Bastille (Grenoble)
Encyclopedia
The Bastille is the name of a fortress culminating at 476 m (ft) above sea level, at the south end of the Chartreuse mountain
range, overlooking the city of Grenoble
, France
. The Bastille, which also gives its name to the hill, is the main tourist site of the Grenoble area with 600 000 visitors per year .
The plateau of the main fortifications is situated 264 metres above a singularly flat valley floor which is glacial in origin. It was the melting of the Isère glacier approximately years ago that led to the formation of a vast lake stretching from Voiron
to Albertville
, and which remained for approximately years. It is the alluvial deposits from this lake that created the perfectly flat valley floors that are in evidence today.
The location of the fort was chosen because it facilitated the surveillance and control of the city of Grenoble from the 19th century as well as the valleys of the Isère and the Drac, all the while being difficult to attack and overthrow because of the cliffs and steep ground by which it is surrounded.
in 1538 and by Charles IX
in 1566, but these were not acted upon.
He did not become a duke until 1611., head of the Huguenot
s in the Dauphiné
, took control of the city of Grenoble which had been until then under Catholic control. This took place during the eighth and last War of Religion
. With an army of men gathered at Moirans
, he marched towards Grenoble passing through Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux
and then over a spur of Mount Rachais called the Rabot, there avoiding a fortified strongholdThis fortified house dating from the 15th century is thought to be the earliest fortification built on the hill..
There was a single canon positioned on the slopes of Mount Rachais because this rocky spur was thought to be enough of a natural barrier to deter the advance of hostile forces. In spite of a permanent state of alert and 24 watch points in the city it fell to Lesdiguières after more than three weeks under siege.
In 1591 having become governor of Grenoble he immediately ordered the construction of two new defensive elements for the city. First, a small fortified citadel around the Tour de l'Isle (a square tower built on the banks of the Isère, which today stands next to the Museum of Grenoble
) so as to have a safe place to withdraw to in case the city should be attacked. Second, a fortress on the summit of the hill so that no enemy could approach the city from the Chartreuse without being challenged. This fortress, or bastille, which would give its name to the hill, was completed the following year in 1592. Comprising a tower and a series of small bastion
s, and with a building to lodge the troops, it was encircled by a wall approximately 1.3 metres thick around an area 68 metres long and 50 metres wide.
At the same time as these works were taking place the Roman city wall, 13 centuries old and ill adapted to withstand the artillery of the time, was removed. New defensive walls were built, equipped with six bastions and two half-bastions capable of resisting artillery assault. They encompassed the suburbs that had grown up around the original Roman city walls, thereby increasing the surface area of the city by 21 hectaresThe city therefore now had a surface area of 36 hectares. and were finished in December 1606.
In the first few years Lesdiguières used the Piedmont architect Ercole Negro, then from 1611 the royal engineer Jean de Beins. In 1611, after a pause in the works, construction began on the fortifications descending from either side of the Bastille towards two new monumental gates situated at points on the banks of the Isère approximately 1 km apart.
The Porte Saint Laurent upstream on the Savoy side of Grenoble was finished in 1615, and the Porte de France downstream was finished in 1620. For the first time a road cut in the rocks along the banks of the Isère meant that it was no longer necessary to cross the rocky spur by the Montée de Chalemont to get from one gate to the other. These monumental gates still exist today, but as for the fortifications there remain only the vestiges of three bartizan
sTwo were reused in the fortifications of the 19th century on the hill and the other can be seen near the Musée de Grenoble. and a staircase in the form of a tower in the Jardin des Dauphins. These works on the two branches of fortifications were completed in July 1619.
, during his first inspection of the fortifications of the Alps in September 1692, alerted the king Louis XIV
as to the weaknesses of the defences of Grenoble. In his report he described them as weak, unfinished, poorly maintained, especially those of the Bastille, which he said were badly cut, or rather a closed bauble, but without rhyme or reason, occupied by a vintner who is the governor, or at least who has the keys, with twelve cows, eight goats, a mare and a donkey for the whole garrison!.
However, his program of improvements to the fortifications of the Bastille would be ignored, as was his project for the enlargement of the city walls to the south that he proposed during a second visit during July 1700. Only a few terraces and two powder magazines were built. Only one powder magazine remains today, behind the Hôtel de Police. It is the only evidence of the passage of Vauban in Grenoble.
During the 18th century, the absence of any threat from the frontier of the Alps lead to the lack of interest in the military for Grenoble, and the fortifications were no longer maintained.
