The Fort had two armories in faces, two armories in flanks and one central armory, four gun shelters, two riflemen galleries in the rear corners of the fort, and a defensive ditch. From all sides, except the rear, the fort was surrounded by a counterscarp wall and glacis behind it.

The Seventh Fort was armed with eight 6-inch caliber 1877 model guns, twenty light (87 mm caliber) cannons, four copper 6-inch caliber mortars, and two Maxim machine guns. For the protection of the Fort's defensive ditch, nine lightweight 87 mm caliber cannons on Nasvetevich gun carriages and four 57 mm Nordenfeld cannon systems on the casemate gun carriages were installed on the fort's caponiers and semi-caponier. More than 15,000 different caliber shells and 300,000 rounds were stored in five ammunition warehouses.

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