Fort Verudela - History of the fort

Coastal fort Verudela is one of a hundred elements in the defence system of the Austro-Hungarian stronghold Pula. It is situated at an altitude of 31 m, and it was built and furnished from 1881 to 1886 together with the battery San Giovanni, with which it forms a unique defence compound. The fort is roughly pentagonal and is made up of an earth-stone central block with a two-story caponier barrack embedded in its massive, trench and an earth-stone outer embankment. The barrack is built from finely processed stone, bricks, concrete and re-enforced concrete. On the ground floor of the barrack (useful surface 53,890 m2) there are 11 rooms; originally a telephone central beside the large entrance hallway and a staircase leading upstairs, two soldier rooms by the main hall (for 16-18 soldiers each), a boiler room with a coal depository, engine room, infirmary and a kitchen with food storage on one end of the hall, and toilets on the other. There are also tunnels that lead in the caponiers in the trench. The main hall also contains two niches for pumps and different installations. On the first floor (useful surface 68,890 m2 ) eight rooms face the yard; originally the main officer room and five soldier rooms, officers room on one end and a toilet on the other.

On the other side of the main hall there were four grenade and explosive storages, and a room with an elevator for ammunition delivery, all protected with an anti-impact hallway. From the second floor a staircase leads to a hallway on the fort's axis. On the one end of that hallway there is a small storage room and staircase leading to the space below the rotating turret and on the other end a staircase leading to the roof. The central place in the fort’s massive is occupied by the cannon block with a cylindrical base built from reinforced concrete, an integral element of the casemate barracks block. That block, reaching from the ground floor of the fort to the top of the massive, is intended for the rotating turret with two 280 mm MSK L/35 cannons and accompanying elements ( on the ground floor level a space for electric batteries, on the first floor level an engine room). The top of the fort, comprising of a roof terrace covered with soil, remains of the armoured lookout stations, stations for controlling the rotating turret and newer cannon placements can be found, now overgrown in trees and shrubbery. Vertically to the fort's axis, by the barrack outer wall, lies the yard (31,820 m surface) with a giant water tank underneath (276 m3) and two fuel storages on both ends. There was also a smaller tank for drinking water (32 m2) and technical water storage (86 m2) below the engineering room. Encompassing the yard, the stone gorge wall stands with loopholes and with the main entrance to the fort. That entrance, emphasised with a simple stone portal, is closed by folding doors with iron bars. As an entrance defence, the gorge caponier (21,60 m2) leans against the gorge wall.

A dry defensive trench is carved in solid rock, stretching by the fort's central massive. Two flanking caponiers are located in the trench, both between the centre and the sides of the central massive, connected to the barracks with an underground tunnel, carved also in solid rock. The entrance ramp to the trench is situated on the gorge side, north from the main entrance. The trench in front of the main entrance, all the way to the gorge caponier, has been covered with soil in recent times, so there is a big plateau, partly covered with plates, partly with asphalt, in front of the main entrance, where the bridge used to be. In front of the aforementioned gorge caponier there used to be a decorative garden, whose composition and horticultural solutions are barely visible in today's vegetation. From the defensive trench on the front and the sides of the fort an earth embankment goes down whose height is significantly bigger on the front side of the fort. In front of that embankment, on the axis of the southern caponier, a reflector plateau is preserved. On the rear of the fort, going east from the main northern pathway to the fort, a road departs to the casemates dug under the main pathway, originally functioning as an auxiliary ammunition storage.

According to available information from 1903, the crew of the fort consisted of: one commander, four officers and 112-126 soldiers. The defensive compound fort Verudela- San Giovanni battery was degraded by interventions on some objects and in the vicinity. In the 1960s battery San Giovanni was irreversibly devastated by its conversion to a catering object, and by building the asphalt paths of the tourist camp by the compound a small linking battery (built between 1902. and 1908.)was also devastated, together with the second reflector emplacement ( originally north from the north-western caponier. The fort itself, although used in the past for different purposes, was preserved and is in fairly good condition today. Later building interventions left no significant influence on the fort's appearance, which was adapted to an aquarium in 2002. Fort Verudela is an example of the adaptation of older types of armoured fortifications to modern weaponry of that time ( rotating turret with two cannons ). Within that lies its historical significance.

For two centuries the fort was governed by several military powers. It was built in 1886 by the Austro-Hungarian empire, under whose command it stayed until 1918. From 1918 to 1943, it was under Italian rule and during that very period it lost its recognizable military appearance. Namely, all metal objects were removed, together with the imposing cannons, and brought to Italy where they were melted down. From 1943 to 1945 it was used by the German military. After 1945, the fort fell in the hands of the Yugoslav national army and stayed under its command for the following two years. In the 1950s it became city property, and went under concession to the hotel company “Veruda”, known as “Arenaturist” from 1957. In accordance to their wishes, souvenir shops, markets and hair salons were open in the fort, and to the late hours of the night citizens and tourists feasted on fried chickens, so called “condors”. At the same time, the fort was renowned by the name “Club 33”, apropos to a disco that got his name from Swedish tourists under the age of 33. In the late 1980s, the fort is abandoned and it becomes a landfill and waste incinerator. In 2002, Aquarium Pula takes it over. By that time, it had become a derelict fort.