Fort Risban, Calais, France

The existence of the Fort Risban was first mentioned when it was besieged by the English in November 1346. Edward III of England's troops, finding the defences of Calais impenetrable, decided to erect a small fort to prevent any supplies reaching the town by sea, with a view to starving the inhabitants into submission. Under the English occupation the wooden tower was replaced by a stone structure, the Stone Tower, after 1400 renamed Lancaster Tower, a name often given to the fort itself.

Fort Risban was used by the English forces until 1558 when Calais was restored to France. In 1596, the fort was captured by the Spanish until May 1598 when it was returned to the French following the Treaty of Vervins. It was rebuilt in 1640. Vauban, who visited the fort some time in the 1680s, described it as 'a home for owls, and place to hold the Sabbath' rather than a fortification and let the fortress be altered. In the 19th century the Engineers Corps altered it again. The sea-fortress was dismantled in 1908 but fortified again during World War II when it served as an air raid shelter.

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Wieskirche

The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.

The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.

The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.

Avalon Kef (7 years ago)
Magnifique site historique des anciennes guerres à Calais à proximité de la mer.

laurent lenoir (7 years ago)
Magnifique vue sur le port et sur les falaises anglaises par beau temps. Fort qui remonte à son origine à la présence anglaise.

Kam Ben (7 years ago)
Cool

Matthias Hartmann (7 years ago)
its ok for a promenade but nothing spectecular. inside a football and hockey field.

Jay Turner (9 years ago)
Dangerous and full of migrants when I went.

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Wieskirche