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Origin and history

The fortifications of Mouzon, located in the department of Ardennes (Great East), are a defensive ensemble built mainly between the 13th century and the first half of the 17th century. The gateway to Burgundy, the oldest element dating from the early 13th century, illustrates medieval military architecture with its square tower, quinconce archery and surveillance rooms. This vestige also preserves 19th century additions, such as a Gothic niche housing a virgin with a child, or decorations in sheet metal and blue paint.

Between the 16th and 17th centuries, fortifications were adapted to the progress of artillery. Around 1510, the large tower, with a diameter of 24 metres and walls of 8 metres thick, was built to house cannons. Its vaulted dogive rooms and terrace allowed an active defense. A bastion, a escarp and a counter-escarp were added between 1638 and 1641 in front of the Burgundy gate to strengthen its protection. The Couailote and Saint-Jérôme towers, also dedicated to artillery, today remain only in the form of partial or filled vestiges.

The medieval city of Mouzon, surrounded by these ramparts, extended around an older village, at the confluence of the Meuse and a Roman way from Reims to Trier. The fortifications, several times besieged (notably by the Spanish in 1650 and taken over by Turenne in 1653), were partially dismantled a few decades later. Excavations revealed traces of an earlier wall of enclosure, dating from the 9th–XI centuries, suggesting a much older defensive occupation.

Ranked as historical monuments in 1926 and 2000, fortifications benefited from restorations between 1986 and 1989 by the association CHAM (Chantiers Histoire et Architecture Médiévales). Today, the gate of Burgundy, the remains of ramparts, and the remains of the towers (large tower, Couailote, Saint-Jérôme) testify to this turbulent military history, mixing medieval heritage and Renaissance adaptations.

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