Fort de Joux

The Fort de Joux or Château de Joux is a castle, transformed into a fort, located in La Cluse-et-Mijoux in the Doubs department in the Jura mountains of France. It commands the mountain pass Cluse de Pontarlier.

Fort de Joux
Château de Joux
Part of Maginot line
La Cluse-et-Mijoux
Near Pontarlier in France
The Fort de Joux
Fort de Joux
Coordinates46°52′21″N 6°22′27″E[1]
TypeCastle, fort
Site information
OwnerCommunauté de communes du Larmont
Open to
the public		Tour, events.
Websitewww.chateaudejoux.com
Site history
Built11th century
Built byLords of Joux, Dukes of Burgundy, Charles Quint, Vauban, Joffre.
In useuntil 1958 (1958)
MaterialsLimestone and tufa
Battles/wars1814, 1871, 1940

History
Château de Joux

During its long history, the Château de Joux has gone through successive transformations. The first structure, in the 11th century, was made of wood. Over the next century, the lords of Joux rebuilt the keep and the external fortifications in stone. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, bought it in 1454 to transform it as a border fort. He added a moat and barracks. The château passed to Charles the Bold, Mary of Burgundy, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (Habsburgs), Margaret of Austria, and Charles Quint. Each successive owner made improvements. It was finally annexed by France in 1678 by Louis XIV.[2]

While others have improved or at least repaired, the château during the course of its history, its most famous remodeler was Vauban, who modernised it between 1678 and 1693. The Austrians captured it in 1814. Later, the construction of the forts at Larmont in the 19th century provided reinforcement. In 1879, Captain (later Marshal) Joseph Joffre, then a military engineering officer, modernised it and transformed it into a fort included in the Maginot Line to prevent German invasion from Swiss territory.

It served as a prison for successive French governments between the 17th and the 19th centuries. In that capacity, the château is best known as the site of imprisonment for the leader of the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint Louverture, who died there on 7 April 1803,[3] Mirabeau, and Heinrich von Kleist.

In addition to being used as a prison, the château played a part in the defence of the region until the First World War.

The fortress currently houses a museum of arms that exhibits more than 600 rare weapons dating from the early 18th to the 20th centuries, including a rare 1717 rifle. The castle also has a well which, at 147 metres (482 ft), was once the deepest in France. Cut with a horizontal gallery and partially filled, it is now the third deepest at about 101 metres (331 ft).[4]

Since 1949, the French Ministry of Culture has listed the château as a monument historique.

The Fort de Joux dominating the main road between France and Switzerland for centuries.
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See also

References
  1. Co-ordinates verified on Géoportail (France) and Google Maps
  2. Thiébaud J-M et al. Le château de Joux (1987) (in French)
  3. John Bigelow (1909). Retrospections of an Active Life. I 1817-1868. New York: The Baker & Taylor Co. p. 235-244.
  4. Official web site (in French)

Sources

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