The French military cemetery in Keelung, Taiwan, contains the remains of over seven hundred officers, NCOs and soldiers killed on the battlefield during Admiral Courbet’s expedition in 1884-1885.

The history of the Keelung cemetery is linked to the French colonial adventure in the Far East.

Starting in 1858-1859, France carried out two military expeditions in China alongside the United Kingdom. Rigault de Genouilly took Saigon in February of 1859 and set up a naval base. Five years later, the Treaty of Saigon (5 June 1862) forced the Emperor of Annam to cede the provinces of South Vietnam. Increasingly interested in trade with China, Paris decided to form an expeditionary force in 1881 to take possession of Tonkin.

The 4,000 men under General Bouet, Admiral Courbet and Commissioner of the Republic Harmand, landed in the South and imposed a French protectorate. The Emperor of Annam took refuge in the North and asked Beijing, his suzerain, to intervene.

Admiral Courbet then decided to occupy the Pescadores Islands (Penghu) and Formosa (Taiwan) to dissuade any Chinese intervention on the peninsula. At the end of the month of August 1884, French ships bombarded the port of Keelung, in the north of the island of Formosa, and landed on the coast. With its steep, mountainous topography and a modern defence system (the area was equipped with Krupp cannons), the French troops had to settle for blockading the island after bombarding the port of Tamsui (in October), while awaiting reinforcements that arrived in January 1885. On 7 February, Admiral Courbet gave the order to attack the forts in Keelung.

Eight hundred French soldiers of the Foreign Legion took up the fight. The Chinese were nonetheless determined to hold firm: 30,000 men were stationed in the north of Formosa in March and the fortifications were constantly strengthened. The expeditionary force made slow, hard progress. Some one hundred men fell to take “Fort Bamboo”. Tropical fevers and cholera sidelined others. Admiral Courbet, needing a quick victory, changed his plans.

On 31 March, the French fleet gathered before the Pescadores Islands and bombarded their forts; the Chinese surrendered on 1 April – the blockade of Formosa was lifted a few weeks later.

On 9 June, 1885, the Treaty of Tientsin confirmed the French protectorate over Annam and put an end to the French occupation of the Pescadores. Nearly seven hundred soldiers had died during this expedition, 60% of them from illness.

Between June and July 1885, the French Corps of Engineers united their bodies at two military cemeteries at Keelung (Formosa – Taiwan) and Magong (Pescadores – Penghu). In 1890, the crew of the “L'Inconstant” erected a commemorative monument at Keelung that was placed under the protection of the Chinese authorities. In 1897, while Formosa was under Chinese domination, France signed an agreement for maintaining the graves with the island’s general government. The cemetery, initially located at the seaside, was moved by the Japanese in 1903, causing the destruction of 196 of the 200 steles at the site. In 1909, Keelung cemetery welcomed the remains of soldiers buried in northern Taiwan. The land chosen covers 0.1630 hectares (0.4 acres) at Tchong Pan Teou, in the Zhongzheng district of Keelung. In 1929, the French Embassy in Tokyo accepted to take charge and handle maintenance for the cemeteries in Keelung and Magong.

The end of the Japanese occupation of Formosa at the end of WWII left many graves abandoned. The soldiers’ bodies, the steles at the cemetery in Magong, and the ashes of Navy Infantry Lieutenant Louis Jehenne and of Marie Joseph Louis Dert, Deputy Navy Commissioner, were transferred on the “Pimodan” to Keelung cemetery in 1954.

The monument to the memory of Courbet, built on Mount Shetou in the bay of Fengkuei facing the port of Magong, was moved – the Admiral’s remains were brought back to France. A new commemorative monument, erected by the local authorities, was inaugurated on 27 March 1954. The following 5 August, the French and Chinese authorities agreed on a 90-year lease for the land occupied by the cemeteries in Keelung and the commemorative stele in Magong.

The site was managed by the French representative at the embassy until 1993. The general secretariat at the French Institute of Taiwan took over, with financial assistance from the Ministry of Defence. In 1997, a French ministerial decision led to an agreement to place the management and maintenance of the cemetery in the hands of the municipality of Keelung. On the Pescadores Islands, the city of Magong renovated the Mount Shetou site, adding various Dutch, Japanese and French commemorative monuments. It classified the cemetery a historical monument in 2001.

