Thursday 24 October 2013

Vieux Brisach



I think I have found all the images for my talk on artillery fortifications. I found these two photos when I searched for pictures of Vieux Brisach.

Brisach is in Germany. It was occupied by the French for the period 1648 to 1697. The town has some strategic significance as being the only Rhine bridge crossing in the region. At sometime in the period 1663 - 1667 (depending on which book you consult) Vauban was ordered to design new fortifications for Brisach.

These photos are of the "Museum fur Stadtgeschichte Breisach" (Google Translate "City History Museum for Breisach"). To me, this looks like a Vauban gateway, classical, monumental, built to impress, it is magnificent. I cannot find anything about the gate but it would be worth a day's excursion just to see it.

I checked Google Maps for the rest of the walls. I cannot see a single trace on the satellite image.

Under the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, Louis XIV kept Strasbourg but had to give up cities on the right bank of the Rhine, including Brisach. This town became Alt-Breisach-am-Rhein in German or Vieux Brisach in French. Vauban was ordered to build a new fortified town on the left back, this became Neuf Brisach.

Neuf Brisach

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