In addition, extensive flooding of Isere in September 1733 and December 1741 monopolize the minds on how to implement to overcome these disasters. Many projects developed by engineers and surveyors between 1741 to 1787 plan to divert waters of the river south of the city as an insurmountable obstacle, but lack of resources, these projects yet approved by the board of Bridges and Roads, are permanently abandoned in 1790.
in 1814 and that of Paris
the following year put Grenoble back on the frontier opposite the Kingdom of Sardinia
. Louis XVIII
therefore decided in 1815 to reinforce his military presence on the borders. The following year he charged general Haxo
with the task of improving the fortifications of Grenoble that had become outdated and dilapidated.
After several rough drafts of the plans of the fortress, and much to-ing and fro-ing between Grenoble and the Fortifications Committee in Paris during 1822 and 1823, the definitive plans for the fort of the Bastille that we can visit today were adopted by the committee in its meeting of the 29th of August 1823. The first works on the site of the new fortress and its new fortifications began on the 16th of April 1824. The chief of the battalion of Engineers on site was Commander Tournadre
On the slopes which alternated between rocky points, cliffs and scree, the use of contour maps allowed the precise calculation of position and height. The quarries of the Porte de France below supplied most of the stones which were transported up the hill by mule.
On the western side of the hill above the Porte de FranceClassed as a historic monument on the 18th of September 1925., general Haxo followed the line of the 17th century walls and turned them into much larger walls flanked by casemates and bastions. At the top was the keep, or the fort, rebuilt after the demolition of the Bastille of Lesdiguières. Preceded by a moat, the fort is a rectilinear building composed of three floors of casemates in dressed stone, built between 1825 and 1830. Immediately adjacent to it a barracks was built between 1827 and 1838This seems to be a long time but the information comes from a plaque on the wall of the restaurant which states that a plan was presented in 1827. to lodge 100 men, officers and NCOs
.A detailed report on the capacities and the purposes of the various barracks on the Place de Grenoble show that in 1865 the barracks of the keep contained 3 officers and 98 NCOs. A century later this building became the restaurant. In 1836 a powder magazine was built below the barracks. In spite of the roof having caved in, it is still visible today from the Vauban Viewpoint (the restaurant terrace).
Still on the western flank, lower down, there is the more modest fort of the Rabot with its citadelNamed after a dynasty of dauphinois parliamentarians of the 15th and 16th centuries who were owners of the land., situated within the defensive walls. Built between 1840 and 1847 close to the old Rabot stronghold of the 15th centuryThat which Lesdiguières was careful to avoid on the approach to Grenoble. First fortification of the hill, it is still present and intact among the university buildings., some fifty metres above the city, its role was to lodge up to 900 troops and their officers together with their artillery and a powder magazine far from the likely battlefront. Access is controlled by a monumental gate with a drawbridge
. Since 1970 it has belonged to the university and is used as student residences.
On the eastern flank, the Porte Saint LaurentClassed as a historic monument on the 16th April 1931. side of the hill, general Haxo decided on a much more direct route for the walls than the line used by Lesdiguières. Rising above the Porte Saint Laurent are some five terraces of casemates. Then comes the first shorter section of wall linking the Porte Saint Laurent with two floors of mid-level casemates, and a second longer section of wall leads directly from there to the lower casemates of the Bastille. Running alongside each of these two walls is a staircase, with some 80 steps on the lower section and 300 on the upper section. Approximately every ten steps there is a landing, and from there five larger steps lead off at right angles up to the inner side of the wall where there are individual firing positions. With four firing positions between each of the landings this gives 36 positions on the lower section and 120 positions on the upper section.
Finally, to facilitate access and communications from one side of the fort to the other, a curtain wall
was built on the upper third of the hill. Some 500 metres long and more or less horizontal it links the two sides with bastions along the way.
At the same time as these construction works were beginning on the hill above the right bank of the Isère, the new mayor of Grenoble Jean-François Pina informed the minister of war of his desire to enlarge the city walls on the left bank of the river where the larger part of the city lay. But Tournadre, the head of the Engineers on site opposed the plan because his allocated budget for the work on the hill was not able to stretch to the enlargement of the rest of the city.
However, the imbalance between the modern and powerful fortress on the hill and the relatively fragile old-fashioned city walls was too great to last very long. Successive mayors Vincent Rivier and Hugues Berriat were successful in obtaining new defences and a roughly rectangular addition of 50 hectares to the south of the city between 1832 and 1836.This enlargement allowed the creation of Avenue Lesdiguières arriving at the huge Place d'Armes, named Place de la Constitution in 1870 and the Place de Verdun in 1919.
