[fr] 
[es]Fort Portalet
| Type | Aerial view | Country | Date | Status | Rating | |
 Military domain | Here ! |  France | 2005-12-30 | Reconverted | **** |
|
Site panoramic- Click to enlarge!
A MAjestic Fort With A Long History
Yet another Pyrenean exploration - finally, so many locations to find over there... The Fort Portalet is old: its construction was ordered by the King Louis-Philipe the First in case of a possible invasion of the Spanish through the Aspe valley.
Its capacity was around 400 soldiers, this explains the size of the fort. Many barracks are built on the top, and a lot of galleries are directly dug into the very steep cliff, overlooking the narrow road leading to the Somport pass, then to Spain.
It will serve to defend against an invasion from the Spanish in 1875, then will be disarmed until 1939. When the France will lose the war in 1940, it will be used as a prison under the Vichy system and receive famous prisonners, like Léon Blum, Edouard Daladier, Georges Mandel, Paul Reynaud et Maurice Gamelin.
In 1942, the south of France is integrated to the German "forbidden area" (zone interdite), all along the Spanish border.
How to prepare a cannon in 3 steps - Click to enlarge!
The fort is liberated by the Spanish army in August 1944. From August to November 1945, the field marshal Pétain will be the prisonner of the fort.
The fort is then decomissioned by the French army in 1962, and sold in 1966.
Completely left abandoned since then, the fort is bought by several villages from the Aspe valley in 1999, in order to build up a touristic site. End of 2005, the works of deforestation and reconstruction have at last started.
It was a magical place to explore, lost and high up in the mountains, on a steep cliff. It will undoubtedly attract a lot of visitors once the conversion will be over.