Fort de Socoa in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a fine example of the combination of medieval military architecture and the Vauban-style system of fortifications. The border with the empire of Charles Quint became a concern for the kings of France from the 16th century onwards. The Basque region, a natural route towards Spain, was visited by several engineers. Henri IV wanted to build a fortress to protect Saint-Jean-de-Luz and the surrounding towns from Spanish invasion. However, a conflict of interests between the communities delayed the project, which was finally carried out by Louis XIII. In 1636, the Spanish invaded the coast, carried out building work and renamed the citadel "Fort de Castille". As a result of military reversals, the region returned to French sovereignty. The fort was finished and took the name Socoa. In 1686, Vauban, on an inspection visit in the Pyrenees, visited the Basque Country. He then suggested strengthening the Fort de Socoa by using the ruins left by the Spanish following the Thirty Years War. The engineer planned to construct a security jetty to improve access to the fort.

Construction work, which began shortly afterwards, lasted until 1698. It was managed by Fleury. As far as alterations were concerned, the tower was raised in height to two floors, which he crowned with parapets and a machicolation. The site also had a barracks and a chapel. The main enclosure, which was subsequently altered, would take on its present form under the Regency (1723). Besieged once more by the Spanish in 1793, the fort was occupied by British troops in 1814 who used it as a sort of defensive support for the bay, a place for supplying the men stationed inland. Once peace was restored, Fort de Socoa was repaired between 1816 and 1817.
Municipal Tourist Information Place Royale Telephone: +33 (0) 5 59 27 27 08 Fax: + 33 (0) 5 59 27 03 21 e-mail:omt@ville-pau.fr

Short history of the construction In February 1806, Napoleon I orders the construction of the Arc de Triomphe, in order to commemorate the victories of his armies. Finally the emperor decides to built it in Place de l'Etoile. The first stone of the monument is placed on August 15th 1806. The plans of this construction are those of the architect CHALGRIN. In 1870, in occasion to Napoleon's wedding with the archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he will built a trompe-oeuil of wood and painted material. Finished in time for the ceremony, the decoration gives an idea of what the monument will be once completed. CHALGRIN dies in 1810. He is replaced by Louis-Robert GOUST. At the end of the year 1813, the Arc reaches 19 meters height. The events of 1814 questions everything. Under the "Restoration", the works doze. Louis Philippe, who became king in 1830, decides to give life to this project again. The works start again and the Arc de Triomphe, dedicated to the Armies of the Revolution and to the Empire will be completed by the architect Guillaume - Abel BLOUET. The monument will be inaugurated on July 29th 1836.

