En un regard
Le château en bref
The fortifications of Gravelines, a new town founded in the twelfth century in the County of Flanders, form one of the most legible bastioned ensembles on the northern coast. Originally protected by an earth rampart and a wide water-filled ditch, with gates and towers built in stone, the town was given by Charles V, between 1528 and 1535, a brick castle commanding the eastern approach and the lock of the Bourbourg Canal. In 1556, Philip II gave it a modern enceinte of six large bastions, enclosing the medieval walls, under the direction of Italian engineers (Giovanni Maria Olgiati, Francesco Thebaldi, Adriano Saluberto). Taken by France in 1658, the town was incorporated in 1678 into the second line of the Pré Carré; Vauban tripled the thickness of the ramparts, converted the castle into an arsenal and added barracks, a cistern and a bakery, then, in 1699, a second ring of demi-lunes and a remodelling of the hydraulic system. The ramparts and water-filled ditches survive and can be visited; the arsenal today houses the Musée du Dessin et de l'Estampe originale.
- Époque de construction
- XIIe siècle
- Localisation
- Gravelines, Nord
- Protection
- Monument historique
- Usage actuel
- Vestiges de fortifications appartenant à la commune de Gravelines ; porte de Dunkerque, remparts et bâtiments voisins classés monuments historiques (1936), beffroi inscrit (1948).
