A plan-relief is a scale model

Scale model

A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...

 of a landscape and buildings produced for military usage, made to visualise building projects on fortifications or campaigns surrounding fortified locations.

History

The first examples seem to have been used by the Venetian Republic and more generally by the Italian city states of the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 era. The wood turner Jakob Sandtner (fl. 1561-1579) produced plans-relief of many Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

n towns, whilst in France Louis XIV's war minister Louvois initiated a collection of plans-relief of French strongholds on a 1:600 scale in 1688. This collection included 144 examples according to Vauban

Vauban

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...

's 1697 inventory of it and was put on show at the palais des Tuileries. Vauban's successors expanded the collection as and when operational necessity demanded, right up until 1870, when they were rendered obsolete by advances in the power of artillery. Some examples from this collection were destroyed and as a whole it fell into disrepair until being made a Monument historique

Monument historique

A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...

 on 22 July 1927. 100 examples from this collection survive, of which most are on show in the Museum of Plans-reliefs

Musée des Plans-Reliefs

The Musée des Plans-Reliefs is a museum of military models located within the Hôtel des Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is open daily except the first Monday of each month; an admission fee is charged....

 at Les Invalides

Les Invalides

Les Invalides , officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides , is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's...

 and some others in the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille is one of the largest museums in France, and the largest French museum outside of Paris....

, still providing a witness to the towns and fortresses of France at this era.

External links

• Official site of the Museum of Plans-reliefs at Les Invalides
  Les Invalides
  Les Invalides , officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides , is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's...