Fort Saint Nicolas, Marseille, France

Fort Saint Nicolas is on the left when facing the Old Port of Marseille. Fort Saint Nicolas is a military building used not so much to protect the city from invasions, but above all to protect itself from the people of Marseille and their independent and rebellious spirit. It faces Fort Saint Jean, located on the other side of the Old Port. He is a witness of Marseille's history.

Thus, in 1660, following a series of political unrest followed by revolts, Louis XIV ordered the deployment of troops and the construction of a citadel 'at the place in the city that would be considered the cleanest', i. e. to allow the surveillance of the city but also its defence against an attack coming from the sea.

The current location was therefore chosen, behind the Saint-Victor Abbey. On March 2, 1660, the construction site was launched during the King's visit. Given the size of the project and the nature of the building, the construction was completed in record time, in only 4 years.During the French Revolution, the crowd, suspicious of the threat, both physical and symbolic, that Fort Saint Nicolas could represent, began to destroy it. But the Assemblée Nationale, anxious to preserve a structure for the defence of the city, ordered to stop the demolition of the fortress and began its restoration. In 1860, Fort Saint Nicolas was cut in half by the route of the new Boulevard Charles Livon.

Today, the fortress is still in two parts, the portion bordering the sea has been named Fort Ganteaume and houses the military circle and the officers' mess. The part on the land side, the high fort, is called Fort d'Entrecasteaux. Only part of the complex is open to the public and can be visited. The opportunity to climb up the ramparts of this Monument de Marseille and admire the superb view they offer of the port and the city of Marseille. The complex has been classified as a Historic Monument since 1969.

Castles and fortifications in France

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress was built as the backbone of the regional fortification system, Festung Koblenz, by Prussia between 1817 and 1832 and guarded the middle Rhine region, an area that had been invaded by French troops repeatedly before. The fortress was never attacked.

Early fortifications at the site can be dated back to about 1000 BC. At about AD 1000 Ehrenbert erected a castle. The Archbishops of Trier expanded it with a supporting castle Burg Helferstein and guarded the Holy Tunic in it from 1657 to 1794. Successive Archbishops used the castle's strategic importance to barter between contending powers; thus in 1672 at the outset of war between France and Germany the Archbishop refused requests both from the envoys of Louis XIV and from Brandenburg's Ambassador, Christoph Caspar von Blumenthal, to permit the passage of troops across the Rhine.

Navaneeth Tejasvi (3 years ago)
A place not to miss in Marseille, this is one of the the biggest Fort in Marseille

Noyon Ahmed (3 years ago)
Temporary close Right now but nice place outside

Klára Nováková (3 years ago)
Closed right now but nice view from there

Filippo Cesare Ferrara (5 years ago)
Good view of Marseille old harbor and "bonne mère" but the reforming of the whole structure is far to be completed. This site might only be opened during the "journées du patrimoine"

Raimonds Levics (7 years ago)
When you reach the top of It,its very beautiful wiev,only you can't go in because it's on going construction work's going on at the moment but it's nice there anyways

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Ehrenbreitstein Fortress