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Origin and history

The Laon Citadel Gate was erected in 1595, in the last quarter of the 16th century, on the order of Henry IV. It was the main entrance between the city and the citadel, built after the siege of 1594-1595 during which the king took Laon back to the Catholic League. Distrusting the inhabitants, Henry IV ordered his construction to control the city, beginning the work at the Retranschements before moving them near Saint George Abbey. The gate, originally named Porte Saint-Georges, was later moored, while the citadel was girdled with ditches and equipped with a drawbridge.

In the 17th century, the citadel was strengthened in 1621 by a south-east turret, despite the demolition demands made by the Laonnais in 1614. In the 18th century, it gradually lost its military character: the ditches were filled in 1757, and houses settled there, although the site remained owned by the Duke of Orleans until its confiscation as a national good during the Revolution. The buildings were razed in 1835 during its remilitarization, marked by the reconstruction of the ditches and the addition of barracks.

The citadel played a tragic role during the 1870 war: a criminal arson in the powder keg, triggered during Laon's surrender, caused hundreds of casualties and seriously damaged the city, including the church of Vaux-sous-Laon. Disused militarily, it now houses an administrative city, while the gate, classified as a historic monument in 1927, and the underground remains accessible to visitors. Its architecture reflects the strategic challenges of the Renaissance and subsequent urban transformations.

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