Krepost Sveaborg - Later History

Later History

After First World War the fortifications of Krepost Sveaborg were taken over by Finland. Most of the land front fortifications were disarmed, stripped of useful equipment and abandoned. Much of the land front fortifications with steel reinforcements were destroyed in the inter war period and the steel sold as scrap. During the Second World War an inventory of the land front fortifications was conducted regarding their usefulness, with the larger shelters quarried into the rock under particular interest as facilities for war industry, emergency hospitals or storage. Some of the land front shelters are still used as storage space. As settlement spread during the urbanization after the Second World War many of the fortifications were destroyed as new suburbs were constructed. The coastal fortifications were used by the Finnish coastal artillery to protect Helsinki. Most of the islands remained in military use and were thus spared from vandalism. All structures of the Krepost Sveaborg fortifications around Helsinki, both land and sea fronts, were declared protected historical sites by the Finnish National Board of Antiquities in 1971.