The works on the fort and its defences were finished on the 27th of February 1847, having taken 23 years.By coincidence, the works on the defences lasted 23 years in the 17th century, if one counts a 5 year suspension, the same as in the 19th century.
A small garrison was maintained in the fort until 1940. Since 1970 the entire fort has been the property of the city of Grenoble.
and by ditches. The moat of the keep is defended by two half-bastions from which fire can be directed across each access point of the moat.
In 1844, to complete the defences, a system of linked caverns was excavated in the cliffs of Mount Jalla in front of the fort. A track not visible from the glacis and then an underground passage allowed troops to move between these caverns and the drawbridge at the entrance to the fort. These cavern batteries were large enough to house a munitions dump, so that troops were able to fire on attacking forces from the rear. Assailants would therefore find themselves trapped between fire from opposite directions. It is worth noting that these caverns are known locally as the Mandrin
Caves, an obvious anachronism as the dauphinois bandit died some 90 years before their construction.
Another general principle of the fort's defences is to have as many sites as possible from which to fire on the wooded slopes outside the walls. Numerous vaulted casemate
s supply artillery positions, and above are found benches for riflemen. Casemates designed by Haxo were built, open at the rear to allow the evacuation of the smoke produced by gunpowder
.
Originally the Bastille was designed to defend Grenoble against attacks by Savoyards, the frontier being close by as Savoy
was not yet part of France at the time the construction was finished. The frontier moved to its current position with the annexation of Savoy by France in 1860 and the threat disappeared. In addition the invention of the modern canon (with rifled barrel and with shells replacing cannon balls ensuring far greater destructive power) rendered the fortress obsolete.
The defence systems of the Bastille as well as the later ramparts constructed around the city have never been called into service.
paid hommage to the site.
The Bastille is visited by some people each year, approximately half of whom take the cable car from the city centre. The rest of the visitors go by car up the steep and narrow road from La Tronche
, or on foot by one of the numerous signposted paths to reach the Bastille.
In 2005 the Bastille underwent substantial works in order to make the entirety of the site accessible to persons of reduced mobility. It is the setting for numerous exhibitions and social and cultural events, while also being the destination of an annual cycle race (La Prise De La Bastille) and a via ferrata
(Les Prises De La Bastille).
There are reminders everywhere on the site of the protagonists of the fortifications of the hill. The central square of the fort is called Place Tournadre, the square above between the restaurant and the fort is Place Haxo, the terrace of the restaurant is the Belvédère Vauban (Vauban Viewpoint), and the large meeting and exhibition room of the fort is the Lesdiguières Room.
The site of the Bastille is recorded in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments. It has numerous tourist attractions, and forms part of the natural site of interest of ecology, flora and fauna of Mount Jalla. Ideally positioned fortification on 30 hectares of public land, it has spectacular views towards the Vercors
, Chartreuse
and Belledonne
mountains, and on a clear day the peak of Mont Blanc
some 113 kilometres distant can be seen.
It is one of the oldest urban cable cars in the world and runs all year round (accumulating some hours of service annually compared with for a normal cable car). It has been run since 1983 by the Régie du Téléphérique de Grenoble, a state-owned industrial and commercial business which manages the continuous upgrades required to keep the site attractive to visitors and residents.
The route takes the cars across the Isère and over the roofs of the old Saint Laurent quarter before passing over a bastion of the curtain wall
of the fort and then over the Rabot and various successive fortifications before arriving at the upper station.
In 1976 the lower station was rebuilt slightly back from the quay so that the road no longer passed through an archway, and the spherical cars ("the bubbles", 5 in summer and 4 in winter) made their first appearance.
Today more than visitors take the cable car each year to admire the city and the valleys from one of the best viewpoints in Grenoble. As of 2009, approximately 12 million people have been transported by the cable car since its opening in 1934.
Just outside the top station, the terrace of geologists greets visitors at the end of which stands a memorial stone bearing three medallions of Alpine geologists Charles Lory
, Pierre Termier and Wilfrid Kilian.
At the bottom of the hill is the Saint Laurent district, the location of the Archaeological Museum of Grenoble, and also the first burial site of the city dating from Gallo-Roman times. Close by is the Centre of Scientific, Technical and Industrial Culture (CCSTI) of Grenoble, an institution dedicated to the popular understanding of science, housed since 1979 in the casemates close to the river.
Part way up the hill is the Musée Dauphinois
, housed in the former convent of Sainte-Marie-d'en-Haut since 1968. This convent was built in 1621, and it is accessible by car from the quays, or on foot by the Montée de Chalemont, an old Roman lane in use until the 17th century.
