For the third year, the Heritage Mission, the operation led by the media personality Stéphane Bern, has selected the 101 sites that will be renovated thanks to funding from the sale of special FDJ tickets.
Only one site in the Alpes-Maritimes is among the lucky ones chosen, it is the Bastion of La Turbie of the Citadel of Villefranche, for which we present the technical sheet.
The Bastion of La Turbie is one of the four bastions of this avant-garde fortress that was the Citadel of Villefranche. Erected in 1557, a century before Vauban, it is one of the first prototypes of bastioned fortification carried out by the engineers of Charles V. After the siege of Nice in 1691, Vauban insisted to Louis XIV not to destroy this building which he described as “remarkable.”
The Citadel of Villefranche is an illustration of the entire history of Europe from the 16th to the 20th century: its reason for being is the hostility of the Holy Roman Empire of Charles V with the France of Francis I. It then experienced the battles and the incessant movements of French, Spanish, Austrian, Sardinian, etc. troops during the multiple wars of Louis XIV, followed by revolutionary episodes.
Enhancement Project
The military buildings have housed the town hall since the 1970s, while the casemates, which remain in good condition, house five free-entry museums. The curtain walls and superstructures of the bastions, too degraded, are closed for visits. The aim is therefore first to maintain an existing cultural activity. Then, with the progress of the undertaken work, to create visiting circuits of the superstructures, to open outdoor spaces and casemates for exhibitions and events, and to create historical reenactments.
State of Danger
In October 2019, the planned works program following the study carried out in 2012 began on the bastions of la Darse and Mount Alban.
But time catches up with five centuries of history: the Bastion of La Turbie is now seriously threatening to collapse, and with it, the space dedicated to the Volti Museum. The wooden shoring of the retaining wall is worm-eaten and stones from the escarpment’s slope are coming loose with a risk of masonry elements falling into the ditch. However, the latter is partly used for public parking.
A high risk of collapse of two casemates, which serve as presentation rooms for the Volti Museum, has also been observed.
Nature of the Works
Stonework on the ramparts, escarpment, and parapet slope;
Restoration of firing platforms and watchtowers;
Waterproofing of the casemates;
Earthworks and ironwork.
