The Briancon Citadel In The Southern French Alps, An Ingenious Construction By Monsieur de Vauban

Some specific architectural terms used in this article:

• Curtain wall: Straight wall between two bastions. Commonly called the ramparts.

• Bastion: Projection in the enceinte made up of four walls which better enabled a garrison to defend the ground adjacent to the curtain wall.

• Ravelin: Triangular projection enabling defenders to sally forth. Access is had via hidden stairs. Typical example is seen in the ditch along the Embrun front.

• Traverse: Wall on the ravelin protecting from flanking fire.

• Counterscarp: External wall of an enceinte, the other side of a ditch.

• Banquette: Step of earth or stone within the parapet, sufficiently high to enable standing defenders to fire over the crest with ease. For example along the Embrun front.

• Redan: Firing post with two walls at salient angle facing the enemy and an open rear.

The Briançon citadel

You can’t help but notice The Briançon citadel. Looking at its walls, secret passages will appear and you imagine battle strategies. But to fully grasp the ingenious construction and the skill that went into building it you will need a guide for whom curtain walls, watchtowers and ravelins are every-day words.

It is with lsabelle, cura­tor of the heritage site, that we will learn more about the citadel and its ingenious designer Mon­sieur de Vauban. She is an expert on Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban. A true enthusiast, she speaks of him with enormous admiration, as one might speak of a respected relative or close friend. “The Briançon citadel conies from a long line of forts whose archi­tecture has developed over the centuries into this very effi­cient system of bastion fortifi­cation”, the curator explains.

Weapon revolutions and jolts of History determine the laws of warfare architecture War experts have always designed protection in concor­dance with what weapons they are confronted with. Until the Middle Ages, they would build high walls to stand against archers, battering rams and cat­apults. Metal was introduced around 1480 and made warfare a new game. The Middle Age walls were no longer strong enough. Italian engineers found the solution by inventing the bastion system at the start of the 16th century. Out went round towers and instead five-sided buildings became popular as they eliminated all dead angles. These bastions dominated European architecture for many long years. De Vauban adopted this inven­tion, bettered it and developed it to perfection. When he came to Briançon in the service of Louis XIV, he was already an experienced architect.

In the summer of 1692 Savoyard troops allied with the Augsburg League invaded France via the Vars mountain pass. Several towns were taken and pillaged. The Duke of Savoy’s efforts were stopped by smallpox, but it made Louis XIV well aware of the vulnerability of this Alpine border. He immediately sent his best engineer out. Vauban came to Briançon in the autumn of 1962. When he saw Briançon it was already a citadel, but of a sim­ple mediaeval design.

The city architect Hue de Langrune had already drawn up plans for a new bastion escarpment. The ramparts were his idea, not Vauban’s, these walls were made out of simple brickwork and with no ditch. They were criticised by Vauban. Vauban took over. He described the setting as follows: “At the meeting point of the three main valleys, there are mountains that reach the clouds and val­leys that descend into the abyss. Hence, this place is difficult both to attack and to defend.” He wrote his report in two days and suggested crucial changes to this strategic town. He split the defence into two fronts:

• the North front and
• the Embrun front.

Due to the steep gradient of the Embrun front the bastions are not very salient and their flanks too narrow to spread the artillery efficiently. “The high parapet made cannon balls fall nearly vertically. Vauban thus lined the ramparts with banquettes all along this front”, says Isabelle giving a new perspective on this clever war­fare set-up.

Once on the Champ-de-Mars, we are against the North front. It stretches from the redans by the Pignerol gate, the entrance nearest Italy, to the collegiate church bastion. From this entrance we see the wide ditch Vauban had dug along the escarpment, in the middle there is a ravelin. Look closely and this triangular pro­jection will be obvious. It also has a traverse, protecting the soldiers from enemy fire. Going through the Pignerol gate, we notice that this is also built on a Ravelin, banquette, curtain wall. It has an unusual irregular trapezoidal shape to keep it covered by Langrune’s redans. Without Isabelle’s explanations we would have missed the trian­gular shape of this ravelin. What we thought to be an unexplained quirk becomes a testimony to Vauban’s ability to adapt to the terrain.

On our left, past the building which used to host the officer and his men, there is a small wood and stone aqueduct run­ning along the two redans that disappears in the scarp wall. This ancient canal taking water from the Guisane for the open gutters was deemed to vulnerable by Vauban and replaced with a well inside the walls. You can still distinguish its location in the middle of the Place d’Armes. The projects from 1692 and 1700 were carried out only after his death.

The Gargouille Old Town of Briançon

To enter the Gargouille Old Town you have to cross a sec­ond bridge (once a drawbridge) and the Pignerol gate. Its thick wooden doors are covered in nails for reinforcement and under the arch we warily dis­cover the wooden portcullis, peacefully lifted up for now. The town’s layout has not changed much since Vauban’s era and it is pleasant to lose oneself in the throng of steep little lanes. The ramparts offer clear views over the sur­rounding valleys and the defensive system conceived by Vauban.

To ensure the town’s protection, Vauban added fortifica­tions on the nearest peaks. From the Champs-de-Mars you can spot the Salette fort on the road to Italy. It is well maintained and worth a visit. A new reversal in history brought Vauban back that time. Louis XIV managed to persuade the Duke of Savoy to leave the Augsburg League in exchange for the French Fort Pignerol. This, in effect, brought Briançon closer to the border and called for further protection.

The Trois Têtes fort and vertiginous Asfeld bridge were added as projects during Vauban’s twelve-day visit in 1700. Due to non-existent funds, only the work already started was to be continued. The kingdom had been bled dry financially by its King’s con­stant war efforts. The building of the Asfeld Bridge, the Têtes and Salette strongholds was to be postponed until after the Marshal’s death. “Marshal Berwick finished the Salette in 1712, whereas the Têtes fort and the Asfeld Bridge were fin­ished by the Marquis Asfeld, general director of fortifica­tions, in 1730 and 1732 respec­tively. But whether by Vauban or just in Vauban style they have still contributed to giv­ing Briançon a unique identi­ty,” she concludes. The Marshal did in effect change Briançon from a market town to a warfare town.

This article was written by Jane Richardson, who has written many articles about travel, European history, skiing and snowboarding.
She enjoys winter sports holidays in Serre Chevalier, a ski resort in The French Alps.

In the summer Jane enjoys traveling, mostly in Europe, having a great adoration for England, France, Spain and Italy.

Jane is a niche marketer, specializing in areas such as travel insurance for the elderly (UK) and providing holidays in Serre Chevalier. Her internet marketing strategies include web 2.0, article marketing and traditional search engine optimization.

Although based in Santa Monica, California USA, Jane works extensively with Rick Lomas in France and Steve Pritchard in England. Together the three form Indexicon which is evolving all the time.

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