The Fortification Seminar organized at the Town Hall introduced the renovation work on fortifications and the fortifications in the area.

The City of Hamina organized the international Hamina Fortification Seminar & Hamina Summer School at Hamina Town Hall on Thursday, May 15, 2025. The City of Hamina is a member of the European Efforts fortification network, whose representatives also participated in the event. Executive Director Raphael Deroo explained how the network can be used to share information about repairs and development measures in fortified areas and to seek international partners for projects, for example. 

An invited guest event was held at the Town Hall, attended by 50 owners of various fortresses, experts and other stakeholders. The seminar was also streamed live on the City of Hamina's Youtube channel. Recordings of the event are available for viewing On Hamina's Youtube channel about a week after the event. 
The Hamina Fortress and the circular town plan are a unique attraction in Hamina. We live our daily lives in the middle of a unique fortified town and visitors here can enjoy the magnificent fortress environment, described the Chairman of the Hamina City Council Titta Erkkilä in his opening remarks at the seminar.

During the morning of the seminar, discussions included how the fortification areas should be managed and how the fortification areas will be preserved for future generations. The fortification areas owned by the City of Hamina are in need of extensive repairs, which were presented by Name Ihatsu Casaco Studio Oy, for the damage survey of the Hamina fortress area conducted in 2023. 

Tuija Väli-Torala Metsähallitus spoke about the development measures for the Kärnäkoski fortress, where the fortress wall had collapsed and how it had been repaired using traditional methods. After this, the topic was continued with the Svartholma fortress repair project, which had begun in 2021, including repairing extensive collapses in the shore wall. In 2022–2023, smaller works were carried out at Svartholma, including finalizing the repair contract and renewing some work sections. According to Väli-Torala, the goal for Svartholma fortress in 2024 is to improve customer safety and know the condition of the structures. 

The fortresses were also discussed from a tourism perspective, Milla Öystilä spoke about the sustainable tourism strategy work carried out by the Suomenlinna management board and emphasized the importance of networks for the emergence of cooperation through getting to know each other and building trust. 

The afternoon of the seminar was about networks and collaboration. The presentations discussed the importance of first creating a vision for the development of the fortress and involving both decision-makers and residents. We heard examples from the city of Šibenik, Croatia, the city of Zoutleeuw, Belgium, and the Suomenlinna management board. 

According to the participants, the day was rewarding with a diverse program. The goal is to establish a fortification network in Finland that would regularly organize, for example, informal meetings for experts and owners of fortification areas. 

The city of Hamina received support from the Hamina Cultural Heritage Foundation for organizing the event, and the city of Hamina's internal fortress working group was responsible for organizing the event.