The Monument The proportion of the Arc de Triomphe are enormous : it measures 49 meters height and exceeds 45 meters width. The arch of the two frontages reaches 20,50 meters of height for a width of 14,50 meters. The transversal frontages are pierced of an arch of 19 meters height on a width of 8,50 meters. The big frieze surrounding the four façades represents the great personalities of the Revolution and the Empire, or furthermore the return of the armies from Italy and Egypt.
The most imposing ornament is without any doubt the one formed by the four colossal groups erected on each pier of the two great façades : - Avenue de Champs Elysées : the Departure of the volunteers (left), still called La Marseillaise, of François RUDE and on the Triumph of the emperor (left) sculpted by Jean-Pierre CORTOT - Avenue de la Grande Armée, the two sculptured alto-rilievo represent the Resistance on the right, and the Peace on the left. On the interior surfaces of the big and small arches, the names of the generals and the great battles of the Revolution and the Empire are engraved. On the ground, near the grave of the unknown soldier, several bronze plaques commemorate important events of the contemporary history : the proclamation of the Republic on September 4th 1870, the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France on November 11th 1918 the call to arms on June 18th 1940. It also evocates the memory to the fighters and the resistant fighters of the Second World war, as well as the memory of "the dead for France" in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.
Climbing up the Arc de Triomphe Climbing up the Arc de Triomphe means climbing up 284 steps (an elevator gives access to handicapped persons), but it also means to have access to different museum halls and to the terrace. The big hall of the museum, situated under the terrace, exhibits a vast number of documents : engravings, drawings, photographs, models and various original parts of projects (for example the elephant), the construction and the decoration of the Arch, as well as great events, for example the return of Napoleon's I ashes (the 15th of December 1840),Victor HUGO's dead guard (May 29th 1885), the march of the Victory (on July 14th 1919), the arrival of the unknown soldier (January 28th 1921), the homage to General de Gaulle on the grave of the unknown soldier in a released capital (August 26th 1944). The terrace allows/gives a splendid view of Paris, the Champs Elysées, the Louvre, the Eiffel tower, the Dome des Invalides, and westwards the Arche de la Défense.
The Unknown Soldier The armistice, which puts an end to the First World war, is signed on November 11th 1918 in Rethondes (near Compiègne in Oise). Nevertheless the joy of the victory is plunged into mourning of 1 500 000 victims, for the majority very young. Soon in the small villages as well as in the big cities, monuments in memory of all the dead will be raised and in companies, in high schools and colleges commemorative plaques are carried out. On November 20th 1916, whereas the terrible Verdun battle is in the mind of everyone, F SIMON, President of the French Memory, has the idea to honour a soldier in the Panthéon, who like many others fought and died bravely for his fatherland. The project is finally adopted by the deputies on November 12th 1919. One year after, at the beginning of the month of November, the Parliament decides that the remainders of one of the unidentified soldiers, died during the war on the Field of Honour, will be buried under the Arc de Triomphe. Eight bodies of unidentified French soldiers, chosen among the different front sectors, are then transported in the Verdun citadel. November 10th 1920 at 3 p.m. the soldier Auguste THIN, son of a fighter, who died himself in the war, indicates by depositing a bunch of flowers on one of the coffins which will be carried to Paris. On November 1920, in the morning, after a ceremony at the Panthéon, the coffin is deposited in one of the halls of the Arc de Triomphe, arranged in a chapel of rest. On January 28th 1921, the coffin of the Unknown Soldier is buried in the centre of the principal arch, facing the Champs Elysées.
The Symbol of the flame Following the suggestion made early in 1921 by sculptor Gregory Calvet, then in October 1923 by the writer Gabriel BOISSY, the sacred flame under the Arc de Triomphe was lit for the first time November 11, 1923 to 18 hours by Andre Maginot, minister of war, while troops of the 5th RI presented arms as the band played Chopin's Funeral March." Since that date the flame was never extinct. Every evening at 6:30 p.m. the flame is revived by the representatives of the Association of Veterans or associations, whose good citizenship is recognized (such as the Red Cross). This ceremonial never stopped, not even during the occupation between 1940 and 1944. Obviously the Parisian high-school pupil and student, turn toward the flame and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, during the processions defying the occupant. The Flame under the Arc de Triomphe evokes also for some people the Flame of the Resistance, of which a certain Charles de Gaulle once used to talk. Nowadays, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Flame of Memory symbolize for all the French, but also for the tourists of the entire world, the sacrifice of all those who died on the battlefield. The Flame of Memory also symbolizes the tribute paid to those who gave their lifes, to make us live in a free country. Lastly, since the tragic days of the occupation, the symbol of the flame found an additional vocation, the one of hope in the future and faith in the destiny of our country.
The ceremony of the revival Since November 11th 1923, each evening at 6:30 p.m. the flame is revived by the representatives of the Association, following a planning established by the Committee of the Flame. A precise ceremonial takes place. Each day, at least two members of the Committee, are appointed to accommodate the Associations and organise the ceremony. The associations meet either at the crossroad Champs Elysées/ Balsac, or at the top of the Champs Elysées, or directly at the Arc the Triomphe, when the participants are not too many. They are then taken under the Arc de Triomphe. At the top, the flower carriers lead the procession, followed by flag holders and the members of the association. They reach their final destination by taking the principal alley of the Champs Elysées. The participants take position on both sides of the Holy Flagstone and the flag holders take place in a circle on the west side of the flagstone. Before the ceremony the Commissioner and the Service Guard set up the flag of "the Flame", the bugle and the drum of the Republican Guard. Lastly the Commissioner of the flame and the different Presidents of the Associations join the Flagstone, they ascent the alley accompanied by the the call "The Flame". he delegations are then invited to lay their wreath, then while placing themselves near the flame, the Commissioner gives the sword to the president, who is invited to make the gesture of the revival. The call "To the Deaths" resounds, the flags are inclined, followed by a minute of silence. When a military melody (or other) is played, the call "to the Death" is followed by the refrain of the Marseillaise. The president is accompanied by the authorities and together they sign the Golden Book, then of a fraternal gesture they greet the flag holders, the Commissioners of the Flame, the members of the Associations and the guests aligned along the Flagstone. Everybody unite at the foot of the tomb and the musicians play the anthem "Honour of the Unknown Soldier". Then they are accompanied by the Commissioner in service, whereas the music plays "the Flame". This ritual is the same even when the General, President of "the Flame under the Arc de Triomphe" is present. The delegations are then invited to sign the Golden Book.
Arc de Triomphe Place de l'étoile 75008 Paris Acces Métro Charles de Gaulle-Etoile (1, 2, 6) RER A Charles de Gaulle-Etoile

In the far south of the Pyrénées Orientales region, the Côte Vermeille (‘Vermilion Coast’) hugs the Mediterranean sea and is sheltered by the Albera Massif to the west. Nestled in the bottom of a cove along this rocky coastline, the village of Collioure is rich in historic monuments that mix together religious art and military architecture.

