Neuf-Brisach

When France lost Breisach across the Rhine in 1697, Louis XIV ordered a replacement fortress, and Vauban designed Neuf-Brisach from scratch on empty flat ground in 1698, his final and most theoretically complete work. The plan is an octagon: bastions and outworks on the perimeter, a grid of forty-eight blocks inside, a central square, and no natural feature to compromise the geometry, which is why it is best understood from the air or a plan. It is one of the twelve Vauban sites inscribed by UNESCO in 2008. The town inside is still inhabited and ordinary, and the ramparts can be walked and cycled.

History

Neuf-Brisach was built to guard the border with the Holy Roman Empire after the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697 cost France the town of Breisach across the Rhine; work began in 1698 to Vauban's plans, and after his death in 1707 his last work was completed by Louis de Cormontaigne, with a canal dug to bring in the building materials. Laid out as an ideal city, a square grid inside an octagonal fortification with a central square and church, it was the culmination of Vauban's third system, with an inner bastioned wall and an outer ring of star-shaped earthworks larger than the town itself. The Germans bombarded it from 2 to 10 November 1870, when it surrendered; in 2008 it was listed as part of the Fortifications of Vauban World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Neuf-Brisach).

What's there

• The octagonal plan - a complete geometric fortress on flat ground.
• The bastions and outworks - Vauban's mature defensive system intact.
• The grid town - forty-eight blocks around a central square.
• The Belfort gate - a monumental gate housing the Vauban museum.

When to go

April to October; the ramparts are open year-round and free. A guided tour or the museum helps, because the geometry is hard to read from ground level.

What to expect

From inside it looks like an ordinary small town; the design only becomes impressive with a plan or aerial view. The museum is small. There is little to do beyond the walls.

Nearby

Colmar lies west; the Rhine and Germany are a few kilometres east.

Key facts