Fort VIII of the Warsaw Fortress

Fort VIII ("Służew") is one of the forts of the outer ring of the Warsaw Fortress, located at Nowoursynowska Street in the Ursynów district, near the former village of Służew. It was built in the 1880s on a hill between the Warsaw Escarpment and the Służewiecki Stream valley, following the Russian design F1879. The fort covered an area of 26.17 hectares and was a reinforced concrete structure with a double-rampart design and rear barracks. In 1897, the fort was visited by Tsar Nicholas II. Over the years, the fort underwent two modernizations; among other changes, the scarp front caponier was replaced with a concrete one, and the fort was converted to a single-rampart design. After the fortress was decommissioned in 1909, all concrete elements were demolished. In the 1970s, a housing estate for the personnel of the Polish People's Army was built on the fort's grounds. In 1981, despite the fort still being under military control, trenches facing the city were dug. To this day, only fragments of the structures remain, such as the rear barracks, ruins of caponiers, foundations of the traditor, and an icehouse. The fort was entered into the register of historical monuments in 1990, and in the 1990s, it was taken over by the Military Property Agency and sold to developers. The area transformed into a complex of apartment blocks, and the former barracks were converted into the Fort 8 shopping gallery. In 2018, a nearby street was named Fort Służew, reflecting the commemoration of this historical site. Fort VIII "Służew" is an example of Warsaw's evolving architecture and military history, as well as a testament to the transformation of former military facilities into modern urban spaces.