Fort d'Ambleteuse

En un regard

Le château en bref

Fort d'Ambleteuse, also known as Fort Mahon, stands on a rock at the mouth of the Slack, on the Opal Coast (Pas-de-Calais). It was built from 1683 to 1690 on Vauban's proposal, as part of a plan for a naval port commissioned by Louis XIV to rival Dutch maritime power. The project was abandoned owing to silting and war. The fortification consists of a semicircular stone artillery tower with three tiers of batteries: a lower battery of fourteen guns, a first floor with three embrasures, and a platform for four to six cannon. Under Napoleon, the fort helped defend the Boulogne flotilla. It was refurbished under Napoleon III, then served as an ammunition depot for the Germans from 1940 onwards, and was severely damaged in 1945. Listed as a monument historique in 1965, it was bought in 1967 for a symbolic franc by the Amis du Fort association, which restored it and opened it to visitors with exhibitions.