A commemorative ceremony is held each year on 11 November.

French Institute of Taipei

10F, 205 Tun Hwa N. Road Taipei 105

Tel.: (886-2)3518-5151

Fax: (886-2)3518-5193

www.fi-taipei.org

e-mail (general secretariat): iftaipei@netscape.net

Located in the commune of Nice, the Bellanda Tower guards over the Baie des Anges, in the south of the castle grounds.

A medieval defensive structure built on the site of an ancient acropolis, in 1825 it was converted into a belvedere. Berlioz is said to have composed his “King Lear” overture there in 1831.

Until 2006, the tower housed the naval museum, which is currently closed.

Bellanda Tower gallery

Colline du Château

Tél: 33 (0) 497 13 23 95

Open 10 am to 6 pm, except Sundays and some bank holidays. Free admission.

Nice Tourist Office

Quiz: Forts and citadels

It was responsible , thanks to the weaponry it contained (155 mm and 120 mm artillery pieces - 220 mm mortars) for preventing any enemy from crossing the heights of Chassieu or St-Priest and advancing towards Lyon, or setting up their own canons, which would then have been able to bomb the town. Trapezoid in shape, which is a characteristic of polygonal fortifications, the length of its perimeter was protected by a dry moat, which prevented the central structure from being surrounded by an infantry attack. Its buildings were covered with a mass of earth in order to absorb the effects of projectiles (an anti-impact layer). In the event of war, its garrison was increased to 841 artillery and infantrymen. More than 1500 m² of stores of various kinds housed provisions and munitions, food supplies, fuel and equipment etc.

History: Advances in artillery quite rapidly rendered this type of fortification obsolete and unsuitable. Nevertheless, the deterrent factor of any fortress could never be totally removed. It remained partly armed up until 1914. After 1920, it had only a logistical role for the nearby air base. It would be occupied by German troops in 1942, and finally given to the urban community of Lyon (la communauté urbaine de Lyon or COURLY) in 1975, to be used as a support building for the enormous water reservoirs. The town of Bron uses it for storing council equipment, for which the COURLY has granted a long lease in return for a modest rent.
The Association of the fort de Bron, created in 1982, brings together all the people and associations who want to contribute to the development, improvement and running of the place. Its administrative committee, with two permanent elected officers from the BRON district, defines the work that needs to be done and participates in the research work on future projects carried out by the council. A sports track and circular walk have been created. A long-term programme is planned for the renovation and conservation of the Fort: access to most of the moats, making some of the rooms in the Fort available for public use and the temporary opening of part of the interior for cultural, community and theatrical events.
The association is particularly keen to promote the historical heritage of this example of military architecture from the end of the 19th century. On the first Sunday of every month it organises free guided tours of the Fort and its museum, from 1.30 to 4.30 pm in winter and 2 to 5 pm in summer. It also organises occasional tours for associations and schools (requests to be addressed to the cultural department of the mairie).
It takes part in Heritage days and holds an artwork exhibition on the first Saturday and Sunday in October. The Fort de Bron belongs to the fortified defence system set up around Lyon after the war of 1870, at the instigation of General Séré de Rivières, who was responsible for fortifications on a national level. One room in the Fort bears his name. A museum is in the process of being established, with new documents and photographs from the period, as well as a visual display showing the different parts of the fort.
Fort de Bron Avenue Maréchal de Tassigny 69500 Bron Association du fort de Bron Bt 74 Maison des sociétés square Grimma 69500 Bron Tel: + 33 (0)6 60 65 25 23 E-mail: chaandre@numericable.fr

The tower was built close to Notre Dame de Rocamadour chapel, at the end of the breakwater which protects Camaret port, at the entrance to the Crozon peninsular. It was part of a complex strategy designed to defend Brest harbour from enemy invasions and pirates.

The tower was built between 1693 and 1696 under the supervision of the engineer Jean-Pierre Traverse. It has four floors (basement, ground floor and two upper floors) and is 18m high to the roof.

