Fort Boyard

A fort here was first considered under Louis XIV, to cover the gap between Aix and Oleron with guns, but Vauban advised against it as impossible with the technology of his day. Construction was attempted from 1801, abandoned, restarted in 1837 and completed around 1857, by which time artillery ranges had improved enough that the two shores could cover the channel themselves and the fort was redundant. It is an oval of stone about sixty-eight metres long on a sandbank, used briefly as a prison and then left to decay until a television game show restored it in the late 1980s. It cannot be visited; boats circle it and that is all.

History

A fort on the Boyard bank was first considered during Louis XIV's build-up of the armed forces between 1661 and 1667, to close the gap between the guns of the islands of Aix and Oléron and protect the arsenal at Rochefort; the engineer Descombs began plans in 1692, but the cost was too great, and Vauban famously said it would be easier to seize the moon with one's teeth. Napoleon revived the project in 1800: from 1801 a base of piled stones about 100 by 50 metres was laid, and the village of Boyardville was built for the workers, but work stopped in 1809. It resumed in 1837 under Louis-Philippe and the fort was completed in 1857, ready for a garrison of 250 men by about 1859, when longer-range guns had already made it unnecessary. After 1871 it served briefly as a military prison, was abandoned in 1913 and slowly crumbled, became a listed building in 1950, and since 1990 has been the setting of the television game show named after it (Wikipedia, Fort Boyard (fortification)).

What's there

• The oval hull - a stone fort standing alone on a sandbank at sea.
• The scale from the water - walls about twenty metres high above the shoal.
• The channel setting - the gap between Aix and Oleron it was built to cover.
• The television association - the fort known from the long-running game show.

When to go

May to September, when boat trips run from several ports; sailings depend on sea state. Morning light suits photographs from the Fouras side.

What to expect

There is no landing and no public access to the interior at all; the visit is a boat circuit and nothing more. Trips are cancelled in rough weather. The fort is used for filming in season.

Nearby

The Ile d'Aix and Ile d'Oleron are on either side; Fouras is the nearest port.

Key facts