Sainte-Marguerite (island)
Sainte-Marguerite is the largest island in the Îles de Lérins group of islands off the coast of Cannes in the Alpes-Maritimes department in France . Its area is 150 hectares, it is around 3200 meters long and around 900 meters wide. The island is inhabited, there are several restaurants , some properties, a post office , a museum ; the streets have names.
etymology
The island was known to the Romans as Léro and the neighboring Saint-Honorat as Lérina, hence the name of the Iles de Lérins group of islands . The island owes its current name to the sister of the Honorat of Arles . This hermit became the founder of the second largest island in the south, Saint-Honorat , on which the Cistercian male monastery was founded. His sister Marguerite ran the women's monastery on the island in the 5th century. The siblings could not see each other because male monks were not allowed to see women.
Geographical location
Sainte-Marguerite can be easily seen from the Cannes coast and can be reached from there by ferry in 15 minutes. The island was already very dear to the heart of the city's electorate, Pablo Picasso , and today it is one of the city's sights along with Saint Honorat. Eucalyptus and pine trees grow on the island. The city attaches great importance to the fact that the island remains untouched as far as possible , so that the influence of civilization is limited. Today many yachts are moored between Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat.
Island as a fortress
The Fort Royal on the northern edge of the island was under Richelieu applied to his terms and in the 18th century by the military architect Vauban expanded, so the castle preserved today called Fort Vauban . For centuries it served as a state prison . The fort is now a tourist attraction and has a museum. Groups of young people spend the night in the cells on vacation on the island.
State prison
The island's fort served as a state prison for years. The most famous prisoner of the fortress was the mysterious man with the iron mask from 1687 to 1698 , whose identity is still not entirely clear today and gives reason for speculation. The other noted prisoner at the island's state prison was Andrew Mac Donagh, b. 1738, who was imprisoned in the same cell for 12 years and 7 months on the order of the king in May 1777 for alleged refusal to order until he was liberated from the French Revolution . In February 1990, during the restoration work, the prisoner's hand notes were found hidden in the cell wall. These are now on public display in the cell.
In his novel Le Vicomte de Bragelonne , Alexandre Dumas sen. the transport of the prisoner through d'Artagnan to the fortress. According to Dumas, he is said to have been the twin brother of Louis XIV , who, with the help of Aramis and Porthos, was freed from the Bastille with many tricks and exchanged for the real King of France. The resemblance of the two brothers should have been so deceptive that not even their mother, Anna of Austria , noticed it. After the failed coup attempt , the prince was covered with an iron mask, brought to the island and imprisoned there. Coordinates: 43 ° 31 ' N , 7 ° 3' E
From 1873 until his escape on August 10, 1874, the former ( degraded ) Maréchal de France François-Achille Bazaine was imprisoned here.
Others
After the end of the empire of Napoléon Bonaparte , the survivors of the Mamelouks de la Garde impériale were brought to the island with their families in 1815 , where they vegetated in great poverty.
photos
Bay in the southwest of the island
View of Fort Royal from below
"Iron Mask" prison cell on the island of Sainte-Marguerite
View of the island of Saint Honorat from the coast
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The royal fort on the island of Sainte-Marguerite. Ministère de la Defense, accessed October 7, 2016 .