Bastille (Grenoble)
| Bastille (Grenoble) | |
|---|---|
.JPG) View from Grenoble to the Bastille |
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| Data | |
| place | Grenoble |
| architect | François Nicolas Benoît Haxo |
| Client | French army |
| Construction year | 1824-1847 |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 11 '56 " N , 5 ° 43' 29" E |
| particularities | |
| Monument historique ; rebuilt several times; today used as a museum, restaurant and event center | |
 Map of the Bastille of Grenoble and its buildings |
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The Bastille of Grenoble is a fortress from the 19th century north of the city Grenoble in Isère in France . It was built with the inclusion of previous buildings from the 15th to 18th centuries.
geography
The fortress is located on the outermost foothills of the Mont Rachais, which is up to 1050 m (Le Quichat) on the southern edge of the Chartreuse , about 264 m above the city of Grenoble and the River Isère on an ice-age-shaped ledge of the mountain and on the border between the city of Grenoble and the commune of Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux . The location was chosen to be able to monitor and defend the city of Grenoble and the Isère and Drac valleys .
Above the fortress is the 630 m high Mont Jalla , a secondary peak of Mont Rachais. Limestone was quarried there from 1875 and removed by a cable car that has since been dismantled .
Access to the fortress is provided by the winding Route de la Bastille , which begins in La Tronche and has a height difference of 270 m over a length of 1.8 km (average gradient 15%, maximum gradient in the straight 24%, in curves 30%).
History and previous buildings
From ancient times to early modern times
Grenoble has been surrounded by an oval wall since the times of the Roman Empire, which was not removed until 1606.
1470 terrain above the city of Grenoble Eynard Pradel, the auditor was the Financial Court of Dauphiné leased, that there had built high towers, a fortified house with two 20 meters. After his death (1507) in 1512 the land was passed to Hugues Pinel, who sold it together with the surrounding vineyards in 1513 to Bertrand Rabot, a counselor in the Parlement du Dauphiné. It remained in the possession of the latter's family for 122 years and still bears his name today.
King François I , crowned in 1515, intended to extend the fortifications of Grenoble, but this was not implemented due to lack of funds. Only one log cabin was built in 1537 on the top of the mountain overlooking the town, and a ski jump was built on the La Tronche side . However, in the Cosmographia Universalis by Sebastian Münster , reprinted in French by François de Belleforest in 1575 , a plan of Grenoble by Pierre Prévost is included, showing the fortifications planned by François I.
Buildings of Lesdiguières
In December 1590 the Huguenots seized the Dauphiné under the leadership of François de Lesdiguières in the Eighth Huguenot War after three weeks of siege of the then Catholic city of Grenoble. When Lesdiguières became governor of the city in 1591, he immediately had a small citadel built around the Tour de l'Isle on the riverbank and a fortification ( Bastille ) on the hill north of the city in order to be prepared against attacks from the direction of the Chartreuse. The latter fortification, completed in 1592, gave the hill its current name. It consisted of a tower which was surrounded by several small bastions , troop quarters and a 1.30 m thick wall that enclosed a 68 m long and 50 m wide area. The remains of these systems are said to be under the glacis of the more modern system today. At the same time, the city wall from Roman times, which had since proven to be inadequate due to the advancement of artillery, was demolished and replaced by a new one with six bastions and two half bastions by December 1606, which also included and fortified the suburbs that had previously been in front of the old wall Urban area enlarged to 21 hectares.
Lesdiguières was initially advised by the Piedmontese architect Ercole Negro , and from 1611 by the royal engineer Jean de Beins . From 1611 he had two more fortification walls built from the Bastille, which ended at two new monumental city gates, the eastern Porte Saint Laurent , completed in 1615, and the western Porte de France , completed in 1620 , on the banks of the Isère about 1 km away. The western wall crosses a deep cut in the terrain, both were completed in 1619. Thanks to the construction of the Porte de France and the road carved out of the rock, it was possible for the first time to access the city from the west without having to take the narrow and dangerous path along the river bank or the one over the rocky spur of Chalemont. Apart from the two gates, only small remains of the facilities from this time have survived.
