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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Fort du Petit Bé, located on an island a few hundred meters from the ramparts of Saint-Malo, was built in the seventeenth century as part of a defensive belt designed by Vauban. Intended to protect the city from enemy wings, including English or Dutch, it was part of a network of fortifications including Fort National, Fort Harbour and the ramparts of Saint Malo. The malouin engineer Simeon Garangeau led the construction of the building, creating a platform equipped with a three-level building, a tank and two bastions, capable of hosting 160 soldiers to serve 19 cannons and 2 mortars.

Owned by the French army until 1885, the fort was then returned to the city of Saint-Malo. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1921 and listed as a site in 1945, it has been the subject of restoration projects since the 1970s. In the 2000s, Alain-Etienne Marcel signed an Emphyteotic lease for its management and restoration, partially financed since 2015 by rentals via Airbnb. The architecture of the fort, typical of the fortifications at the Vauban, includes a square flanked by bastions and a rectangular building to house the garrison.

The fort consists of a horse iron battery with 19 ignitions and two half-bastions equipped with shell slots. Its main, rectangular, two-storey building was designed to house the troops. Simeon Garangeau's work, under the influence of Vauban's plans, reflected the military techniques of the time, adapted to coastal defence. Today, the site remains a major testimony of Breton military history and 17th century defensive engineering.

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