The basement, with trap door access, was used to store food and powder.

A spiral staircase leads to the upper floors which housed the guard room and accommodation.

The hexagonal tower features arrow slits for defensive purposes. Acute angles of attack mean that projectiles could be deflected. It is also known as the Tour Dorée (Golden Tower) because the base is finished with a coating made from crushed bricks.

The tower is flanked by a low, semi-circular battery with wide embrasures for eleven canons and a defensive guard room. A second guardroom was later built on the site of the shot furnace. A beam drawbridge provided access to the site and the footbridge to the tower.

In June 1694 the tower, as yet unfinished, suffered its first attack, from the Anglo-Dutch Augsbourg League, whose aim was to take control of Brest Harbour. The tower was armed with just nine canons and three mortars, but the effectiveness of its defensive system was clear immediately. The 1,500 coalition men who had landed on Trez Rouz beach in front of Camaret were routed in a few short hours, suffering heavy losses.

Tourist office
15, quai Kléber BP 16 29570 Camaret-sur-Mer
Tel.: +33.(0)2.98.27.87.22

Open high season (01-07 to 31-08) from 10am to 12 noon and 2pm to 6pm every day.
Low season (April - September): 2pm to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday

Entrance
Adults: €3
Reduced rate (students, job seekers, people on income support, etc.): €2
Free entry for children under 12 (except groups)

Vauban association

Major Vauban sites network

Comtois, rends-toi ! Nenni ma foi ! (Comtois surrender! Never, by my faith!) This motto is the pride of the people of Franche-Comté. People here never surrender to the enemy. For a long time, the enemy was the King of France.

Franche-Comté enjoyed a certain degree of freedom as part of the Holy Roman Empire to the east of the Kingdom of France. This was enough to whet the appetite of Louis XI, Henri IV, Louis XIII and, lastly, Louis XIV.

With the help of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, the Sun King was able to bring it into his realm. Franche-Comté became French. The enemy did not disappear, he just changed nationalities. So Vauban got down to work, making the province an impregnable land.

In 1675, Louis XIV entrusted his brilliant military engineer, promoted to the rank of Marshal of France and Commissioner General of Fortifications, with the task of fortifying the principal strategic points in Franche-Comté. After Belfort, Besançon, Joux and Salins-les-Bains, he worked on three structures defending Salins, a Jura town nestled away in a steephead valley (geographical term designating a steep, narrow valley in a limestone plateau in the Jura) and economic heart of Franche-Comté due to the presence of salt mines, the precious “white gold”. While there are few if any remains of his interventions at Fort Belin and the Bracon redoubt, Fort Saint André has preserved his indelible mark.

All the constructions that Vauban had built starting in 1678 at the site of a small fortress from the first half of the 17^th century are there:

• the forward structure whose mission is to defend the entrance to the fort;

• the monumental gate bearing the Sun King’s motto: “Nec pluribus impar” (not unequal to many);

• the crenellated bastions with the wall-walk at the top;

• two 65-metre long barracks where forty fully equipped holiday accommodations are now housed;

• the powder magazine topped with an elegant ribbed vault and a lava tile roof, which is now a friendly pub;

• the governor’s house, which is awaiting renovation;

• the vast chapel topped with a roof lantern, which has long been abandoned;

• the central courtyard with pleasant squares of lawn;

• the holiday and conference environment that now fills the site.

From 1682 to the middle of the 19^th century, this fortress served as a State prison. The men and women involved in the famous “Affair of the Poisons” that brought down Madame de Montespan were followed by prisoners locked up by the different regimes by “lettres de cachet” at the request of their families or for political, military or common law reasons, whether former nobles, defrocked priests, suspicious citizens, sans-culottes, Swiss or Spaniards.

