大沽炮臺位于海河入?？趦砂?。它是天津人民反侵略斗爭的歷史見證。大沽口地勢險要，歷來被看作是 “海防要隘” 。明嘉靖二年(1523),大沽口開始建造炮壘，宿重兵以防沿海倭患。清朝中期以后，隨著海上威脅增大，大沽口的戰(zhàn)略地位更加重要。清嘉慶二十一年(1816),最早的2座磚木結(jié)構(gòu)的圓形炮臺，出現(xiàn)在大沽口南北兩岸，炮臺高1丈5尺、寬9尺、進深6尺。道光二十年(1840) 十二月十三日，清廷批準訥爾經(jīng)額奏請，重筑大沽炮臺和北塘?？谂谂_土壩，并建兵房。第一次鴉片戰(zhàn)爭的翌年，即清道光二十一年(1841),大沽口兩岸添建炮臺3座，使大沽炮臺達到5座，土炮臺12座，土壘13座。
咸豐八年四月(1858年5月),第二次鴉片戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)，大沽炮臺毀于敵人炮火； 八月，清政府又派欽差大臣僧格林沁重修炮臺，共建大炮臺6座，高3丈5尺不等。炮臺分圓形、方形兩種，皆上磚下石壘砌，外包三合土，用糯米汁澆灌，堅實牢固。其中，?？谀习?座，北岸2座，分別以“威、鎮(zhèn)、海、門、高”5字命名。另在北岸石頭縫處建炮臺1座，稱為“石頭縫炮臺” 。在后墻營門建小炮臺25座。每座炮臺配備大炮3門，駐兵400余人。在新增添的10門大炮中，最大的重達1.2萬斤。炮臺周圍筑有堤墻，沿墻修蓋土窨，墻上密布炮門射孔； 又在堤外挖溝，并置有木柵。同治九年(1870),直隸總督李鴻章在重新整修炮臺的基礎(chǔ)上，又增修1座平炮臺。光緒元年(1875),清政府在整修炮臺的同時，又新建了一些炮臺。并“購買歐洲鐵甲快船、碰船、水雷船” 。顯然，清政府要把大沽口炮臺作為京津的屏障。
大沽炮臺在歷次抗擊外來侵略的保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)中，是扼要守險的堡壘。從第一次鴉片戰(zhàn)爭到八國聯(lián)軍侵華的60年間，大沽炮臺曾4次遭受炮火洗禮。
1901年，依照《辛丑條約》,大沽炮臺被拆毀?，F(xiàn)今地表顯露清晰的是 “威” 字南炮臺和“?！弊掷吓谂_遺址； 其他炮臺地面建筑已經(jīng)蕩然無存。1988年1月13日，大沽炮臺被國務(wù)院批準為國家重點文物保護單位。近年來，對“威”字炮臺遺址進行了整修，并對游人開放。

·修筑大沽炮臺 (國畫 作者： 李永文)

The Dagu Emplacement islocated at the bank of Haihe River,where it runs into Bohai Sea. The emplacement is the historic witness of the anti-invasionefforts of Tianjin people. The Dagu Emplacement hasalways been regarded as a strategically vital port for seadefense. In 1523,or the second year of Emperor Jiajingin Ming Dynasty,the government started to build cannonramparts at Dagu Emplacement and arranged a largenumber of forces to defend agaist Japanese invaders. Inthe middle of the Qing Dynasty,the strategic positionof the Dagu Emplacement got greatly enhanced becausethe threat from the sea had increased. In the 21 st year ofEmperor Jiaqing (year 1816),there appeared two-storiedsquare cannon ramparts of brick-timber construction inthe north and south coasts of Dagu Emplacement. Asone of its earliest,this type of cannon rampart was 15 chi(one chi is 1/3 meter) high,9 chi wide and 6 chi deep.On December 13,the 20th year of Emperor Daoguang(year 1840),the Qing Government approved the requestof Na`erjing`e to rebuild the Dagu Emplacement and theemplacement in the entrance of Beitang and to rebuildbarracks. In the next year after the First Opium War,thatis,the 21st year of Emperor Daoguang (year 1841),threenew cannon ramparts were built in Dagu Emplacement.Therefore,altogether the emplacement had five cannonramparts,12 earth cannon ramparts and 13 earthramparts.
In May 1858,the Second Opium War broke out.The Dagu Emplacement was badly destroyed by thegunfire of the enemies. In August,the Qing Governmentsent the imperial envoy Sengge Renchin to rebuild it.Sengge Renchin rebuilt 6 big cannon ramparts withdifferent heights from 3 to 5 chi. All of the six cannonramparts were of round or square shapes and were builtin bricks in the upper part andstones at the bottom. Among thefive ramparts that were named "wei","zhen","hai","men" and "gao",three locatedon the south bank of the seaport,and two on the northbank. One more cannon rampart was built on a stonecrack on the north bank,which was named "the crackcanon rampart". 25 ramparts were built,each of whichwas arranged to 3 cannons and disposed with 400soldiers. Among the newly added cannons,the largestone weighed 12 thousand jin. Walls were built aroundthe ramparts,and cellars were constructed along thewalls. In 1870 (the 9th year of Emperor Tongzhi),LiHongzhang,governer-general of Zhili,constructed onemore flat cannon rampart while he also reconditionedthe original ramparts. In 1875 (the first year ofEmperor Guangxu),the Qing government once againreconditioned the ramparts,built several more rampartsand also "purchased European fast steel ships,torpedoships". Obviously,the Qing government decided to buildDagu emplacement into a shield screen of Beijing andTianjin.
Dagu emplacement acted as an important fortress ineach and every defending war against foreign invasions.During the 60- year period between the first opiumwar and the invasion of the eight-country ally,Daguemplacement had been attacked four times.
In 1901,Dagu emplacement was demolishedaccording to Xinchou treaty. Today,only the remains of"wei" rampart and "hai" rampart are still visible abovethe earth surface. The structures of the other rampartscould no longer be seen. On January 13,1988,the DaguEmplacement was listed as one of the national culturalrelics by the State Council. A series of maintenance hasbeen done on the Wei Emplacement since then.