Fortress Visit Report : Fort Thungen, Luxembourg

Walk through Fort Obergrunwald, going along the spur, you will arrive at Fort Thungen, probably the prettiest artillery fort I have ever seen. Built in the 1730's by the Austrian Army.

In 1726, Simon de Beauffe, Generalmajor of the Austrian Army, was instructed to extend the fortifications around Luxembourg.

In 1730 he presented his ideas. He wanted to move away from bastioned works to works in the form of arrows to extend the depth of the existing fortifications. He planned seven or eight works. Fort Thungen was built in 1732 and 1733 and extended by the Prussian Army 100 years later.

Currently, the Fort's redoubt is the home to The Fortress Museum - I was not allowed to photograph inside the Museum, but it contains artifacts and maps about the history of Luxembourg's fortifications. The rest of the Fort has been covered over with the Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art.

Fort Thungen top left, with Vauban's Hornwork top centre

Fort Thungen with the Museum of Modern Art built on the Fort's envelope

The excellent information board

Very helpful Relief Model of the Fort as it was built

The envelope, the observation tower in the middle was built as part of Vauban's works

Left tower

Left wall to the shoulder, museum behind

In the ditch, looking up towards the entrance

Behind, right hand shoulder

The ditch between the envelope on the left and the covered way on the right

The Museum of Modern Art