The Fort de Salses (also called Forteresse de Salses) is a Catalan fortress in the '' commune'' of

Salses-le-Château Salses-le-Château (; ; ) or just Salses is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Departments of France, department in southern France. It is located north of the city of Perpignan. Geography Salses-le-Château is located i ...

, situated in the French ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...

. It is clearly visible from the

A9 autoroute The A9 autoroute (''La Languedocienne''/''La Catalane'') is a motorway in Southern France. The road forms part of the European route E15, as does the A9 road (Scotland). The road runs between Orange and Perthus, in the Pyrénées-Orientales ...

as well as the train line between Perpignan and Narbonne and it is possible to visit from the motorway rest area and the local train station. Built by the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese at the end of the 15th century, the fortress guarded the former frontier between

Principality of Catalonia The Principality of Catalonia (; ; ; ) was a Middle Ages, medieval and early modern state (polity), state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together ...

and France. Its layout and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, innovative for the time, present a rare example of the transition between

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

and the fortresses of the modern period.
The fort was captured by the French in 1642, and remained French after the

Treaty of the Pyrenees The Treaty of the Pyrenees(; ; ) was signed on 7 November 1659 and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635. Negotiations were conducted and the treaty was signed on Pheasant Island, situated in the middle of the Bidasoa River on ...

. Fort de Salses is listed as a ''

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

, and is operated by the ''

Centre des monuments nationaux Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

''. The fortress receives 100,000 visitors a year. During the Spanish Civil War, the fort was used as a refuge.

References

External links

Forteresse de Salses - Centre des monuments nationaux
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salses, Fort de Castles in Pyrénées-Orientales Monuments historiques of Pyrénées-Orientales Forts in France Historic house museums in Occitania (administrative region) Museums in Pyrénées-Orientales Buildings and structures completed in the 15th century Monuments of the Centre des monuments nationaux

See also

References

External links