Another point of attracting for the Romanian and foreign tourists is represented by Jilava Fort 13, which is part of Bucharest's fortifications belt, which was built according to the plans of a famous Belgian military architect, general Henri Alexis Brialmont, starting with year 1884. In its time, the network formed of 18 forts cost 111.5 million lei in gold, meaning three times the annual budget assigned to the Romanian army.
The erection of the fortifications belt took more than two decades, the works being particularly complex. The building of Fort 13 itself is magnificent. Under this aspect, the architects identified it as an architectural work worthy of the Renaissance period, even if the Fort was erected closer to our times. They mentioned that the Fort can be included without any reticence among the Romanian architectural monuments.
Dating from the second half of the 19th century, Jilava was used as a place of political imprisonment even since the time of King Carol II, but only as a transit prison, the living conditions being practically unbearable. The communist regime transformed it into a prison for executing terms, numerous political prisoners spending there up to 5 or more years, destined for a slow and sure death. In the same penitentiary of Jilava executions were performed, in the place called "the Valley of Peaches".
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