Fortifications of Bucharest

A report by the War Ministry led the celebrated Belgian military architect Henri Alexis Brialmont (who made several visits to Bucharest, meeting with King Carol I in the process) to draft a plan for the city's fortifications, with construction beginning in 1884.

[1][2][3] Romania, which had recently won its independence from the Ottoman Empire, undertook this enormous effort in keeping with the prevailing military doctrine of the day, which said the capital city should be defended at all costs.

In case of invasion, Bucharest was to be the point of retreat, but also the place where significant military operations would begin, spreading from the Danube to the Carpathians.

In 1914, the Battle of Liège, in which the German Army broke through fortifications also designed by Brialmont with greater ease than expected, alarmed the authorities in Bucharest.

They serve as firing ranges and munitions deposits, also housing army units; civilians are forbidden entry.