World Heritage Identification Number: 1283
World Heritage since: 2008
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇫🇷 France
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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The Fortifications of Vauban: A Legacy of Military Architecture
The Fortifications of Vauban, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, represents a remarkable testament to the pinnacle of classical fortifications in Western military architecture. Comprising 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the western, northern, and eastern borders of France, this extensive network of defensive structures bears witness to the genius of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), a military engineer who served under King Louis XIV.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Fortifications of Vauban consists of 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the western, northern and eastern borders of France. They represent the finest examples of the work of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), a military engineer of King Louis XIV. The serial property includes towns built from scratch by Vauban, citadels, urban bastion walls and bastion towers. There are also mountain forts, sea forts, a mountain battery and two mountain communication structures. This property is inscribed as bearing witness to the peak of classic fortifications, typical of western military architecture. Vauban also played a major role in the history of fortification in Europe and on other continents until the mid-19th century.
Encyclopedia Record: Fortifications of Vauban
The Fortifications of Vauban is a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the borders of France. They were designed by military architect Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633–1707) during the reign of King Louis XIV. These sites include a variety of fortifications, ranging from citadels, to mountain batteries and sea fortifications, to bastion walls and towers. In addition, the site includes cities built from scratch by Vauban and communication towers. These sites were chosen because they exemplify Vauban's work, bearing witness to the influence of his designs on military and civilian engineering on a global scale from the 17th century to the 20th century.Additional Site Details
Area: 1,153.16 hectares
(ii) — Significant interchange of human values
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
Coordinates: 47.2361111111 , 6.0269444444
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© LeZibou, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
