Wolf Fort (amphitheatre) in Kołobrzeg

Wolf Fort in Kołobrzeg, today known as the amphitheatre, is a former fortification from 1807 that protected the port from the east. Over two centuries it changed its function: from a redoubt, through a fort of the Prussian fortress and an amphitheatre of the 1920s, to a venue for song festivals and concerts. The heritage register lists it as a fort, under numbers 817 of 1967 and A-1074 of 2012.

The fort of 1807

The redoubt was designed in 1807, when the French were approaching Kołobrzeg. It had the shape of a three-armed star, topped at each end with a blockhouse, and was surrounded by a three-metre rampart and dry ditches with a palisade. The hardest fighting of the siege of 1807 took place here, and this was the way Gen. Loison intended to take the town.

Modernisation and a second youth

In 1832-1836 the fort was thoroughly modernised and named Fort Gneisenau. In 1925 it was rebuilt as an amphitheatre, and a municipal racecourse was built on the foreground. In 1945 a strong defensive point was organised here, and after the war, until the mid-1950s, the fort remained in the hands of the People's Polish Army.

The amphitheatre today

After the war the site was again converted into an amphitheatre. In 1968-1991 the Soldiers' Song Festivals were held here, and today various concerts and mass events, among them the Interfolk and Gama festivals. The register gives brick as the material.

Next to it, 300 m away, stands the Stone Redoubt (the former Waldenfels Redoubt), which together with Wolf Fort formed the eastern system of fortifications. It is about 1 km to the Kołobrzeg Fortress in the wider sense.

Practical information

• Address according to the register: Aleksandra Fredry 18, Kołobrzeg.
• The site serves as a venue for concerts and open-air events; the calendar is given by the organisers, and the rules for entry outside events are best checked before a visit.
• It is 2.1 km to the Kołobrzeg Pier.