Fort Dauphin

Designed as an advanced sentinel in the 18th century chain of fortifications, Fort Dauphin provided a crossfire with Fort des Salettes to prevent access to the town from the Chemin du Piémont and protected Fort des Têtes.
As early as 1711, the military engineer Tardif planned a redoubt on a dangerous plateau called the Biffeul plateau (originally Bissecul), as the enemy could take up positions there, but a real fort was not built until between 1724 and 1734. Positioned as an advanced sentinel in the 18th century fortification chain, the fort was designed as a "shield" to protect the Trois Têtes fort. It ensures the crossing of fires with the Salettes redoubt in order to prohibit access to the town via the Montgenèvre road.
This fort has hardly been modified, except for the addition of a cavernous powder magazine in 1874. Numerous projects aimed at giving it more scope followed one another, but only routine maintenance work and a few improvements were carried out.
After the 1870 war, it became obsolete with the construction of new forts at higher altitudes.
All the defensive equipment was turned towards the east and the Infernet mountain. It was necessary to carry out extensive earthworks to give it a regular shape, in accordance with the classical spirit and art of bastioned fortification.
Rectangular in shape, it comprises three bastions and a truncated half-bastion due to the steepness of the terrain. It is designed in two parts separated by a large crossbeam, serving as a mask, on which the barracks rests.
The latter houses a set of 16 cells designed to house 120 soldiers*.
It consists of two floors plus a basement containing a 182 m3 water tank. One room is fitted out as a powder magazine. Each room, with a barrel vault, contains two firing windows opening onto the mask. These firing windows were only opened in the event of an attack so that the soldiers could conserve some heat. The original fireplaces have been replaced by stoves on the first floor, with the exception of the one in the officer's room.
Fort Dauphin is one of the few works that can show 18th century architectural arrangements still intact.

*according to Milet de Monville in 1747 - SHD Vincennes

The fort belongs to the town of Briançon and is one of the works inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites for the works of Vauban.