Franzensfeste Fortress (Italian: Forte di Fortezza; German: Festung Franzensfeste, literally "Franz's Fortress") is a fortress situated in the village of Franzensfeste, in South Tyrol, Italy. Emperor Francis I began constructing the fortress in 1833. In 1838 the project had been abandoned, because the area was not considered to be of sufficient importance for a fortress. In the summer of 2008 the fortress was opened to the public for the first time as one of the locations of Manifesta 7, the European Biennial of Contemporary art.