Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Fort-les-Bains is a military building erected in 1670 on a strategic hill overlooking Amélie-les-Bains (formerly Les Bains d'Arles), in the Eastern Pyrenees. Designed by the engineer Saint-Hilaire and modified by Vauban in 1679, he was to secure the border after the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). Its four bastions (Roy, Queen, Dauphin, Chamilly) frame a central tank, barracks and a chapel, replacing a razed medieval tower in 1668.

The fort played a key defensive role, resistant to Spanish seats of 1674 and 1793-1794. In the 17th century, he also served as a state prison for the defendants in the poison case under Louis XIV. Ranked as a Historic Monument in 1909, it was acquired by the husbands Marc, of whom Fanny, sculptress, installed a workshop under the roof. In 1934, she donated it to the Lung Wounded Society before its closure in the 1960s.

Abandoned and looted, the fort was partially rehabilitated in 2000 by the Sun's Thermal Channel. Integrated with the Fortifications of Vauban (World Heritage of UNESCO since 2008), today it remains a private property inaccessible to the public. Its architecture reflects the principles of Vauban, adapted to a mountainous site overlooking the valleys of Tech and Mondony.

The place's toponymy evolves with its history: Les Bains d'Arles became Fort-les-Bains after 1670, then Amélie-les-Bains in 1840. The fort also protected passages to Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans, highlighting its strategic importance in the Roussillon defensive network. The initial plans of Saint-Hilaire were supplemented by Vauban, who saw a useful link there despite his position in the second line.

Among the personalities related to the site, Joseph Sanguinet, surgeon major before 1708, was the ancestor of the geographer Paul Vidal de La Blache. The fort also illustrates the health issues of the 19th century, sheltering soldiers during the construction of the thermal hospital of the armies (1840-1855).

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