Installed in the casemates of the fort itself, the Bastille Art Centre allows visitors to see contemporary art exhibitions, while the Museum of Mountain Troops installed in the vaulted rooms of the keep makes excellent use of the space and the ambiance of the old building.
On the way back from the glacis one can take the access road for the fort, which allows the visitor to get a better idea of the width of the moat in front of the keep and of the height of the fortress. The round trip takes around 30 minutes.
The memorial was inaugurated on the 17th June 2000, and is dedicated to the memory of the
mountain troops, known as the Blue Devils, who have fallen in combat since their creation in 1888.
The paths that traverse the Bastille form part of the local and national GR footpath
network which allows the visitor to continue their walks and hikes in the rest of the Chartreuse.
The orientation of the garden together with the dry limestone terrain create a mediterranean micro-climate which has allowed the establishment of a typically southern flora (200 mediterranean species), notably numerous Pubescent Oak, Araucaria
, Cypress
, Banana
and Olive
trees.
Visitors are welcomed to this 2 hectare garden by a mounted statue of dauphinoise heroine Philis de La Charce. They then follow the paths from terrace to terrace, passing through two tunnels and a spiral tower staircase. Above the Jardin des Dauphins, on the other side of a wooden bridge that crosses the moat of the fortifications, the Guy Pape park begins. There alone in the undergrowth but still visible from the city, one can still see the ruins of his house dating from the 15th century 45.197454°N 5.721077°W. On the cliffs overlooking this park is the upper section of the Grenoble via ferrata
"Les Prises de la Bastille", installed in 1999.
Chartreuse Mountains
The Chartreuse Mountains is a mountain range in eastern France, stretching to the north from the city of Grenoble to the Lac du Bourget. It is the southernmost range in the Jura Mountains and belongs to the French Prealps....
range, overlooking the city of Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The Bastille, which also gives its name to the hill, is the main tourist site of the Grenoble area with 600 000 visitors per year .
Geography
The fortress lies on the final promontory of mount Rachais, a narrow mountain that is the most southerly of the Chartreuse range.The plateau of the main fortifications is situated 264 metres above a singularly flat valley floor which is glacial in origin. It was the melting of the Isère glacier approximately years ago that led to the formation of a vast lake stretching from Voiron
Voiron
Voiron is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.- History :Voiron long formed part of Savoy, but in 1355 was exchanged by the count with France for Faucigny and Gex.Historical population:* 1901: 12,625- Geography :Voiron stands at a height of 950 ft., on the Morge Voiron...
to Albertville
Albertville
Albertville is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.The town is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics.-Geography:...
, and which remained for approximately years. It is the alluvial deposits from this lake that created the perfectly flat valley floors that are in evidence today.
The location of the fort was chosen because it facilitated the surveillance and control of the city of Grenoble from the 19th century as well as the valleys of the Isère and the Drac, all the while being difficult to attack and overthrow because of the cliffs and steep ground by which it is surrounded.
History
Requests to fortify this hill had been made by Francis IFrancis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
in 1538 and by Charles IX
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
in 1566, but these were not acted upon.
The Lesdiguières Era
In December 1590 LesdiguièresFrançois de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières
François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières was soldier of the French Wars of Religion and Constable of France.- Early life :He was born at Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur, to a family of notaries with pretensions to nobility...
He did not become a duke until 1611., head of the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
s in the Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
, took control of the city of Grenoble which had been until then under Catholic control. This took place during the eighth and last War of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
. With an army of men gathered at Moirans
Moirans
Moirans is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Isère department...
, he marched towards Grenoble passing through Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux
Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux
Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-References:*...
and then over a spur of Mount Rachais called the Rabot, there avoiding a fortified strongholdThis fortified house dating from the 15th century is thought to be the earliest fortification built on the hill..
There was a single canon positioned on the slopes of Mount Rachais because this rocky spur was thought to be enough of a natural barrier to deter the advance of hostile forces. In spite of a permanent state of alert and 24 watch points in the city it fell to Lesdiguières after more than three weeks under siege.
In 1591 having become governor of Grenoble he immediately ordered the construction of two new defensive elements for the city. First, a small fortified citadel around the Tour de l'Isle (a square tower built on the banks of the Isère, which today stands next to the Museum of Grenoble
Museum of Grenoble
The Museum of Grenoble is a city museum of Fine Arts and antiques in the city of Grenoble in France.Located on the left bank of the Isère, place Lavalette, it is known both for its collections of ancient art for its collections of modern and contemporary art..-History:The Museum of Grenoble was...
