Les Rousses fort

The village of Les Rousses, whose geographical location was of particularly strategic interest to the military, was held by Napoleon Bonaparte from 1800. The invasion of Austrian troops in 1814 led to the village’s fortification and, in 1841, construction of the fort was voted and financed by the government. Les Rousses fort was built from 1843 to 1862 and armed in 1868. It became one of the largest French fortified complexes, capable of housing 3,500 men and 2,000 horses, with 50,000 sq. m. of vaulted rooms, many kilometres of underground galleries, 2.2 km of ramparts, etc. It served as a training camp for many regiments and as a military warehouse until 1973, when it was turned into a Commando Training Camp (C.E.C.). The soldiers left Les Rousses fort in 1997 due to reorganisation of the armed forces and was converted into an activity place (tree adventure park, maturing cellar to visit, etc.) and opened to the public.