Fort de Bicêtre

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Fort de Bicêtre is a defensive military structure built between 1842 and 1846 under the July Monarchy and the reign of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, at a time of tension with England, in the commune of Le Kremlin-Bicêtre. It is one of the sixteen detached forts of the defensive system for Paris decided by the President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adolphe Thiers. After 1874, according to the report of General Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières, it was reinforced with a second, more distant line of fortifications. It also served as a prison for a few opponents of the coup d'État of 2 December 1851. Handed over to the Prussians in 1871, after their departure it was briefly occupied by the Fédérés. In 1940, during the Occupation, the German army installed itself there. After the Second World War, it lost its tactical importance but retained its military vocation. It successively housed artillerymen, a marine infantry battalion detached from the Paris garrison, and finally, since 1946, signals personnel.