Sedan Castle

The chateau fort of Sedan covers about thirty-five thousand square metres over seven levels, generally described as the largest fortified castle in Europe, and it got that way by accretion: begun in 1424, it was enlarged and thickened repeatedly until the walls in places are around twenty-seven metres thick, with older towers swallowed inside newer masonry so that they now stand as rooms within the wall. Turenne, the marshal of Louis XIV, was born here in 1611. The castle served as a barracks and then a fortress into the twentieth century. Passages, casemates and the tower interiors are visited on a marked route with audio guide.

History

Around 1424 Eberhard II von der Mark built a manor with two towers around a church over six years; after his death in 1440 his son Jean de la Marck began to strengthen it, and Jean's grandson Robert II de la Marck completed the most important work. In 1530 the fortifications were modernised with a circular boulevard and cannon terraces, thickening the 4.5-metre curtain wall by a further 26 metres, and bastions were added over the next century. The principality was absorbed into France in 1642 and the castle became a garrison, for which Vauban built the Gate of the Princes in 1699, adapted to modern artillery; Turenne had been born in the castle in 1611. In 1822 the church of Saint-Martin was pulled down and replaced by a store for cannonballs, and on 1 September 1870 the Battle of Sedan was fought nearby, after which Napoleon III surrendered at neighbouring Donchery (Wikipedia, Sedan Castle).

Highlights

• The buried towers - fifteenth-century towers enclosed inside later walls.
• The casemates and passages - internal routes through the thickness of the fortress.
• The seven levels - stacked terraces and courtyards on the rock.
• The scale from outside - a solid stone mass over the town.

When to go

April to October; the castle opens year-round with shorter winter hours. Medieval festival weekends fill it in summer. The interiors are cold and damp in winter.

What to expect

Much of the visit is bare stone corridors and casemates rather than furnished rooms. There is a lot of stair climbing. Part of the castle is occupied by a hotel and closed to visitors.

Nearby

Charleville-Mezieres lies west; the Ardennes forest is north.

Key facts