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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Fort Saint-André, located in Salins-les-Bains in the Jura, finds its origins in the 13th century with a medieval tower built in 1255 by Jean de Chalon to protect the great saline. This strategic site, surrounded by satellite fortifications (Bracon castles, Belin, Guyon), was gradually abandoned and strengthened between 1638 and 1645 during the Ten Years' War. The tower, destroyed and rebuilt in 1347, became a major military issue during the Franco-Spanish conflicts.

In 1668, Franche-Comté was briefly conquered by the armies of Louis XIV, but the Treaty of Aachen restored it to Spain. In 1674, the fort resisted a 16-day siege led by the Duke of the Feuillade, before being rebuilt from 1674 to 1679 under the direction of Vauban, after the region's permanent connection with France. The military engineer designs a bastioned citadel adapted to the relief, with ditches, half moons, and casemates, capable of sheltering 500 soldiers.

The fort played a key defensive role until the 19th century: it resisted the Austrians in 1814 and 1815, then the Prussians in 1871, slowing their advance towards Switzerland. Transformed into a state prison (receiving prisoners from the poison case in 1682), he became a barracks and then a holiday colony in the 20th century. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1993, it is now a tourist residence and a heritage site open to guided tours.

The architecture of the fort reflects Vauban's first system: an irregular quadrilateral with a bastioned front to the west, a casematized half-bastions, and a scale called an eagle nest on a rocky outgrowth. The interior includes two symmetrical barracks, a chapel, a powderbox, and artillery stores. The monumental door, decorated with solar symbols, recalls its sponsor, Louis XIV, whose motto Nec Pluribus Impar appears on the court.

Over the centuries, the fort underwent changes: restoration of the front of the head in 1818, suppression of the northern gate under the July monarchy, and addition of inner casemates in 1871. Occupied by the Germans during World War II, it was partially destroyed before being saved by volunteers and the municipality. Since 2006, it has combined heritage preservation and tourism activities, with lodgings and cultural events.

His history was marked by figures such as Vauban, the Duke of Feuillade, or General Marulaz, who negotiated his preservation in 1814. The fort illustrates the strategic stakes of Franche-Comté, a border region disputed between the kingdoms of France and Spain, then between empires during the Napoleonic wars.

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