Salins-les-Bains Fortifications

Office de Tourisme

39110 Salins-les-Bains

Tél. +33 (0)3 84 73 01 34

Fort Saint-André

Village Vauban 39110 Salins-les-Bains

Tél. +330(3) 84 73 16 61

Fort Saint André

The collection of relief maps bears witness to more than two centuries of military siege history, from its creation in 1668, under Louis XIV, until the last quarter of the 19th Century when the fortified bastions were abandoned. The Museum of Relief Maps exhibits, at the Invalides in Paris and at the fine arts museum in Lille, an unrivalled collection of a hundred historical models of the forts or fortified towns that were spread along the former French borders. The practice of making relief maps and models of fortified towns for strategic purposes was the result of an initiative by Louvois. In 1668 the minister of Louis XIV was responsible for creating a collection that would continue to grow richer for more than two centuries. The king's engineers thus created relief maps not only of French places situated on the borders of the kingdom, but also foreign towns captured from the enemy. Apart from their military interest, they were valued as prestige objects, testament to the power of the monarchy and the kingdom, as well as being commemorative pieces illustrating important battles and great sieges. Their production only ended towards 1870, with the disappearance of bastion fortifications.

Used in military training, the collection of relief maps now represents an exceptional source of information for the history of the architecture, town planning and changes to the countryside. The models were created with great attention to detail, under the supervision of military engineers and with help from a large amount of written and graphic documentation. The collection, comprising 111 models, mostly on a scale of 1/600 (26 models, 21 other objects and 64 relief maps), first kept at the Tuileries, was transferred to the Louvre in 1700 and then in 1770 to the Hôtel des Invalides. Because of its eminent historical interest, it was classified as a historic monument in 1927. Today it is kept by the museum of relief maps (at the Hôtel des Invalides), created in 1943, where about a hundred models of French and foreign towns are displayed. Sixteen relief maps have been sent on loan to the museum of Fine Arts in Lille.
Hôtel national des Invalides 6 bd Invalides 75007 PARIS Tel.: 01 45 51 92 45 Email: pedagogie.relief maps@culture.gouv.fr Opening times 10 am until 6 pm from Monday to Sunday Unguided tours Full rate: 7.5 € Reduced rate: 5.5 € Conferences Group rate (over 25 people): 120 €

Le musée franco-américain du château de Blérancourt, unique musée consacré à des relations entre deux pays, et plus spécifiquement à la France et aux Etats-Unis d’Amérique, est situé à 120 km au nord de Paris et à 15 km de la gare de Noyon.

Construit en 1612 sur les plans du célèbre architecte Salomon de Brosse, le Château de Blérancourt fut la demeure de la riche famille des Potiers de Gesvres, avant démantelement pendant la Révolution. En ruines à la fin du19ème siècle, il est confié en 1917 par l’Armée française à Anne Morgan, fille du fameux banquier et collectionneur américain John-Pierpont Morgan. A la tête d’une association d’aide aux populations des régions sinistrées par la guerre, le Comité pour les Régions Dévastées, elle poursuit jusqu’en 1924 son action humanitaire et participe à la reconstruction de la région Picardie grâce aux missions suivantes : service d’infirmières-visiteuses, ravitaillement, aide à la lecture publique, foyers et jardins d’enfants, scoutisme, sports et fêtes. Grâce à,un parc automobile de Ford-T, les volontaires peuvent ainsi desservir 130 villages à partir de 5 centres établis à Blérancourt, Coucy-le-château, Anizy, Vic-sur-Aisne et Soissons. Au plus près des populations sinistrées, elles participent activement à une reconstruction morale et sociale et apportent la joie de vivre dans une région détruite à 90 % lors du conflit mondial.

Au lendemain de la guerre, Anne Morgan rachète le château (1919), fait restaurer en 1924 les deux pavillons d'angle pour y installer le musée de la coopération franco-américaine, puis en 1930 l'aile nord du Château, suivie par l'aile sud en 1938.

A l’origine dédié à la participation française à la guerre d’Indépendance et surtout à l’aide américaine durant la Première Guerre mondiale, le projet culturel du musée s’est ensuite étendu aux relations artistiques franco-américaines, présentées dans le pavillon Gould construit en 1989 par les architectes Yves Lion et Alan Lewitt.

Le musée fait actuellement l’objet d’un chantier de complète rénovation afin d’augmenter la surface d’exposition et de valoriser les vestiges archéologiques majeurs (maison-forte médiévale) découverts pendant les fouilles réalisées avant travaux.

Réouverture du musée franco-américain de Blérancourt après complète rénovation, automne 2017.

