The Upper Kluze fortress ( Bovec 5230, Slovenia ), also known as Herman’s fort, was one of the six Carinthian fortresses that protected access to Tarvisio and the interior of Austria. It was named after Captain Johann Hermann von Hermannsdorf, who was the commander of the Predel fortress during the Napoleonic wars. It was built in 1900 in order to support the fortress of the Bovec kluze in the event of war, which was already outdated at that time; but just like most of the fortresses, it was obsolete at the beginning of the First World War. During the war, Italian artillery wildly bombarded it with the cannon of the largest caliber, and thus damaged the fortress irreparably. That is why the Austrian Supreme Command decided to disarm and leave the fort. After the end of the war, nobody maintained the fort, so it collapsed. Today it can still be seen, but it is in an extremely bad condition.
After the disarmament, the fortress began to settle down. When the front line moved to the Piavo River after a breakthrough, the fort became inapplicable, and the command did not intend to restore it. A useful inventory was taken by the army and the locals. After the Italian victory, the fort came under the Italian administration, which did not take care of the partially destroyed fort. A new blow to the fortress in the thirties led to the collectors of iron, who threw out steel shields and profiles from the walls, which in the following years caused further decay of the fort. The fort was then mumble over decades. After the Second World War and the definitive demarcation of the border between Yugoslavia and Italy, the fortress, together with the fortress of Kluze, became a Yugoslav army. The new owner, like the old one, did not care for them, so they collapsed. The fortresses came to municipal property in 1987. To this day, the fort in Cluj has already been repaired, while Herman’s Fortress, which was still completely unknown to the public before, is still decaying. Today, the fort still can be seen, but it is in extremely bad condition and overgrown with vegetation. It is located on the ravine just above the fort in Cluj, from which a narrow path leads to the upper fort.
Access : Coordinates: 46.35991, 13.58809 / Trg golobarskih zhrtev 8, Bovec 5230, Slovenia / By foot : 20-30 min walk from the parking lot of Fort Kluze, / By car : from Bovec take regional road Bovec – Predel (R1 – 203) after 4,5km you will see a fortress on the right side of the road
Opening hours : May, October – Saturdays and Sundays 10:00 – 17:00
June, September – Sunday to Friday 10:00 – 17:00; Saturday 10:00 – 18:00
July, August – every day, 9:00 – 20:00 , Entrance fee : adults: 3 € students, seniors: 2 €
Go next : Kluze Fortress / Fort Predel /Kozlov rob Castle / soca-valley / Bavsica Valley /