In addition to its royal palace built between the 13th and 18th centuries, and its 17th century church known for its phallic bell tower, Collioure is overlooked by Fort Saint-Elme, south of the port. Fort Saint Elme, like the fort in Salses, was erected between 1538 and 1552 by King Charles V to protect the Spanish Kingdom (Castile and Aragon) and help fight the French in Italy and lead the war up to the north of France and Burgundy. Importantly Charles V was the great grandson of Charles the Bold (Duke of Burgundy), a Burgundian prince who was desperate to take back Dijon (Duchy of Burgundy) occupied by Louis XI in 1477. To fight in the north, it was important to be protected in the south.

Saint Elme (St. Elmo in English) is the patron saint of sailors and the fort does actually resemble a ship protecting Collioure and Port-Vendres.

Its star shape also prefigured the architectural style of Vauban. In the mid-16th century, Charles V built a fortified redoubt around the medieval keep, not that this offered any resistance to Vicomte de Turenne. Often called simply Turenne, he captured the fort in 1642 after a siege that lasted several weeks and allowed the defenders to leave with “all arms and flags flying”, in other words with the honours of war. After Collioure was annexed to France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, Vauban came to inspect the region’s defence system and decided to reinforce the fortifications by building barrack buildings protected by moats.

Fort Saint-Elme was further modernised in the late 18^th century with the addition of a water tank and a network of underground tunnels to protect the inhabitants from artillery fire. Invaded by the Spanish in December 1793, the fort was soon after besieged by French troops led by General Dugommier.

Situated on a crest overlooking the fort, a battery, converted into a redoubt in 1844, is a still-standing testament to this siege that ended in May 1794 following the victory of the French, who reclaimed Collioure and its fortifications.

Fort Saint-Elme was a private property from 1913 and requisitioned in 1942 by the occupying troops before it was pillaged in 1944 when they decamped. Entered in the inventory of historic monuments in 1927, the fort is now open to the public.

Collioure Tourist Information Office

Place du 18 juin 66190 Collioure

Tel: +33 (0)4 68 82 15 47

Fax: +33 (0)4 68 82 46 29

Email: contact@collioure.com

Getting there: 30 km (19 miles) from Perpignan via the N114.

Collioure Tourist Information Office

Fort Saint Elme

Constructed in a month and a half on eighty hectares of land on the heath land of Gurs, the internment camp originally had about four hundred huts and was enclosed by a double barbed wire fence.

