Fort Carré
- See Stade du Fort Carré for the sports stadium.
| Fort Carré | |
|---|---|
| Antibes, France | |
 Fort Carré viewed from the south |
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| Type | Fort |
| Coordinates | 43°34′51″N 7°07′26″E / 43.580834°N 7.123889°ECoordinates: 43°34′51″N 7°07′26″E / 43.580834°N 7.123889°E |
| Built | 1553 |
| Current owner |
Museum |
| Open to the public |
Special occasions |
| Controlled by | France |
 Vauban's architectural design |
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Fort Carré is a 16th-century fort on the outskirts of Antibes, France. During the 17th century, the fort was redeveloped by the Marquis de Vauban.
[edit] History
Fortifications at Antibes were probably first built by the Romans. In 1553, a tower called la tour Saint-Florent was built around a preexisting chapel. Henry III had four bastions added in 1565, whereupon it became Fort Carré (the squared fort). In the 1680's, Vauban strengthened Fort Carré, adding traverses to protect against ricochet fire and exchanging the stone parapets, which were liable to scatter deadly splinters when hit by shot, for brick ones.[1]
Vauban also enlarged the embrasures and added outer walls to the fortification. After Vauban's work, the fort was designed to take eighteen cannon. The entrance to the fort is through a triangular work that protrudes from the walls, which is loopholed and pierced by a heavy wooden door. From here, there is a narrow bridge that leads into the fort itself via the flank of one of the arrow headed bastions. Inside, there are barrack buildings for officers and men as well as the ancient chapel, which has been preserved through the successive stages of military development of the site.[1]
In addition to improving the defences of Fort Carré, Vauban fortified Antibes itself, adding a land front of four arrow-headed bastions around the town, as well as seaward fortifications, including a bastion on the breakwater closing the harbor.[1]
During the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte was briefly imprisoned here. In July 1794, after the violent overthrow of Robespierre, General Bonaparte was detained as a Jacobin sympathizer and held in Fort Carré for ten days. His release was secured by his friend and political ally, Antoine Christophe Saliceti.[2]
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Harbor view
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Metropolitan view
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Courtyard, east side
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Southern point
[edit] In popular culture
Fort Carré was used as an Arab Fort in the making of the James Bond film, Never Say Never Again.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Fort Carré, Antibes". Fortified Places. 2011. http://www.fortified-places.com/carre.html. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ Conner, Susan (30 March 2004). The Age of Napoleon. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publ. Group. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-313-32014-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=WPkgXITA09EC&pg=PA12. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ Reeves, Tony (2001). The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations. Chicago: A Cappella. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-55652-432-5.
