Fortifications of Vauban

The Fortifications of Vauban consist of twelve groups of fortified buildings and sites along the western, northern and eastern border 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 classical 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-nineteenth century.

Criterion (ⅰ): Vauban’s work bears witness to the peak of classic bastioned fortifications, typical of western military architecture of modern times..

Criterion (ⅱ): Vauban played a major role in the history of fortification. The many imitations of his standard models of military buildings in Europe and on the American continent, and the dissemination in Russian and Turkish of his theoretical thinking, along with the use of the forms of his fortification as a model for fortresses in the Far East, bear witness to the universality of his work.

Criterion (ⅳ): Vauban’s work illustrates a significant period of human history. It is a work of the mind applied to military strategy, architecture and construction, civil engineering, and economic and social organization.

Country: France
Location: Vauban
Coordinates: N50 16 57, E2 45 32
Inscription year: 2008
Inscription criteria: ⅰ, ⅱ, ⅳ