Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Port-Maria basin, built in 1860 in the back of the ria of the same name, is part of a more ancient fortified complex. It is a crenellated 1846 guard corps, designed to house 30 men and a mountain artillery piece. This discount replaces a 17th century battery, originally requested by Vauban in 1689 to strengthen the defences of Belle-Île-en-Mer. The original battery, armed with three 12 pound guns in 1747, was destroyed in 1761 when the English captured the island.

The masonry cuts, completed in the 1770s, complemented this defensive device. In 1841, the Joint Coastal Armaments Commission decided to remove the battery but retained the Coast Guard post, built between 1860 and 1861. Decommissioned in 1889, the discount was sold to an individual in 1891 and then converted into a secondary residence. Occupied by the Germans during World War II, it was restored in the 1950s and remains private property.

The discount has been included in historical monuments since 30 October 2000. A fireplace decorated with two atlantes, brought from the castle of Rimaison to Bieuzy-les-Eaux, has been classified since 7 January 1953. This monument illustrates the evolution of coastal fortifications, from the 17th to the 19th century, and their subsequent civil reallocation.

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