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Origin and history

Mont-Valérien, the highest hill 161 meters west of Paris, was first a place of religious pilgrimage from the Lower Middle Ages, with a calvary and chapel built in the seventeenth century. During the Revolution, the site lost its sacred character, before being bought in 1795 by the deputy Antoine Merlin of Thionville, who planned to build a castle there. Napoleon I successively planned a house to educate the Legion of Honour and then a military building, without success. Under the Restoration, Charles de Forbin-Janson revived religious activity and created a cemetery, attracting royalist personalities.

Between 1841 and 1846, the Pentagonal Fort was built as part of the fortifications of Paris decided by Adolphe Thiers, resulting in the destruction of earlier religious buildings. The fortress, with moat and defensive walls, played a key role during the siege of Paris in 1870, bombarding German positions. It was then used to suppress the Commune in 1871. In the 19th century, a cartridge shop was installed, but an explosion in 1882 killed 17 workers.

During the Second World War, Mount Valerian became a massive place of execution: more than 1,000 resistors and hostages were shot by the Germans between 1941 and 1944. The convicts, locked in the abandoned chapel of Forbin-Janson Castle, were executed in a nearby clearing. Among the victims are emblematic figures such as Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves, Gabriel Péri, or members of the Human Museum network. The memorial of France combatant, inaugurated by General de Gaulle in 1960, honours their memory.

The site now houses the Joint Directorate of Infrastructure Networks and Information Systems (DIRISI IDF/8e RT), as well as a communications museum and a military dovecote. A memorial circuit traces the last steps of the shooting, while a bronze bell, inaugurated in 2003, bears the names of the 1,008 victims identified. Mont-Valérie remains a place of national commemorations, especially for the appeal of June 18.

Architecturally, the fort preserves the remains of earlier eras: the crypt of the 17th or 19th century, the building of 1812 (museum), the castle of Forbin-Janson (mess of officers), and the chapel of 1828, reused as a place of detention during the occupation. Ranked Historical Monument for several of its elements, the site embodies both French military history and the memory of the Resistance.

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