Visites et ateliers pédagogiques :

https://museefrancoamericain.fr/activites-pedagogiques

• Centre de documentation et contact(s)

Bibliothèque franco-américaine : La bibliothèque franco-américaine est consacrée aux relations entre la France et les États-Unis. Située dans le cadre exceptionnel d'un pavillon du XVIIe siècle, elle comprend plus de 6 000 ouvrages.

• Ouverte aux lecteurs sur simple demande écrite.
• Service pédagogique et contact(s)

Catherine Assous Tél : 03 23 39 14 72 mail : catherine.assous@culture.gouv.fr

• Visite gratuite : Uniquement lors des événements nationaux

https://www.coordonnees-gps.fr/communes/blerancourt/2093

Sources : ©Musée franco-américain du Château de Blérancourt

Ajaccio, which is set at the top of a gulf, has been inhabited since Ancient times. From the 12th century onwards, the Genoese, wishing to establish a base of operations to support Calvi and Bonifacio in defending them against the threat from the Barbary Coast, built a fortification on the site, named Castel Lombardo.

Unfit for habitation, the position was abandoned three centuries later in 1492-1493 in favour of Capo di Bollo at Leccia Point. Cristoforo de Gandino, Francesco Sforza's military architect, was appointed by the Company of St. George to carry out the work for this site and at Calvi. Genoese and Ligurian families including the Bonapartes then set up a populating colony.

At that time, the town was structured around a fan formation of three roads: the Strada del Domo, the Strada San Carlo and the Strada Dritta, to plans drawn by the architect Pietro da Mortara. The citadel, which was built at the same time, was initially made up of a keep or citadel (castello) and a low curtain wall. In 1502-1503, the defensive features were enhanced with a ditch dug in rock around the citadel, accessible via a drawbridge, and strong walls around the settlement.

The town, which fell under French control between 1553 and 1559 was modified and extended, taking on its current hexagonal shape, the corners of which were reinforced with bastions. The Cateau-Cambrésis treaty returned the town to the Republic of Genoa, which commissioned the engineer Jacopo Frattini to fortify the seafront. He had a bastion built there, separated from the town by a ditch. During the 18th century, Corsica struggled in vain to escape foreign domination; in 1729, 1739 and 1763 the islanders attempted to take control of Ajaccio but it was placed directly under French control when the Genoese sold the island to France in 1768.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in this town, and biographers tell that the ramparts and the citadel fuelled his games and dreams before featuring in his military and political career.

Used as a prison during the Second World War, Ajaccio Citadel was to be the last destination of the heroic Resistance fighter Fred Scamaroni. Scamaroni, who created the Gaullist Corsican Action R2 network in 1941, was mandated by General de Gaulle in January 1943 to try to bring unity to the Resistance movement. Betrayed by his radio operator, he was arrested by the OVRA (Italian counter-espionage) during the night of 18-19 March 1943. He chose to cut his throat with a piece of wire, leaving a last message written in his own blood: "Long live France and long live de Gaulle".

The citadel belonged to the Ministry of Defence until it was passed over to the city of Ajaccio in 2005.

Ajaccio city tourist office

3, Bd du Roi Jérôme BP 21 20000 Ajaccio

Tel: +33 (0)4 95 51 53 03

Fax: +33 (0)4 95 51 53 01

The project for a tower 300 metres tall was instigated during preparations for the World Exhibition of 1889. The two principal engineers from the Eiffel company, Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, had the idea in June 1884 for a very tall tower, designed like a large pylon consisting of four lattice-work girders, outspread at the base and coming together at the top, linked together by metal girders placed at regular intervals. On the 18th September 1884 Gustave Eiffel was granted a licence "new authorisation for the construction of metal structures and pylons over 300 metres tall". The curvature of the uprights was determined mathematically in order to provide the best possible resistance to the effects of wind. Erection of the supports began on the 1st July 1887, to be completed twenty-one months later. All the components were prepared at the factory in Levallois-Perret in the Paris suburbs, the head office of the Eiffel company: between 150 and 300 workers were involved in its assembly. The Tower was erected with the aid of wooden scaffolds and small steam driven cranes attached to the Tower itself. The assembly of the first level was carried out using twelve temporary wooden scaffolds 30 metres high and then four large 45 metre scaffolds. Started in January 1887, the project was completed on 31st March 1889. Gustave Eiffel was decorated with the Legion of Honour on the platform at the top.

