Guided tour of the High Citadel

Name: Guided tour of the High Citadel
Start: 2020-09-19T10:30:00+02:00
End: 2020-09-20T17:30:00+02:00
Location: Citadelle Haute

Discover a centre of First World War.

19 and 20 September 2020Passed

Conditions

RDV(MEETING): Place(Square) of Roche - Limited to 30 people by departure

Registration

03.29.86.14.18 contact@tourisme-verdun.com

©Cécile Thouvenin / Tourisme Grand Verdun

If the underground low, said Citadel, is open to the public for a long time, the high part(party) of the Citadel is open to the public only since 2009. In this place, stayed secret, is redrawn the history(story) of the site of the Middle Ages in our days.
Meeting place: High Citadel

About the location

Citadelle Haute

Place de la Roche, 55100 Verdun

Meuse
Grand Est

The Citadel extends over a nearby immediate 20 hectare area of the heart of Verdun. The high citadel is built from 1567 till 1634, on the site of the old(former) abbey Saint gate(crack). From 1624, the engineers of the king and mathematicians Pierre de Conty d' Argencour, Jacques Aleaume and Claude Chastillon manage construction according to the plans of the military barisien engineer Jean Errard. Four new bastions are done up from 1624 till 1635, under the direction of marshal de Marillac, then governor of the city. During the 4th quarter of the XVIIth century, Vauban improves its defence system. With the conception(design) of the system Séré of Rivers from 1875, it is from now on since the nearby hills which(where) makes the defence of Verdun. The last spectacular arrangements(developments) are made from 1887 till 1894, with the digging of the underground galleries under the authority of the commander(major) Guinot.
Its role of underground city during the World War I, confers on it a national and international prestige which the choice(selection) of the unknown soldier in 1920 will come sit(base) definitely. «Powerful cubbyhole covered with heavy masses of earth(ground), the Citadel of Verdun is more than a barracks, it is one redoubt, it is a point of contact between the Front and the Back. It is there that all successions succeed, it is there that they all leave. It is the station of sorting between War and Peace», wrote Gaston Gras in Douaumont October 24th, 1916\. On February 21st, 1916 at 8 h 15, the first German shells fall on the citadel.
As planned, the top management(general staff) of the place(square) finds refuge in these galleries dug(accentuated) under sixteen metres of rock. From then on, the citadel gets organised as a small underground city in the uninterrupted activity which turns out essential to 2 000 men(people) in transit during the battle of The Citadel extends over a nearby immediate 20 hectare area of the heart of Verdun. The first large-scale constructions date of 1570\. Four new bastions are done up from 1624 till 1635, under the direction of marshal de Marillac, then governor of the city. With the conception(design) of the system Séré of Rivers from 1875, it is from now on since the nearby hills which(where) makes the defence of Verdun. The last spectacular arrangements(developments) are made from 1887 till 1894, with the digging of the underground galleries under the authority of the commander(major) Guinot.
Its role of underground city during the World War I, confers on it a national and international prestige which the choice(selection) of the unknown soldier in 1920 will come sit(base) definitely.