) so as to have a safe place to withdraw to in case the city should be attacked. Second, a fortress on the summit of the hill so that no enemy could approach the city from the Chartreuse without being challenged. This fortress, or bastille, which would give its name to the hill, was completed the following year in 1592. Comprising a tower and a series of small bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
s, and with a building to lodge the troops, it was encircled by a wall approximately 1.3 metres thick around an area 68 metres long and 50 metres wide.
At the same time as these works were taking place the Roman city wall, 13 centuries old and ill adapted to withstand the artillery of the time, was removed. New defensive walls were built, equipped with six bastions and two half-bastions capable of resisting artillery assault. They encompassed the suburbs that had grown up around the original Roman city walls, thereby increasing the surface area of the city by 21 hectaresThe city therefore now had a surface area of 36 hectares. and were finished in December 1606.
In the first few years Lesdiguières used the Piedmont architect Ercole Negro, then from 1611 the royal engineer Jean de Beins. In 1611, after a pause in the works, construction began on the fortifications descending from either side of the Bastille towards two new monumental gates situated at points on the banks of the Isère approximately 1 km apart.
The Porte Saint Laurent upstream on the Savoy side of Grenoble was finished in 1615, and the Porte de France downstream was finished in 1620. For the first time a road cut in the rocks along the banks of the Isère meant that it was no longer necessary to cross the rocky spur by the Montée de Chalemont to get from one gate to the other. These monumental gates still exist today, but as for the fortifications there remain only the vestiges of three bartizan
Bartizan
A bartizan or guerite is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of medieval fortifications from the early 14th century up to the 16th century. They protect a warder and enable him to see around him...
sTwo were reused in the fortifications of the 19th century on the hill and the other can be seen near the Musée de Grenoble. and a staircase in the form of a tower in the Jardin des Dauphins. These works on the two branches of fortifications were completed in July 1619.
The Vauban Era
A century after the construction of the bastille the military architect VaubanVauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...
, during his first inspection of the fortifications of the Alps in September 1692, alerted the king Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
as to the weaknesses of the defences of Grenoble. In his report he described them as weak, unfinished, poorly maintained, especially those of the Bastille, which he said were badly cut, or rather a closed bauble, but without rhyme or reason, occupied by a vintner who is the governor, or at least who has the keys, with twelve cows, eight goats, a mare and a donkey for the whole garrison!.
However, his program of improvements to the fortifications of the Bastille would be ignored, as was his project for the enlargement of the city walls to the south that he proposed during a second visit during July 1700. Only a few terraces and two powder magazines were built. Only one powder magazine remains today, behind the Hôtel de Police. It is the only evidence of the passage of Vauban in Grenoble.
During the 18th century, the absence of any threat from the frontier of the Alps lead to the lack of interest in the military for Grenoble, and the fortifications were no longer maintained.
In addition, extensive flooding of Isere in September 1733 and December 1741 monopolize the minds on how to implement to overcome these disasters. Many projects developed by engineers and surveyors between 1741 to 1787 plan to divert waters of the river south of the city as an insurmountable obstacle, but lack of resources, these projects yet approved by the board of Bridges and Roads, are permanently abandoned in 1790.
The Haxo Era
After the rout of Napoleon in Europe, the treaty of FontainebleauTreaty of Fontainebleau (1814)
The Treaty of Fontainebleau was an agreement established in Fontainebleau on 11 April 1814 between Napoleon Bonaparte and representatives from Austria, Hungary and Bohemia , as well as Russia and Prussia. The treaty was signed at Paris on 11 April by the plenipotentiaries of both sides, and...
in 1814 and that of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1815)
Treaty of Paris of 1815, was signed on 20 November 1815 following the defeat and second abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. In February, Napoleon had escaped from his exile on Elba; he entered Paris on 20 March, beginning the Hundred Days of his restored rule. Four days after France's defeat in the...
the following year put Grenoble back on the frontier opposite the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
. Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
therefore decided in 1815 to reinforce his military presence on the borders. The following year he charged general Haxo
François Nicolas Benoît, Baron Haxo
François Nicolas Benoît, Baron Haxo was a French Army general and military engineer.-Biography:He was born at Lunéville and entered the Engineers in 1793....
with the task of improving the fortifications of Grenoble that had become outdated and dilapidated.
After several rough drafts of the plans of the fortress, and much to-ing and fro-ing between Grenoble and the Fortifications Committee in Paris during 1822 and 1823, the definitive plans for the fort of the Bastille that we can visit today were adopted by the committee in its meeting of the 29th of August 1823. The first works on the site of the new fortress and its new fortifications began on the 16th of April 1824. The chief of the battalion of Engineers on site was Commander Tournadre
On the slopes which alternated between rocky points, cliffs and scree, the use of contour maps allowed the precise calculation of position and height. The quarries of the Porte de France below supplied most of the stones which were transported up the hill by mule.
