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Origin and history

The Porte du Fort Mortier is part of Fort Mortier, a pentagonal bezel built in the 17th century near Neuf-Brisach, on the left bank of the Rhine. Originally named Jacobs Schantze, this wooden work was transformed by Vauban after 1648 into an advanced position defending access to Breisach. After the Treaty of Ryswick (1697), he was "returned" to protect the new fortified town of Neuf-Brisach, 3 km east, and to cross his fire with the citadel.

The fort, endowed with floodable ditches and a barracks for 300 men, played a key role in the conflicts of the 18th and 19th centuries. Sitting in 1870, he was summarily repaired before being integrated into the Feast Neuf-Brisach under German administration (1871). In 1910, a TSF post was set up there, and in 1940 he became a casemate of the Maginot Line, a theatre of fighting in 1940 and 1945.

The architecture of the fort, adapted for river control, included artillery pieces firing towards Neuf-Brisach over the parapets (barbed wire). The gate, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1932, was surmounted by a command work replaced in 1909 by a casemate. The remains, located near the Rhine harbour, are today forbidden access but visible from the D52 road.

Originally, the fort was part of a broader defensive system including Fort Saint-Jacques (ex-Italiener Schantze) and a new town on a Rhine island, shaved after 1697. The Treaties of Westphalia (1648) marked the passage of Breisach under French control, leading to the reconfiguration of the fortifications by Vauban. Fort Mortier thus illustrates Louis XIV's military strategies to secure the Rhine border.

In the 20th century, the site experienced civilian uses: fungus in the 1970s after losing its military function. Its history reflects Franco-German tensions, from the wars of Louis XIV to the two world wars, including the Alsatian annexation of 1871.

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