The Russian Emperor Alexander I, getting ready for the defence against the Napoleon’s Army attack in Russia, in 1810 gave an order to build a new fortress on the right bank of the River Daugava in Vitebsk Governorate for the reinforcement and protection of the western border of the country. The two square kilometres wide territory of Dinaburg Fortress was chosen on March 14, 1810, where the Lieutenant-general George Heinrich von Hekkel (1763–1832) took part. Ten thousand people took part in the building work organized in two shifts using several hundreds of horses: inhabitants of Dinaburg City neighbourhood and two thousand workers from Vitebsk Governorate, as well as soldiers of different army troops from Volynsky, Vilensky, Minsk, Kremenchug and Tobolsk Governorates. One half of the allocated territory for the citadel was planned for residential building in a regular planning blocks, but the rest of the territory – for defence buildings. In the fortress gunpowder warehouses, an artillery arsenal and engineering arsenal, four barracks, a residential house for the commandant and officers, a smithy, a war hospital, as well as houses for the civil inhabitants were built. The defence system of the fortress’ pentagonal form was made by a 2.7 kilometres long earthwork, in which four gates were built and in front of them bridges were built. On the left bank of the Daugava in front of the bridge fortifications were built in order to protect the road which along the bridge took over the Daugava. From 1828 till 1830 behind the esplanade of the fortress lots of houses designed by the architect Alexander Schtaubert (Александр Егорович Штауберт; 1781–1843) were built, forming outskirts. The Dinaburg Fortress, whose building was not completed yet, during the Patriotic War of 1812 repelled successfully Napoleon’s Army attacks and till the middle of the 19th century it was the Russian Empire First-class Fortress. The Dinaburg Fortress lost its military significance gradually and in 1856 it became the second-class fortress and it was reorganized. When in 1878 the building work was finished, the last built bastion-type fortress in Europe had already become old and the military school of pilots-technicians was placed in it after the World War II. The unique architectural monument has become the symbol of Daugavpils which has been reflected in the city’s coat-of-arms. Nowadays the territory of Dinaburg Fortress has been divided into two functional zones- in the service zone the buildings with training facilities and barracks are situated, but in the residential zone – fourteen residential buildings which were built in the 19th century, and five modern blocks of flats. In 1994 in the premises of the fortress Daugavpils Regional Archive, Daugavpils Regional Police and other institutions were placed. However, there was not a common opinion about the further usage of the fortress building. In 1995 the inventory of the fortress’ military buildings was made in order to organize activities for their protection. A multifunctional complex was created in the territory of the fortress – the centre of modern art, culture and education. On May 20, 2013 in the arsenal building of the fortress Daugavpils Art Centre named after Mark Rothko (1903-1970) was opened, where in a 2000 square metre area a permanent Latvian artists’ work expositions are arranged, as well as temporary exhibitions of European and other world artists. Mark Rothkowitz spent ten years of his life in Daugavpils, which was called Dvinsk at that time, but later his family emigrated to the United States of America. In the halls of the multifunctional centre seminars, conferences, banquets and other actives are organized.