Fortress

Dorota Bakalus & Douglas Petersen

Reconstruction Drawings by Tomasz Idzikowski

Designed by Dean Bornstein at The Perpetua Press

"For a visitor, locating the forts for the first time is filled with a profound sense of discovery. The feeling of being in a place where something momentous happened overwhelms the visitor."

The construction of the Przemysl fortress was carried out in the latter half of the 19th century by the armies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, intent on establishing a battlehead against a possible Russian invasion. At the beginning of the Great War, Przemysl was one of the most heavily fortified cities in Europe, rivaling Antwerp and Verdun.

The photographers developed the project over a five-year period, with several major exhibitions of the material. The book includes photographs made with digital and film cameras as well as images derived from historical postcards. The tritone reproductions in the book were prepared by Thomas Palmer, working from the photographers' original platinum prints. The book was printed by Meridian Printing on Mohawk Superfine uncoated paper.