On the western side of the hill above the Porte de FranceClassed as a historic monument on the 18th of September 1925., general Haxo followed the line of the 17th century walls and turned them into much larger walls flanked by casemates and bastions. At the top was the keep, or the fort, rebuilt after the demolition of the Bastille of Lesdiguières. Preceded by a moat, the fort is a rectilinear building composed of three floors of casemates in dressed stone, built between 1825 and 1830. Immediately adjacent to it a barracks was built between 1827 and 1838This seems to be a long time but the information comes from a plaque on the wall of the restaurant which states that a plan was presented in 1827. to lodge 100 men, officers and NCOs
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
.A detailed report on the capacities and the purposes of the various barracks on the Place de Grenoble show that in 1865 the barracks of the keep contained 3 officers and 98 NCOs. A century later this building became the restaurant. In 1836 a powder magazine was built below the barracks. In spite of the roof having caved in, it is still visible today from the Vauban Viewpoint (the restaurant terrace).
Still on the western flank, lower down, there is the more modest fort of the Rabot with its citadelNamed after a dynasty of dauphinois parliamentarians of the 15th and 16th centuries who were owners of the land., situated within the defensive walls. Built between 1840 and 1847 close to the old Rabot stronghold of the 15th centuryThat which Lesdiguières was careful to avoid on the approach to Grenoble. First fortification of the hill, it is still present and intact among the university buildings., some fifty metres above the city, its role was to lodge up to 900 troops and their officers together with their artillery and a powder magazine far from the likely battlefront. Access is controlled by a monumental gate with a drawbridge
Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
. Since 1970 it has belonged to the university and is used as student residences.
Finally, to facilitate access and communications from one side of the fort to the other, a curtain wall
Curtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...
was built on the upper third of the hill. Some 500 metres long and more or less horizontal it links the two sides with bastions along the way.
At the same time as these construction works were beginning on the hill above the right bank of the Isère, the new mayor of Grenoble Jean-François Pina informed the minister of war of his desire to enlarge the city walls on the left bank of the river where the larger part of the city lay. But Tournadre, the head of the Engineers on site opposed the plan because his allocated budget for the work on the hill was not able to stretch to the enlargement of the rest of the city.
However, the imbalance between the modern and powerful fortress on the hill and the relatively fragile old-fashioned city walls was too great to last very long. Successive mayors Vincent Rivier and Hugues Berriat were successful in obtaining new defences and a roughly rectangular addition of 50 hectares to the south of the city between 1832 and 1836.This enlargement allowed the creation of Avenue Lesdiguières arriving at the huge Place d'Armes, named Place de la Constitution in 1870 and the Place de Verdun in 1919.
The works on the fort and its defences were finished on the 27th of February 1847, having taken 23 years.By coincidence, the works on the defences lasted 23 years in the 17th century, if one counts a 5 year suspension, the same as in the 19th century.
A small garrison was maintained in the fort until 1940. Since 1970 the entire fort has been the property of the city of Grenoble.
Defence Systems
The fortress of the Bastille was not intended for firing on the city below, the artillery of the time being too imprecise. Its only weakness is that it is overlooked by the Chartreuse, which is why it is laid out in such a way as to facilitate firing towards the mountains behind and to repel any attacks coming from the Chartreuse. The keep of the fortress therefore, unlike those of the Middle Ages, is deliberately low and hidden by vegetation in order to surprise the enemy. It is separated from the rest of the mountain by a glacisGlacis
A glacis in military engineering is an artificial slope of earth used in late European fortresses so constructed as to keep any potential assailant under the fire of the defenders until the last possible moment...
and by ditches. The moat of the keep is defended by two half-bastions from which fire can be directed across each access point of the moat.
In 1844, to complete the defences, a system of linked caverns was excavated in the cliffs of Mount Jalla in front of the fort. A track not visible from the glacis and then an underground passage allowed troops to move between these caverns and the drawbridge at the entrance to the fort. These cavern batteries were large enough to house a munitions dump, so that troops were able to fire on attacking forces from the rear. Assailants would therefore find themselves trapped between fire from opposite directions. It is worth noting that these caverns are known locally as the Mandrin
Louis Mandrin
Louis Mandrin was a French brigand from Dauphiné.- Biography :Born at Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs, he became head of the family at 17, on his father's death...
