FORTIFICATIONS DE LANGRES

Langres, a city of art, has all elements of fortified town: owers, church steeples and ramparts. Along the 3 km panoramic ramparts, the narrow alleyways and shopping streets, you will come across a host of Gallo-roman sculpture and monuments, medieval, religious and military architecture, towers and Renaissance style houses.


Petit Sault Tower
It was built in the beginning of the XVIth century to protect the access to the west side of the town. It is a fortified guntower.

Navarre and d’Orval tower
A defensive fortification unit of the XVIth century, unique in France, it was inaugurated by François I in 1521. It is remarkable for its frame of chestnut wood, its slope in spiral to move the artillery pieces up the tower and the rooms with vaulted and fortified roofs.



The citadel
With construction starting in 1842, the citadel represents the final evolution of the fortification of Langres. In the event of conflict, it was to assemble and support the armies manoeuvring between the Vosges and the Jura. It could supply 18,000 men and 1,000 horses for 6 months.


The St-Ferjeux tower
Built in 1469, this is the first of Langres’ "royal towers", and it uses architectural designs and a defensive section that had not been seen in the region until then. Specially adapted for artillery, it consists of two vaulted rooms, eight casemates and a terrace, which since 1989 has housed a work of contemporary art.