Fort Bäzberg, Military fortress in Uri, Switzerland

Fort Bäzberg is an artillery work of the Gotthard fortifications above Andermatt, built into the rock at 1850 m. It was meant to cover the Fort Bühl lying 400 m below from its elevated position, as Motto Bartola covered Forte Airolo. A four-kilometre access road was built for it, and a permanent annex battery was added after 1903.

After the first Gotthard tunnel opened in 1882, Switzerland fortified the Andermatt area. Road construction to the Bäzberg began in 1889, the fort itself in 1890, and ammunition was stored from 1891; by 1892 the work was ready to fire. It covered the Fort Bühl 400 metres below, and in 1947 it was decommissioned as a combat installation.

The fortress was built directly into the mountainside, showing how Switzerland designed its defense around the natural landscape. Visitors walking through the tunnels and gun positions see how military needs shaped what was built here.

The fort sits at 1850 m above sea level; a four-kilometre access road was built for it from 1889, and from 1890/91 a two-storey blockhouse with rifle slits guarded that road at Brückwaldboden (1405 m). In the Second World War a military cable car, Z316, was built from the Schöllenen gorge (Teufelswand entrance) up to the Bäzberg; its mountain station stands next to the rock barracks and is linked to the fort by a long tunnel.

The installation originally held three 12-centimeter cannons in armored turrets, later replaced by fortress mine launchers in 1951. This upgrade shows how military technology and Swiss defense evolved over decades.