Vauban's era
A century later, the fortress builder Vauban pointed out to King Louis XIV the weaknesses of Grenoble's fortifications. Vauban's plans to improve the Bastille's facilities and that of 1700 to enlarge the city fortifications were not realized except for two new powder magazines and some earthworks. In the 18th century there was no threat to France along the border in the Alps, so the military showed no interest in Grenoble and the fortifications were not maintained. The removal of the effects of the floods of the Isère in September 1733 and December 1743 tied up funds, and projects from 1741 to 1787 to relocate the river to the south of the city for defense purposes, although advocated by the Conseil des Ponts et Chaussées , were not carried out and completely abandoned in 1790.
19th century
After the end of the Napoleonic Wars , Grenoble was near the border between France and Piedmont , then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia , and in 1815 King Louis XVIII decided. the strengthening of the military presence at the national borders. General Haxo was entrusted with the modernization of the outdated fortifications of Grenoble, and from 1816 to 1820, officers of the genius carried out field surveys. In 1823 the final project of a fort on the Bastille was accepted and work began in 1824. The necessary stones were broken near the Porte de France.
On the west side of the slope the structures (casemates and bastions) follow the course of the wall from the 17th century . The rectangular, three-storey main building (fort) was built between 1825 and 1830 after the construction of Lesdiguières was demolished and is accessible via a drawbridge , the operation of which is made easier by counterweights. Below is a barracks for 100 men, built between 1827 and 1838, which later became a restaurant. Opposite it, the powder magazine was built in 1836, the roof of which has since collapsed.
Fort Rabot, which was built from 1840 to 1847 near the 15th century permanent house of the same name and could accommodate 900 men, is located deeper on the west side within the wall ring. It also served as a shelter for the guns and as a powder magazine that is remote from the most likely direction of attack and can also be reached via a drawbridge. It has been used by the university as student accommodation since 1970. To the east in the direction of Porte Saint-Laurent, a straighter course of the walls was chosen than under Lesdiguières. Here a staircase with 380 steps leads up from the banks of the Isère to the fortress. The two branches of the fortifications are connected by a curtain wall.
In 1844, several cavities connected to each other and underground with the fort were carved into the rock face of the neighboring Mont Jalla to complete the defenses. Popularly these are called Grottes de Mandrin after a robber chief who was executed 90 years before they were built .
An expansion of the fortifications to the other bank of the Isère with the involvement of the city, requested by Mayor Jean-François de Pina de Saint-Didier at the beginning of the construction work, was refused for cost reasons, but his successors Félix Penet and Vincent Rivier managed to enlarge the fortifications from 1832 to 1836 in the south of the city by about 50 hectares. After more than 23 years of construction work was finished in 1847. The construction costs were put at 1,173,000 gold francs in 1880 .
In the 1870s, the fortress was included in the fortification system according to the Système Séré de Rivières and, together with the surrounding forts, part of the fortress belt around Grenoble, although it lost its importance.
20th century and current use
In 1934 a cable car was built from the city to the Bastille . This was partially rebuilt in 1951 and fundamentally in 1976.
A garrison, albeit a small one, was maintained in the fort until 1940. In 1970, the Bastille ensemble was transferred to the city of Grenoble, and in 1973 the footpath, which is still used as an entrance, was opened. Since 1989, all of the Bastille's military structures have been classified as historic monuments.
The lowest casemate on Place Saint-Laurent, built in 1840, has housed the CCSTI (Center de culture scientifique, technique et industrial) de Grenoble with an open workshop since 1979 . Since 2006, the casemates of the former fortress have housed the Center d'art Bastille, an exhibition center for contemporary art, and since 2009 the Musée des troupes de montagne (Museum of the Mountain Troops)
In the former barracks south of the fort there is now a restaurant, another at the junction of the path to Mont Jalla from the road to Grenoble. The latter is of interest for cycling because of its steep incline and the many bends, has also served as the finish line several times in the Critérium du Dauphiné , but is not suitable for larger races because of its tightness. Since 1999, an amateur race called La Prize de la Bastille ("The Conquest of the Bastille") has been held here every September .
Defense system
All the fortifications of the Bastille are oriented towards the Chartreuse in order to be able to defend themselves and the city against an attack over these heights. The main building of the fortress, the fort, is adapted to the terrain and camouflaged by vegetation. It is separated from the mountain by the glacis and a moat, and two half-bastions, each of which can be accessed through the crossfire , serve to defend it.
