Construction of the Fortica fortress began over the entrance to the deep Vis bay (St George’s Port), in April 1812. Construction was started by Lieutenant George Duncan Robertson, and was named after the then King, George III.
Situated on the flattened peak of the small, western peninsula, opposite the small isle of St. George (Host), it has an elongated shape and is 105 m in long and 32 m wide.
The fortress is surrounded by a 2 m deep trench. A wider, semicircular entrance is situated on the eastern part of the sloping walls, whilst the fortress itself was entered through a sliding, wooden bridge. There is a British flag in relief above the entrance with two flowers on either side.
The average height of the defence walls is 8 m which close onto the inner courtyards. The first courtyard has an irregular square shape. Within the area bordered by the outer defensive wall were barracks for the accommodation of officers together with a military garrison, a gunpowder store and other warehouses. Cisterns for collecting rainwater were positioned facing north in the other courtyard.
As the main building of the fortress, the barracks house was built on a single storey with a rectangular layout, placed transversely to the direction of the outer defensive walls. It had a flat roof with an external boundary wall in which were semicircular openings for cannons. The door arches and other openings were immured with bricks, whilst the external walls were made of stone blocks which opened onto the inner courtyard with several rectangular window openings.
After the English soldiers left Vis, the fortress continued to be used by the Austrian army and after the 2nd World War, by the former Yugoslavian army (JNA). The building today has been demilitarized.