Caves, an obvious anachronism as the dauphinois bandit died some 90 years before their construction.
Another general principle of the fort's defences is to have as many sites as possible from which to fire on the wooded slopes outside the walls. Numerous vaulted casemate
Casemate
A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...
s supply artillery positions, and above are found benches for riflemen. Casemates designed by Haxo were built, open at the rear to allow the evacuation of the smoke produced by gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
.
Originally the Bastille was designed to defend Grenoble against attacks by Savoyards, the frontier being close by as Savoy
Savoy
Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
was not yet part of France at the time the construction was finished. The frontier moved to its current position with the annexation of Savoy by France in 1860 and the threat disappeared. In addition the invention of the modern canon (with rifled barrel and with shells replacing cannon balls ensuring far greater destructive power) rendered the fortress obsolete.
The defence systems of the Bastille as well as the later ramparts constructed around the city have never been called into service.
Tourism
« I haven't the strength to describe the admirable view, which changes every hundred steps, that one enjoys from the Bastille... » It is with these words that StendhalStendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
paid hommage to the site.
The Bastille is visited by some people each year, approximately half of whom take the cable car from the city centre. The rest of the visitors go by car up the steep and narrow road from La Tronche
La Tronche
La Tronche is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Isère department...
, or on foot by one of the numerous signposted paths to reach the Bastille.
In 2005 the Bastille underwent substantial works in order to make the entirety of the site accessible to persons of reduced mobility. It is the setting for numerous exhibitions and social and cultural events, while also being the destination of an annual cycle race (La Prise De La Bastille) and a via ferrata
Via ferrata
A via ferrata or klettersteig is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, stemples, ladders, and bridges. The use of these allows otherwise isolated routes to be joined to create longer routes which are accessible to people with a wide range of climbing abilities...
(Les Prises De La Bastille).
There are reminders everywhere on the site of the protagonists of the fortifications of the hill. The central square of the fort is called Place Tournadre, the square above between the restaurant and the fort is Place Haxo, the terrace of the restaurant is the Belvédère Vauban (Vauban Viewpoint), and the large meeting and exhibition room of the fort is the Lesdiguières Room.
The site of the Bastille is recorded in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments. It has numerous tourist attractions, and forms part of the natural site of interest of ecology, flora and fauna of Mount Jalla. Ideally positioned fortification on 30 hectares of public land, it has spectacular views towards the Vercors
Vercors Plateau
The Vercors is a range of plateaux and mountains in the départements of Isère and Drôme in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps, from which it is separated by the rivers Drac and Isère...
, Chartreuse
Chartreuse Mountains
The Chartreuse Mountains is a mountain range in eastern France, stretching to the north from the city of Grenoble to the Lac du Bourget. It is the southernmost range in the Jura Mountains and belongs to the French Prealps....
and Belledonne
Belledonne
Belledonne is a mountain range in the Dauphiné Alps in southeast France. The southern end of the range forms the eastern wall of the mountains that surround the city of Grenoble....
mountains, and on a clear day the peak of Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...
some 113 kilometres distant can be seen.
The Cable Car
The cable car which links the Bastille with the city centre of Grenoble is just as well known as the fort itself. Constructed on the initiative of mayor Paul Mistral, its was inaugurated by his successor, Léon Martin in September 1934.It is one of the oldest urban cable cars in the world and runs all year round (accumulating some hours of service annually compared with for a normal cable car). It has been run since 1983 by the Régie du Téléphérique de Grenoble, a state-owned industrial and commercial business which manages the continuous upgrades required to keep the site attractive to visitors and residents.
The route takes the cars across the Isère and over the roofs of the old Saint Laurent quarter before passing over a bastion of the curtain wall
Curtain wall (fortification)
A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two bastions of a castle or fortress.In earlier designs of castle the curtain walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by a ditch or moat to make assault difficult....
of the fort and then over the Rabot and various successive fortifications before arriving at the upper station.
In 1976 the lower station was rebuilt slightly back from the quay so that the road no longer passed through an archway, and the spherical cars ("the bubbles", 5 in summer and 4 in winter) made their first appearance.
Today more than visitors take the cable car each year to admire the city and the valleys from one of the best viewpoints in Grenoble. As of 2009, approximately 12 million people have been transported by the cable car since its opening in 1934.
Just outside the top station, the terrace of geologists greets visitors at the end of which stands a memorial stone bearing three medallions of Alpine geologists Charles Lory
Charles Lory
Charles Lory was a French geologist.He was born at Nantes. He graduated D. Sc. in 1847; in 1852 he was appointed to the chair of geology at the University of Grenoble, and in 1881 to that of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris....
