Fortress of France

Montmédy is a city within a city. At the heart of the fortified town, narrow streets twist and turn around small squares. Artists’ workshops are scattered all around. Above all, Montmédy was a formidable citadel, one of the most imposing in northern France. Charles V built it in 1525 to ward off attacks … by the French. At the time, the region was under the rule of the Austrian Netherlands. The troops of Louis XIV laid siege to Montmédy and seized this strategic site. Having become … French, Vauban gave it its final form.

A circuit marked by arrows, with an audio guide, leads you into the bowels of the fortification. As for the fortifications museum, it reveals how defensive systems have developed. This is an area in which men have always shown imagination …