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Origin and history

The Aumale bastion is a 16th-century military structure located in Châlons-en-Champagne, on Boulevard Emile-Zola, which is backed by the Tirlet district. It is one of the last traces of the fortified belt that protected the city, reshaped to adapt to the progress of artillery. Its current structure, with 77-metre faces and 38-metre flanks, dates mainly from the work carried out between 1563 and 1573, although a first work was erected as an emergency in 1544 to counter a threat from Charles Quint.

The construction of the bastion was initiated by Claude II of Lorraine, Duke of Aumale and Governor of Champagne, then completed under Henri de Guise after 1568. This rampart, originally at least 11 metres high, was surrounded by a water ditch 30 metres wide. Its decoration and position symbolized the power of the Guise family and the Catholic party in a region marked by the Wars of Religion. The ditch was subsequently closed, leaving only 4 metres of the upper structure now visible.

In 1876, the bastion passed under the control of military engineering to serve as barracks in the town of Tirlet. He was listed as a historical monument in 1929, recognizing his heritage importance. Today, a 17th-century circular scallop, with a dome, still surmounts its salient, while partial collapses in the 19th century altered its southern flanks and part of its southwest face. The bastion remains a testament to the defensive strategies of the Renaissance and the political rivalries of the time.

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