, Pierre Termier and Wilfrid Kilian.
Museums
The hill on which the Bastille sits counts five museums among its many attractions.At the bottom of the hill is the Saint Laurent district, the location of the Archaeological Museum of Grenoble, and also the first burial site of the city dating from Gallo-Roman times. Close by is the Centre of Scientific, Technical and Industrial Culture (CCSTI) of Grenoble, an institution dedicated to the popular understanding of science, housed since 1979 in the casemates close to the river.
Part way up the hill is the Musée Dauphinois
Musée dauphinois
The Musée dauphinois is a county museum, located in Grenoble .The museum was founded in 1906 by the ethnographer Hipollyte Müller....
, housed in the former convent of Sainte-Marie-d'en-Haut since 1968. This convent was built in 1621, and it is accessible by car from the quays, or on foot by the Montée de Chalemont, an old Roman lane in use until the 17th century.
Installed in the casemates of the fort itself, the Bastille Art Centre allows visitors to see contemporary art exhibitions, while the Museum of Mountain Troops installed in the vaulted rooms of the keep makes excellent use of the space and the ambiance of the old building.
The Mandrin Caves
Many tourists follow the underground passage leading from the entrance to the fort, giving access to the Mandrin Caves from which they can then exit at the opposite end of the glacis just by the second restaurant on the hill. This helps to give an idea of the extent of the defensive system of the fort.On the way back from the glacis one can take the access road for the fort, which allows the visitor to get a better idea of the width of the moat in front of the keep and of the height of the fortress. The round trip takes around 30 minutes.
Mount Jalla
Above the Bastille, at an elevation of 630m , Mount Jalla can be reached on foot in 30 minutes from the glacis of the fort. There one can find the ruins of the cable car that once served to transport limestone extracted from the Vicat quarries from 1875, but more importantly one also finds the national memorial to the Mountain Troops. Close by is a viewpoint that looks out over the fortress of the Bastille.The memorial was inaugurated on the 17th June 2000, and is dedicated to the memory of the
mountain troops, known as the Blue Devils, who have fallen in combat since their creation in 1888.
The paths that traverse the Bastille form part of the local and national GR footpath
GR footpath
The Grande Randonnée , Grote Routepaden or Lange-afstand-wandelpaden , Grande Rota or Gran Recorrido is a network of long-distance footpaths in Europe, mostly in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. In France alone, the trails cover approximately 60,000 km...
network which allows the visitor to continue their walks and hikes in the rest of the Chartreuse.
The Jardin des Dauphins
The Jardin des Dauphins (or Princes Garden) was purchased in 1785 by Jean-Baptiste Dolle, a trader from Grenoble. It is situated at the foot of the hill, perched on a cliff close to the Porte de France, and is made up of a series of six terraces with retaining walls linked by steps, passageways and paths. Restored in 1909 by the architect Ginet, the garden began to take the form that we know today. In 1912 an orientation table was installed by the Touring Club of France, and the garden was subsequently refurbished again in 1960.The orientation of the garden together with the dry limestone terrain create a mediterranean micro-climate which has allowed the establishment of a typically southern flora (200 mediterranean species), notably numerous Pubescent Oak, Araucaria
Araucaria
Araucaria is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 19 extant species in the genus, with a highly disjunct distribution in New Caledonia , Norfolk Island, eastern Australia, New Guinea, Argentina, Chile, and southern Brazil.-Description:Araucaria are mainly...
, Cypress
Cupressus
The genus Cupressus is one of several genera within the family Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for the others, see cypress. It is considered a polyphyletic group...
, Banana
Musa (genus)
Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae; it includes bananas and plantains. There are over 50 species of Musa with a broad variety of uses....
and Olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
trees.
Visitors are welcomed to this 2 hectare garden by a mounted statue of dauphinoise heroine Philis de La Charce. They then follow the paths from terrace to terrace, passing through two tunnels and a spiral tower staircase. Above the Jardin des Dauphins, on the other side of a wooden bridge that crosses the moat of the fortifications, the Guy Pape park begins. There alone in the undergrowth but still visible from the city, one can still see the ruins of his house dating from the 15th century 45.197454°N 5.721077°W. On the cliffs overlooking this park is the upper section of the Grenoble via ferrata
Via ferrata
A via ferrata or klettersteig is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, stemples, ladders, and bridges. The use of these allows otherwise isolated routes to be joined to create longer routes which are accessible to people with a wide range of climbing abilities...
"Les Prises de la Bastille", installed in 1999.