A showcase for French industrial dynamism at the 1889 World Exhibition, the Tower would see more than two million visitors pass by during the event. Gustave Eiffel saved his work from demolition by promoting research into radio transmissions and suggesting that his tower could be used as an enormous radio mast. After the first radio signals were broadcast by Eugène Ducretet towards the Panthéon in 1898, Eiffel approached the military authorities in 1901 with a view to making the Tower into a long-distance radio antenna. In 1903 a radio connection was made with the military bases around Paris, and then a year later with the East of France. A permanent radio station was installed in the Tower in 1906, thus ensuring its continuing survival. During the Great War, the Tower provided many services by listening to enemy transmissions, which gave it the nickname "the big ear". It is thanks to the Tower that Joffre would be informed of the advance of von Klück's troops and decide to requisition all the taxis in Paris to send soldiers to the Marne. It was responsible, amongst other things, for the arrest of Mata Hari because, once again, the Eiffel Tower had kept an ear out and deciphered the spy's messages. In 1921 the first public radio broadcast in Europe would be transmitted from its aerials. The first television trials from the Tower date from 1925 and the first regular broadcasts from 1935. In May 1940, before the German troops arrived, a handful of patriots carried out acts of sabotage on the Tower, successfully enough to ensure that the lift did not work when Hitler came. A strategic place for commanding the city of Paris, the Tower was closed to the public between 1940 and 1945; it would not reopen until June 1946. Radio broadcasts were made from the centre at Allouis under the control of the occupying authorities, who took control of Radio-Paris. The top of the tower has been modified over the course of the years in order to accommodate ever more antennae. Today it accommodates several dozen antennae of all kinds, including a television mast that is 324 metres tall.

The Citadel of Blaye is one of the finest examples of 17th century military architecture. Started in 1652 by Pagan, it was extended, strengthened and completed by Vauban between 1685 and 1689. Designed to protect the port of Bordeaux, this complex seals off the Gironde at Blaye. On the right bank, it consists of a citadel comprising three successive fronts with orilloned bastions, a demi-lune and covered walkway, all of which are typical of Vauban's second system. On the Gironde side, a wall and batteries overlook a cliff that overhangs the river at a height of 45 metres. However, the range of artillery at the time was not capable of totally preventing ships from passing. Vauban therefore designed two other forts which allowed artillery cross-fire and the control of the Gironde.

On the left bank, the engineer Ferry built Fort Médoc, which was trapezoid in shape and had a very fine entrance gate. In the middle of the river, on a sand bank, he built a solid, low, round tower, Fort Paté, crowned with a parapet with embrasures and a gun terrace. The unstable nature of the ground made it necessary to set the tower on a double grill of wood, submerged for a year in the wet ground. Despite subsidence of 2 metres in 1707, the fort, which was consolidated in the 18th century, has remained intact.
The Citadel is still partly inhabited. Access is either on foot via the Porte Dauphine, or by car via the Porte Royale. Inside, there is the Museum of History and Art of the Blaye area. There is also the château des Rudel, a medieval triangular château where the troubadour Geoffroy Rudel, the lover of the "distant Princess" Melisande of Tripoli, was born. On the platform of the Tour des Rondes, an observatory offers a view across the town and over the Gironde estuary. From the Aiguillette Tower, you can also see the Gironde and all the little islands in it. Also worth seeing are the Place d'Armes where there is the Minimes Convent and the Pavillon de la Place, in which the Duchess of Berry was detained. A real little town within a town, the Citadel is on the list of Historic Monuments and today plays host to more than 200,000 visitors a year.
Tourist Information Office of the canton of Blaye Les allées marines 33390 Blaye Telephone: +33 (0) 5 57 42 12 09 fax: + 33 (0) 5 57 42 91 94 Mail: info@tourisme-blaye.com Opening and closing times The citadel is open every day all year round, with groups by appointment. Charges : Free entry