At the end of the 19th century, tsarist Russia started to fortify its Western borders. At that time, the land of Lithuanians was a Northwest territory of the Russian Empire. Alytus was selected to be a class III fortress (as such, the only one on the territory of Lithuania): highways and railways were built, as well as barracks for soldiers. The First Fort was built in 1887. It survived best to our day, the Fourth Fort became ruins, while the Second and the Third Forts were destroyed.
The Forts did not have brick walls, they were made as excavations, stabilized with stones and wood.
Authors of photographs: L. Valentaitė, B. Malaškevičiūtė, A. Plonytė.
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