From the Grottes de Mandrin opposite the glacis , which can be accessed underground from the fortress, the crew of the fortress could have stabbed any attackers in the back and made casualties . They offered enough space to store weapons and ammunition.
In order to be able to fire the wooded slopes outside the fortress sufficiently in the event of an attack, as many gun emplacements as possible were set up in casemates. There are places for riflemen above them. The casemates are open to the rear (as planned by General Haxo) to allow the powder smoke to be removed more easily.
The Bastille's original purpose of defending Grenoble against attacks from Savoy became obsolete with the annexation of this area to France in 1860. The progressive development of artillery, especially the rifled gun barrels and the high explosive shell , made the fortress useless. In addition, its defense system and Grenoble's recent fortifications had never been attacked. The number of guns in the Bastille, the Fort Rabot including the neighboring works was 38 in 1879 (22 in the Bastille), 81 in 1890 and only 53 in 1913 (26 in the Bastille).
Sights in the area
On Mont Jalla, which can be reached on foot in about half an hour from the Bastille, a memorial was inaugurated in 2000 for the soldiers of this force who had fallen since the Chasseurs alpins were set up in 1888.
The underground passage between the fortress and the Grottes de Mandrin with its staircase carved into the rock can be used by visitors. Since 2012, a zip line has connected the highest point of the fortress with the Grottes de Mandrin .
At the foot of the mountain, near the Porte de France, are the 2-hectare gardens of the Jardin des Dauphins , a site acquired in 1785 by a Grenoble merchant and restored in 1909. The lime-rich soil and the southern exposure offer favorable conditions for a microclimate of the Mediterranean type and the growth of numerous subtropical plants such as downy oaks , araucarias , cypresses , bananas and olives . At the entrance is the equestrian monument of Philis de La Charce , a heroine of the Palatinate War of Succession . The terraced area is accessed via tunnels and stairs. Above is the Parc Guy Pape , named after a lawyer from the Cour Delphinal court in the 15th century, with the ruins of his house. The rocks above have been made accessible by a via ferrata since 1999 .
literature
- Marc Fénoli, Béatrice Méténier: La Bastille de Grenoble et son téléphérique . Les Affiches de Grenoble et du Dauphiné, Grenoble, 2006. ISBN 2-9527460-0-1
- Maurice Mercier: Histoire des fortifications de Grenoble de l'an 43 avant JC à 1900 , Guirimand, Grenoble, 1976
- Yves Morin: Grenoble, guide d'architecture et d'urbanisme, Ville de Grenoble. Fascicule N ° 1. Archives et documents de 1770 à 1851 . Comité de sauvegarde du vieux Grenoble, 1990, ISBN 2-908624-01-X
- Bernard Rémy: Grenoble à l'époque gallo-romaine d'après les inscriptions: inscriptions latines de Grenoble et de son agglomération (Corenc, Gières, Échirolles, Eybens, Sassenage, Seyssinet-Pariset) . Presses universitaires de Grenoble, 2002.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Bernard Rémy: Grenoble à l'époque gallo-romaine d'après les inscriptions: inscriptions latines de Grenoble et de son agglomération (Corenc, Gières, Échirolles, Eybens, Sassenage, Seyssinet-Pariset) . Presses universitaires de Grenoble, 2002.
- ↑ Mercier 1976, p. 39
- ↑ Mercier 1976, p. 65
- ↑ Denis Coeur: La plaine de Grenoble face aux inondations , pp. 138, 139, 181.
- ↑ a b Le fort de la Bastille - le fort Rabot et l'enceinte de ville . Fortiff'Séré - l'association Séré de Rivières. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
- ↑ Jean Azeau: Les Forts de grenoble du XIX ème siècle . Fort Saint Eynard Foundation. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ↑ Ouvrages militaires de la Bastille (ensemble) in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ^ CAB - Center d'Art Bastille - Grenoble . Archived from the original on January 5, 2016. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
- ↑ ACTUALITES - Musée des Troupes de Montagne . Retrieved January 5, 2016.
- ↑ La Prize de la Bastille . Retrieved February 23, 2013.
- ↑ Mercier 1976, p. 165
