Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Chaudanne Fort, also known as Baudrand Fort, is a 19th-century fortification located on Chaudanne Hill, 422 metres above sea level, in the Grette district of Besançon. It dominates the 60-metre citadel and is 900 metres south of the city centre. Its name could come from the Latin Caledenum (pic mountain) or from Campus Dianæ (field of Diane), linked to a temple dedicated to this goddess mentioned by Bishop Léonce in the 5th century. Dedications to Mercury and Apollo were also discovered.

The construction of the fort began with the glasses of Arçon in 1791, including that of Chaudanne, completed in 1797 and rebuilt until 1830. Not enough, it was replaced between 1841 and 1845 by the present fort, designed to defend the southwest positions of Besançon. In 1890, it was equipped with 4 cannons of Bange 90 mm. The Fort du Petit Chaudanne, an annex battery, was built between 1851 and 1869 to strengthen it. In 1887, the War Minister, General Boulanger, renamed him Fort Baudrand, but that name was repealed in the same year, albeit persistent in use.

The fort is accessible by a mule track in laces, now extinct, and has a pentagonal architecture bastioned with ditches on three sides. Its walls in masonry contrast with the natural rock counterscarp. The entrance, once protected by a drawbridge to the Poncelet and a guard corps, overlooks a central courtyard where the tower-reduced of the old bezel remains. Three galleries connect defence posts, and a bomb-resistant barracks can house 100 to 130 men. The site also includes artillery platforms, a 159 m3 tank, and solar dials on the barracks.

The fort played a prominent military role during three events: in 1674, during the siege of Besançon by Louis XIV, where batteries were installed to bomb the Spanish citadel; In 1814, when the defenders of the bezel foiled an Austrian attack by recognizing their accent; and in 1944, during the Liberation, where the 7th American infantry regiment took the fort to the Germans after a bloody assault. Since 1957, it belongs to the city of Besançon and is classified as Historic Monument in 1996.

Today, the fort houses the Alcyon Theatre in its barracks, a shooting stand in the west ditch, and premises for an amateur radio association. Its outer powder shop, dug under rock, is freely accessible, unlike inside, only accessible during guided tours. A memorial to the dead commemorates American soldiers who fell in 1944 on an esplanade dedicated to the 3rd US infantry division. The site also offers a panorama of the citadel and the historic centre of Besançon.

External links