En un regard
Le château en bref
The Fort du Mont-Agel is a work of the fortified place of Nice, built between 1888 and 1892 at the south-western end of the summit plateau of Mont Agel, at an altitude of 1,148 metres; its pediment bears the inscription « 1888 FORTERESSE du MONT-AGEL 1892 ». Designed by the military engineer Chavagne to strengthen the defence of Nice following the torpedo-shell crisis of 1885–1886, it adapts the principles of the Séré de Rivières system by cutting casemates directly into the rock to withstand artillery fire. The fort, also known as “Fort Catinat” in reference to Marshal Nicolas de Catinat, forms an almost rectangular polygonal redoubt 180 metres long and 72 metres wide, built of white limestone and separated from the rest of the plateau by a ditch excavated with explosives. The fortified complex comprised a central fort, six peripheral batteries and five powder magazines, forming a partially enclosed entrenched camp. Between 1931 and 1933, a mixed work (ouvrage mixte) of the Maginot Line, armed with two 75 mm gun turrets, was added in the immediate vicinity of the fort.
