The stairs we just descended are the steepest stairs in the entire fortress. They are built steep deliberately to make it as difficult as possible to enter the courtyard while wearing armor and bearing arms and these stairs will be put to the test.

The year is 1566 and the Nordic Seven Years’ War is in full swing. On the morning of March 5, the Swedish main force leaves Alingsås under the command of Nils Boje. Orders have been received to set off on the Göta River to take Bohus. 18 days later they start shelling the walls. They fire over 2,800 bullets at Bohus. On the fourth day, Nils Boije orders a storm. The Swedes now attack and in the fourth attack they take the main tower “Red Tower” and a Swedish flag is hoisted at the top.

The  worried Danish commander Jens Holgersen Ulfstand promises a reward to the soldier who can get the Swedes out of the Red Tower. A soldier volunteers. He takes a torch and sneaks into the gunpowder storage in the basement of the tower. He releases the torch … and the whole tower explodes with a bang that must have echoed along the entire Göta älv valley! The top of the tower is completely blown off and the Swedes who are in the tower literally fly out. Bohus is saved!

The voluntary soldier did not survive the explosion but he had made an agreement with the Danish commander that his family would be supported and that they would get a farm if he managed to stop the Swedish attack. And that agreement was honoured. The farm still remains today on Hisingen and the family who live there are said to be descendants of the soldier who gave his life for Norway. The event was later called the Bohusiska Smällen, or the Bohusian Bang.