The Nerija Fort

According to geologists, Kopgalis is the northernmost and at the same time the youngest part of the Curonian Spit peninsula, which was finally formed only in the 19th century. At that time, the first defensive fortifications were built here. The history of the Nerija Fort, also called ‘Kopgalis fortress’, began in 1865, when the soldiers of the Kingdom of Prussia, in order to protect the port of Klaipėda from enemies from the side of the sea, started the construction of the fortress, which lasted for  seven years. Before the construction was finished, the fort was armed with cannons due to the start of the Prussian war with Austria. The construction was completed in 1873. Together with the Forest Fort (which was on the site of the current city stadium) and the citadel, it was supposed to protect the approach to the city and the port. However, at the end of the 19th century, with the improvement of the naval warship artillery, the building became irrelevant.

In 1897, the cannons were dismantled and a village school operated in the fort for several years. When the school was moved out, the families of workers working in the port and at sea settled there. In 1902, a semaphore and a signal station for ships were built on the northern rampart of the Kopgalis fortress. They indicated the wind direction, strength and roughness of the water. In 1939, after Germany annexed Klaipėda region, soldiers settled in the fort again. During World War II, on October 14, 1944, the fort was blown up. In 1945, the fort was occupied by Soviet soldiers, then until 1975 border guards were stationed here. In 1972, examination of the surviving structures started. In 1976-1978, the Nerija     Fort was restored and the Lithuanian Maritime Museum was opened here in 1979.

The Nerija Fort is the only object of the Prussian military heritage of the second half the 19th century in Lithuania. It consists of an inner hexagon-shaped 14 meters high rampart, under which red brick casemates and powder depots were located. It covers an area of ​​4 hectares. The brick and earth defense structure is surrounded by a fossa:  a 2 m deep and 12 m wide defensive moat filled with water. The fort can be accessed via a previously drawbridge. In the courtyard of the fort (in the current location of the aquarium), there used to be a 40 m diameter two-story cylindrical redoubt – a defensive and crew residential building. The redoubt had a 20-meter diameter courtyard with a well.

Today, when visiting the Lithuanian Maritime Museum, you can see the former ammunition warehouses, gunpowder depots, red brick bunkers and casemates. An exposition of the history of Lithuanian shipping is set up in the posterns and casemates under the ramparts of the fortress, and a collection of ancient and modern anchors is exhibited on the ramparts, in the former cannon sites. In total, the collections of the Maritime Museum store more than 88,000 exhibits.