Virtual tour

Welcome to Skutina Artillery Fortress and to one of its two infantry blockhouses. You are inside infantry blockhouse N-S 48 (“U stodol”). The building is entered through the emergency exit hatch, located in the protective ditch in front of its main embrasures. This hatch is currently the building’s only entrance and exit. Originally, however, it was intended solely for emergencies. During combat, the garrison was otherwise supposed to use underground passages connecting the blockhouse to the other fortress structures, including the entrance block. The protective ditch, also known as a diamond ditch, protected the main embrasures and collected spent cartridge cases from the main weapons. A grenade chute opens into the ditch, allowing grenades to be dropped from inside the blockhouse into areas immediately outside that could not be covered by gunfire. The entrance is protected by a grille, and you entered the building through an armoured door.

The tour begins on the lower service floor, in room (1), which was intended as a store for anti-tank ammunition. Here you can see drawings of Skutina Artillery Fortress from different viewpoints, basic plans of the proposed fortress complexes of the Czechoslovak fortification system, and an aerial photograph of Skutina hill and the surrounding area where the fortress was planned and built.

The opposite door leads to room (2), where the blockhouse’s air filtration plant was planned. Today, this room houses the museum’s staff facilities and ticket office.

The tour continues to the left of the entrance door into room (3). Behind a partition was a toilet with a collection barrel (4), while the rest of the room served as a washroom. A 100-litre water tank was to be installed below the ceiling. In the wall you will find an embrasure from which the space between the grille and the armoured entrance door could be covered by gunfire. Behind another door is a small room (5), intended as a store for illumination flares.

The tour follows the corridor past the ammunition and grenade store (6), which also serves as a technical support room. You can then look into the radio operator’s room (7), where some of the equipment is displayed. The corridor leads to the enlisted men’s quarters (8). The 16 enlisted men shared eight beds, alternating their rest periods on a twelve-hour rotation.

Lower floor of the blockhouse From the corridor you enter the staircase and lift shaft (9) and climb to the upper combat floor. On the right, you enter the ammunition store (9a) and approach the planned access to an armoured cupola. This was to house twin vz. 37 heavy machine guns covering the area roughly towards blockhouse N-S 49. Here you can see photographs of the people involved in designing and building Skutina Fortress.

The corridor leads to the position of the planned artillery observation cupola (10). Doors to the sides lead to the quarters for the artillery observation NCOs (11), with the officers’ quarters (12) opposite.

The tour continues into the blockhouse commander’s room (15), connected by a small window to the telephone operator’s room (16).

We continue along the corridor to the position beneath the planned bell-shaped armoured cupola for a vz. 37 heavy machine gun (13). Original water tanks are displayed here, each with a capacity of 1000 litres. This area also contains the embrasure for a vz. 26 light machine gun, whose fire protected the main weapon embrasures. A wall periscope for observing the blockhouse’s immediate surroundings and a grenade chute are built into the wall.

On the left of the corridor you enter the firing room (14), which contains the main weapon embrasures. The embrasure for twin vz. 37 heavy machine guns is normally fully equipped with its mounting and weapons during tours. Beside it is the embrasure for the weapon designated L1: a 4.7 cm cannon coupled with a vz. 37 heavy machine gun. In the wall opposite the door you will again find a wall periscope and a grenade chute.

Upper floor of the blockhouse You can then explore the staircase and lift shaft and the accessible section of the underground passage independently. Several photographs of more distant parts of the underground passages are displayed on the walls of the concrete-lined section. The areas shown in these photographs are currently closed to the public.

Around blockhouse N-S 48 you can see examples of different types of anti-tank obstacles (steel hedgehogs, concrete obstacles) and anti-personnel obstacles (fixed, portable).

On public holidays, the tour continues into the restored vz. 37 light fortification, type A-180 Z. This light bunker was designed for a crew of seven men. It has two firing rooms, each equipped with a ceiling periscope and a machine gun embrasure. The right embrasure is fitted with a vz. 37 heavy machine gun, and the left with a vz. 26 light machine gun. The left firing room also contains a grenade chute protecting the area near the entrance door that could not be covered by gunfire. The short passage connecting the firing rooms is equipped with a hand-operated ventilation fan. A small embrasure in the wall protects the entrance. The walls are lined with timber, intended to protect the crew from concrete fragments during combat. This is where the tour of the Skutina Artillery Fortress Museum currently ends.