Spanish Refugees The "reception centre" was considered by the authorities of the Third Republic to be operational from April 1939. Several thousand Spanish refugees, mostly soldiers from the Spanish Republican Army and volunteers from the international Brigades, were sent there. The buildings, which were supposed to be temporary, were quickly inundated with mud and the poor living conditions claimed numerous victims.
The "undesirables" From May 1940 onwards, the Vichy regime sent refugees arrested in the towns of Paris and Bordeaux, French political activists and Basque political refugees, to be interned at the Gurs camp. The Jews The Statute on Jews, issued on the 3rd October 1940 led to their large-scale internment from the autumn of 1940. Natives of France, Germany's Baden province or central Europe, for many of them Gurs was the last stop before the Nazi extermination camps: indeed, between August 1942 and March 1943, six convoys took several thousand internees from Gurs to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. After the Liberation, the camp was used as a place of detention for collaborators and German prisoners. Closed on the 31st December 1945, the site was radically altered from 1946 onwards, with the sale and destruction of the huts, followed by the planting of a forest in an attempt to forget the history of a camp that had been run from start to finish by the French authorities.
The national memorial In 1994 the national memorial of the internment camp at Gurs was inaugurated. The Israeli artist Dani Karavan designed it as a journey of reflection in three parts on internment in the Vichy camps. - At the end of the camp's central thoroughfare, the frame of a hut reminds visitors of the harsh living conditions of the internees - more than sixty people were crammed into each of these cramped buildings.
- a 180-metre long railway track stretches from this hut to symbolise the ultimate journey to the death camps, the final destination of many Gurs internees.
- At the entrance to the camp, the rails end abruptly at a concrete slab with barbed wire around it, representing the Nazi concentration and extermination camps.
The camp cemetery There are more than a thousand graves of those internees who died at the Gurs camp between 1939 and 1943. Restored in 1962 by the towns and the Hebrew Consistory of the Baden province, it has two steles: one paying tribute to the Spanish and the Brigadista, and the other dedicated to the memory of the Jews, most of whom were expelled by the Nazis from the Baden province in October 1940 before the decision on the final solution.
The camp's central thoroughfare and adjacent paths The camp road links the former camp entrance on the route de Mauléon with the cemetery and stretches about two kilometres, parallel to the D 936. On each side of this central thoroughfare, old paths, paved by the internees with shingle from the mountain streams of the Oloron, can still be seen. In the middle of the trees and shrubbery that now cover the site, visitors can also see some memorial structures that were created in 2002 by sixth-form classes from a business college specialising in careers in the building trade. Modelled on the camp's former wooden huts, several "virtual huts" have been constructed using cords to remind us that the forest there today must not try to hide the camp of yesterday.
The Gurs camp association Tour Carrère 25 avenue du Loup 64000 PAU Email administrator: abauzit99@orange.fr Tours The camp and its memorial are permanently open. Entry is unrestricted and free of charge. Access 90 km from Bayonne via Peyrehoarde and Escos on the A 64/E 80 (exit no. 6 - Peyrehoarde) and then the D 936. 45 km from Pau via Tarsacq, Noguères, and Mourenx, on the D 2, the D 33, the D 281, the D 111, the D 947 and then the D 936. 65 km from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the D 933 towards Sauveterre-de-Béarn, then the D 936. 6 km from Navarrenx on the D 947 and then the D 936.

Only some 350 m of the medieval walls on either side of the Vautourneux Gate remain, comprising earthen ramparts doubled with a ring of towers and curtain walls that protected Condé until the middle of the 17th century. On one side, at the two ends of the earthen rampart wall, Archers Tower and Plovière Tower overlook the Nervien ditches. On the other side, the less impressive wall was defended by the Capucins Tower, rebuilt in 1623 and equipped with cannon firing ports strangely placed at ground level. Further on, the Touquet bartizan is set in an inside corner. We should also mention the so-called "Arsenal" fort and the Hotel de Bailleul, dating from the 15th century, with 4 turrets.

La fortification bastionnée remonte à l'époque des Pays-Bas, des conquêtes espagnoles et la décision prise en 1654 d'ériger la cite en place forte pour faire face à Louis XIV. Les Espagnols commencent à établir une fortification bastionnée au nord puis au sud et au sud-est. En 1674, les travaux étaient terminés, bastions, courtines, fossés et glacis, tout cela en terre, il est vrai mais en 1676 les quatre principaux bastions étaient muraillés.

Après la prise de Condé par Louis XIV en 1676, des améliorations sont apportées par Vauban : construction de contre gardes, renforcement de la redoute du Jard mais surtout il s'employa à murailler ce qui ne l'était pas encore. Le canal du Jard servait en partie de fossé de fortifications, en partie de canal d'inondation.

The bastioned fortification dates from the Netherlands period, the Spanish conquests and the decision taken in 1654 to make the city a stronghold against Louis XIV. The Spaniards began with a bastioned fortification to the north, and then to the south and southeast. The work was completed in 1674, with bastions, curtain walls, moats and glacis, all in earthenwork, but in 1676 the four main bastions were walled off.

Vauban made improvements after Condé was taken by Louis XIV in 1676, building counterguards, reinforcing the Jard redoubt, but he especially worked to build walls in areas that had not yet been walled off. The Jard Canal was partially used as a fortification moat and partially as a flood canal.

Today there remain eleven hectares (27.5 acres) of fortifications including the Jard, Solre, la Teste (or Royal) and Tournai bastions with ravelins and counterguards. Under the glacis of the Tournai ravelin there are countermines dug by the Austrians in 1794. The stronghold was decommissioned in 1901 and dismantled in 1913. Walking paths have been laid out to visit the ramparts and the Tourism Office organises guided tours. The city is a member of the association for fortified cities of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.


Valenciennois Tourism Office

"Le Beffroi" 26, place Pierre Delcourt 59163 Condé sur l'Escaut

Tél : 03 27 28 89 10

Fax : 03 27 28 89 11

Courriel : otduvalenciennois@wanadoo.fr

Quizz : Forts and citadels