Dömitz Fortress, Renaissance fortress and museum in Dömitz, Germany.
Dömitz Fortress is a pentagon-shaped fortification with five bastions standing on the right bank of the Elbe River. The structure contains casemates, an arsenal, and a commander's residence, forming a complete defensive complex.
The fortress was built between 1559 and 1565 under Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg. It rose on foundations from a 13th-century castle, with Renaissance engineering methods replacing the earlier defensive structure.
The Kommandantenhaus has housed the Museum Festung Dömitz since 1953, with exhibitions on the fortress and town. A gallery in the tower shows changing art exhibitions. Low German writer Fritz Reuter was held here from 1838 to 1840 and described it in Ut mine Festungstid.
The courtyard, the local history museum and Bastion Burg are open to visitors; the casemates of Bastion Held remain closed. Since 2013 a bridge with a drawbridge has replaced the old earthen access ramp at the gate. The open-air stage in the courtyard hosts concerts and theatre performances.
The five bastions are named Kavalier, Held, Drache, Greif and Burg, starting at the gate and going clockwise. The gate itself is the only ornate part of the fort, built of sandstone with carved reliefs and the coats of arms of Johann Albrecht I and Anna Sophie of Prussia, who married in Wismar on 24 February 1555.
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