Fortifications of Vauban
Encyclopedia
Fortifications of Vauban consists of 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the western, northern and eastern borders of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. They were designed by Vauban
Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...

 (1633–1707), and were added in 2008 to the list of UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

s.

Numerous other places were fortified by Vauban (see main article
Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...

 for details).

List of sites

  • Arras
    Arras
    Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...

    , Pas-de-Calais: citadel
    Citadel
    A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....

  • Besançon
    Besançon
    Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...

    , Doubs
    Doubs
    Doubs is a department the Franche-Comté region of eastern France named after the Doubs River.-History:As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the northern two-thirds of Doubs spoke the Franc-Comtois language, a dialect of Langue d'Oïl. Residents of the southern third of Doubs spoke a dialect...

    : citadel
    Citadel of Besançon
    The Citadel of Besançon in Franche-Comté, France, is one of the military architect Vauban's masterpieces. The Citadel occupies eleven hectares on Mount Saint-Etienne, one of the seven hills that protect Besançon, the capital of Franche-Comté...

    , city walls and Fort Griffon
  • Blaye
    Blaye
    Blaye is a commune and subprefecture in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:Its inhabitants are called Blayais or the Blayaises.-Geography:...

    -Cussac-Fort-Médoc
    Cussac-Fort-Médoc
    Cussac-Fort-Médoc is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.Fort Médoc in Cussac-Fort-Médoc, together with several buildings in nearby Blaye, was listed in 2008 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the "Fortifications of Vauban"...

    , Gironde
    Gironde
    For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...

    : citadel of Blaye, city walls, Fort Paté and Fort Médoc
  • Briançon
    Briançon
    Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....

    , Hautes-Alpes
    Hautes-Alpes
    Hautes-Alpes is a department in southeastern France named after the Alps mountain range.- History :Hautes-Alpes is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

    : city walls, Redoute des Salettes, Fort des Trois-Têtes, Fort du Randouillet
    Fort du Randouillet
    The Fort du Randouillet, is a fortification in the vicinity of Briançon in the Dauphiné region of southeastern France. Briançon was surveyed by Vauban in 1700. His master plan for the defenses of the city would result in one of the most heavily fortified locales in France over the next forty years...

    , ouvrage de la communication Y and the Asfeld Bridge
  • Camaret-sur-Mer
    Camaret-sur-Mer
    Camaret-sur-Mer is a commune in the Finistère department in northwestern France, located at the end of Crozon peninsula.-Sights:Camaret-sur-Mer is home to the Tour Vauban or Tour dorée , a historic fortification guarding the harbor and built in 1669-94...

    , Finistère
    Finistère
    Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...

    : Tour dorée (lit. "Golden Tower") aka. Tour Vauban
    Tour Vauban
    The Tour Vauban , initially known as the tour de Camaret, is an 18m-high polygonal defensive tower built to a plan by Vauban on the Sillon at Camaret-sur-Mer, as part of the fortifications of the goulet de Brest...

  • Longwy
    Longwy
    Longwy is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.The inhabitants are known as Longoviciens.-Economy:Longwy has historically been an industrial center of the Lorraine iron mining district. The town is known for its artistic glazed pottery.-History:Longwy initially...

    , Meurthe-et-Moselle
    Meurthe-et-Moselle
    Meurthe-et-Moselle is a department in the Lorraine region of France, named after the Meurthe and Moselle rivers.- History :Meurthe-et-Moselle was created in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War from the parts of the former departments of Moselle and Meurthe which remained French...

    : ville neuve
  • Mont-Dauphin
    Mont-Dauphin
    Mont-Dauphin is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France.At the confluence of Durance and Guil rivers, overlooking the impressive canyon of the latter flowing down from Queyras valley, Mont-Dauphin is one of the many places fortified by Vauban in the second half of the 17th...

    , Hautes-Alpes
    Hautes-Alpes
    Hautes-Alpes is a department in southeastern France named after the Alps mountain range.- History :Hautes-Alpes is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

    : place forte
  • Mont-Louis
    Mont-Louis
    Mont-Louis is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.In 2008, the citadel and the city walls of Mont-Louis were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as part of the "Fortifications of Vauban" group....

    , Pyrénées-Orientales
    Pyrénées-Orientales
    Pyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :...

    : citadel and city walls
  • Neuf-Brisach
    Neuf-Brisach
    Neuf-Brisach is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.The town's name means New Breisach, referring to the German town Breisach, located on the other side of the Rhine....

    , Haut-Rhin
    Haut-Rhin
    Haut-Rhin is a département of the Alsace region of France, named after the Rhine river. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departements of Alsace, although is still densely populated compared to the rest of France.-Subdivisions:The department...

    : ville neuve/Breisach
    Breisach
    Breisach is a town with approximately 16,500 inhabitants, situated along the Rhine in the Rhine Valley, in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about halfway between Freiburg and Colmar — 20 kilometres away from each — and about 60 kilometres north of Basel near the...

     (Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

    ): gateway of the Rhine
  • Saint-Martin-de-Ré
    Saint-Martin-de-Ré
    Saint-Martin-de-Ré is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France.It is one of the 10 communes located on the Île de Ré.-History:Saint-Martin-de-Ré has extensive fortifications, reflecting the strategic importance of the Île de Ré...

    , Charente-Maritime
    Charente-Maritime
    Charente-Maritime is a department on the west coast of France named after the Charente River.- History :Previously a part of Saintonge, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

    : city walls and citadel
  • Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue
    Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue
    Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-Geography:Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is situated in the Manche département, in the Basse-Normandie région. It is in the Quettehou canton, of the Cherbourg arrondissement. The town had a population of 2,097...

    /Tatihou
    Tatihou
    Tatihou is an island of Normandy in France with an area of 290,000 square metres. It is located to the east of the Cotentin peninsula just off the coast near Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. It is almost uninhabited, and is usually reached by amphibious boat although, being a tidal island, it is also...

    , Manche
    Manche
    Manche is a French department in Normandy named after La Manche , which is the French name for the English Channel.- History :Manche is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

    : watchtowers
  • Villefranche-de-Conflent
    Villefranche-de-Conflent
    Villefranche-de-Conflent is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in south of France.-The Capital of Conflent:The original town dates from 1098 and is fortified because of its strategic position in lands that changed hands between French and Spanish occupation.* 1374, Villefranche...

    , Pyrénées-Orientales
    Pyrénées-Orientales
    Pyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :...

    : city walls, Fort Libéria and Cova Bastera


Two sites initially considered were removed from the final list:
  • Bazoches
    Bazoches
    Bazoches is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Notable people:* The Marquis de Vauban, Marshal of France and famous military engineer, bought the château de Bazoches in 1675.-References:* -Notes:...

    , Nièvre
    Nièvre
    Nièvre is a department in the centre of France named after the Nièvre River.-History:Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

    : château
  • Belle-Île-en-Mer, Morbihan
    Morbihan
    Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan , the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.-History:...

    : citadel and walls surrounding Le Palais
    Le Palais
    Le Palais is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in northwestern France.It is one of the four communes on the island Belle Île.-References:* * -External links:* *...


External links

  • http://www.sites-vauban.org/
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