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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The tower of the Guet, 39 meters high, is one of the oldest monuments of Calais with the church of Notre-Dame. Its origins remain uncertain: some attributed Charlemagne (810) to defend the coastline of the Normans, others to Philippe le Hurepel, Count of Boulogne, who strengthened Calais in 1229. The first official entries, however, date from 1302.

In 1347 the tower played a key role in the siege of Calais by Edward III of England. The governor Jean de Vienne announced the conditions of surrender to the Calaisians, and it was the scene of the ritual of surrender of the six bourgeois. The watchmen monitored the city day and night, reporting the hours, fires or enemy movements, under penalty of imprisonment in case of negligence.

Damaged by an earthquake in 1580, the tower was restored in 1606 and equipped with a shopping hall. In 1658 a fire ravaged his structure during Louis XIV's stay, requiring thirty years of repair. In the 18th century, it still housed watchmen, firemen or soldiers, and a new bell was melted in 1770 to ring the tocsin.

In the 19th century, the tower became a relay of the optical telegraph of the Chappe brothers (1816–48), notably announcing Napoleon's death in 1821. Turned into a lighthouse with fire rotating in 1818, it helped ships enter the harbour with a flag signaling tides. His role as lighthouse ended in 1848 with the construction of the current lighthouse in Calais.

Ranked a historic monument in 1931, the tower served as an observation post during the two world wars and was bombarded in 1940 and 1944. Its bell, silent since 1970, was restored and resettled in 2015. Today, it embodies the military, maritime and civil history of Calais, with its inverted Latin cross flag floating again at its summit.

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