Fort de Loyasse
Fort de Loyasse Fort Blandan | |
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Lyon | |
North Angle of fort de Loyasse | |
Type | Fort |
Site history | |
Built | 1840 |
The Fort Loyasse is a fort built between 1836 and 1840. It is currently in the 9th district of Lyon and is part of the first belt of forts protecting Lyon.
The fort is a sister fort to Fort de Caluire (now destroyed), Fort Duchère (now destroyed) and Fort Saint-Jean.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Lyon_Quai_Arloing_et_Fort_de_Loyasse.jpg/220px-Lyon_Quai_Arloing_et_Fort_de_Loyasse.jpg)
Built in 1836-1840 as a result of the July Revolution and fears of an invasion of France by Austria, the fort of Loyasse is intended to protect the city from invaders from the east. This fort and that of Vaise are located on the former walled area of the Py.
After the invention in 1858 of rifled bore, which replaced Smooth-bore, and which extended the reach of projectiles to 2,500m, and then melinite replacing gunpowder in 1885, which increased the blast of explosions, the forts of the Loyasse generation become obsolete.
The fort was used in World War I as housing for prisoners of war; for the Second World War it was occupied by the Germans. The fort was completely decommissioned by the military on October 15, 1947. Lyon acquired the land of the fort in 1949 from the fort auction for 1,200 000 francs and it served as a roads department's warehouse, a Glacis, and to arrange family gardens. The fort's underground temporarily served as a mushroom farm.
A barracks of the fort was destroyed in the 1960s to expand climb to the suburb of l'Observance ; some trenches allowed the construction of the boulevard linking the new district of Observance to Vaise in 1961.
Architecture
Unlike many other forts of the first belt, Loyasse is designed as a mountain fort : the Glacis around the fort are very inclined.
The fort consisted of two superimposed platforms along the slope:
- on the lower part, the working face is composed of three bastions ;
- on the upper part, there are two bastions cavalier ;
- in between were two barracks, shops, wells, latrines and Store powder .
The functional range of smooth bore guns of Loyasse was 1,200m.
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Entrance to the fort
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The caserne for horses
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Interior view of the gunpowder magazine
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Year of Completion plaque
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A staircase with ramps for mounting artillery
Altimetry
In the lower right part of the entrance of the Fort Saint-Irénée there is engraved the number 380 preceded by a horizontal line placed one meter above the ground, it was thought to be the altitude in feet which had for a reference a rule located on the quay of the Saône, near the Bonaparte bridge.[1]
The mode of calculation is difficult to understand as the number engraved on the entrance of Fort Loyasse (389) is more high than that of Fort Saint-Irénée (which has a plaque indicating 280m) to Loyasse's altitude of (271 m). A study by the ASSIL (SITES ASSOCIATION Loyasse) shows that the registered number is not in feet, but it is rather a negative altitude relative to the highest point of the area, calculated at 660m, corresponding perhaps to Fort Mont Verdun placed at 625m.
To back this up, other measures were taken by the members of this association with structures with an inscription of this type; the addition of engraved altitudes and identified through the IGN, either by the presence of a plate or from a plane always shows 660 m.
Name of fort | Inscription | Altitude IGN | Inscription + Altitude IGN |
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Fort de la Vitriolerie | 493 m | 167,125 m | 660 m |
Fort de Vaise | 450 m | 210 m | 660 m |
Fort de Loyasse | 389 m | 271 m | 660 m |
Fort Saint-Irénée | 380 m | 280,173 m | 660 m |
Lunette du Fossoyeur | 379 m | 281 m | 660 m |
Media
The novel Le crime de Loyasse de Bernard Domeyne[2] starts with the fictional story of a body discovered in the fort.
A scene of the film Lucie Aubrac (1997) by Claude Berri has been linked to the fort de Loyasse.[3]
References
- ^ Bourrust, Bernard (March 2004), Association Culturelle des Sanctuaires de Saint-Irénée et Saint-Just (ed.), Le site du fort Saint-Irénée de Lyon: à travers les âges (in French), Lyon, p. 29, ISSN 1266-8303
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Domeyne, Bernard (14 October 2010), APARIS (ed.), Le crime de Loyasse: une enquête de Addamah & Manset (in French), Saint-Denis, ISBN 2812137436
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Lucie Aubrac". Retrieved 14 February 2012.
Bibliography
- Dallemagne, François (2006), Éditions Lyonnaises d'Art et d'Histoire (ed.), Les défenses de Lyon: enceintes et fortifications (in French), Georges Fessy(photographer), Lyon, p. 109, ISBN 2-84147-177-2
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Template:Plume - Jacquemet, Dominique; Lanneau, Jean-Paul; Douai, S.; Richard, J-P (2010), CIL Vaise (ed.), Au Bois de la Claire: spécial Fort de Loyasse (in French), Jean-Paul Lanneau(photographer), Lyon, ISSN 1281-2684
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Template:Plume