Fortifications of Vauban

The Fortifications of Vauban are twelve groups of fortified buildings that form a defensive ring around France. They were constructed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), military engineer of King Louis XIV and influential far beyond the French borders. The remaining sites include both fortifications and various kinds of military buildings.

The 12 sites selected to be part of the World Heritage are:
- Arras: citadel
- Besançon: citadel, city walls and Fort Griffon
- Blaye-Cussac-Fort-Médoc: citadel of Blaye, city walls, Fort Paté and Fort Médoc
- Briançon: city walls, Redoute des Salettes, Fort des Trois-Têtes, Fort du Randouillet, ouvrage de la communication Y and the Asfeld Bridge
- Camaret-sur-Mer: Tour dorée (lit. "Golden Tower") aka. Tour Vauban
- Longwy: ville neuve
- Mont-Dauphin: place forte
- Mont-Louis: citadel and city walls
- Neuf-Brisach: ville neuve/Breisach (Germany): gateway of the Rhine
- Saint-Martin-de-Ré: city walls and citadel
- Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue/Tatihou: watchtowers
- Villefranche-de-Conflent: city walls, Fort Libéria and Cova Bastera

Two sites initially nominated by France were removed from the final list:
- Bazoches, Nièvre: château
- Belle-Île-en-Mer, Morbihan: citadel and walls surrounding Le Palais

Year	Decision	Comments
2008	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription

Visit May 2009

Longwy is situated at a strategic location near the French borders with Belgium and Luxemburg. And that's exactly why Vauban was put to work on it. Longwy is one of the four 'new towns' among the Vauban sites on the World Heritage List. After annexation of this region (Lorraine) by France in 1679, a new town for military purposes was built from scratch.

The town consists of an upper and a lower part. This region has been hit hard in the past by the closure of its steel industry, and it doesn't look to have recovered too well from that yet. Especially the lower town is quite gloomy.
The 18th century Vauban fortifications are in Longwy-Haut. It's a small town, and I could easily park my car at its central square. That's where you'll find two of the landmark sights: the Saint-Dagobert Church and one of the five wells designed by Vauban. The wells were hidden under little bulletproof buildings with a conical roof. They were to supply the military and the civilians with fresh water during a siege. And sieges there were many here, until the town was severely damaged in 1914 during WWI.

Leaving the town center via the pretty Porte de France, it's possible to walk along 50% of the fortified walls (the other half was destroyed). It's a fine half hour walk on a sunny day. The ramparts are two layers thick and have many sharp edges (like points of a spear). The whole system was hexagonal in shape. It might not look extremely interesting to the casual visitor, but I suggest that you read the over 3,000 pages long nomination dossier that was supplied by France to get a real feel for the scale of Vauban's works.

More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery

Reviews

b0b dowd (UK):
Msr Vauban also remodelled the town ramparts of delightful Montreuil-sur-Mer (inlan from Le Touquet, and not now on the sea at all due to silting) and one of his earlier forts was Fort Mahon, Cap de Calais, near Ambleteuse.

The latter is a particularly gloomy though not specially large edifice, gives rise to my thought that he was not a humorous person! However, it is in good repair and easy to reach from "le Chunnel" so worth a visit in season (afternoon opening summertime only)

Date posted: March 2009

Assif Am-David (Israel):
I've been to Neuf-Brisach (Neubreisach) in Alsace a few times (on my way to nearby beautiful and touristic Colmar). It is a small town near the German border with monsterous fortifications. They are so huge and out of proporation for the small and insgnificant provincial town that they almost look rediculously bombastic. Nonethless, they are really and truly owe inspiring.

Date posted: July 2008

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