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Origin and history

Fort Marie-Christine is one of five structures of the Esseillon barrier, a defensive system built between 1819 and 1834 on a rocky lock overlooking the upper Arc valley, near Aussois in Savoie. Funded by the French compensation paid to the Kingdom of Sardinia after the Vienna Congress (1815), these forts were to protect the Piedmontese side of a French invasion, under Austrian pressure. Their strategic position controlled access to the Mont-Cenis pass, an improved road facilitating movements towards Italy. The architectural model, inspired by Montalembert, favoured perpendicular fortifications and cannon towers, with crossfire between the works.

Designed to house up to 10,000 men, the forts lost their military utility after the 1857 Franco-Sardian alliance. The Treaty of Turin (1860), which signed the annexation of Savoy by France, imposed their destruction – partially applied, except for Fort Charles-Félix. Reused by the French army to guard against an Italian invasion, they served briefly during the Second World War: Fort Victor Emmanuel became a prisoner camp in 1943. Disused in 1967, they were restored from the 1970s by volunteers, including the Association of Forts of the Esseillon.

Fort Marie-Christine, the highest and closest to Aussois, offers a remarkable panorama and today houses a stage cottage, a restaurant, and an entrance to Vanoise National Park. Ranked a historical monument in 1983, it symbolizes the Sardinian strategic heritage and the re-appropriation of the military heritage. The dread Marie-Thérèse, accessible by the Devil's Bridge, welcomes a centre of interpretation of fortifications. These works, never engaged in a fight, bear witness to a unique military architecture, immortalized by the painter William Turner in the 1830s.

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