View of the Belfort citadel

The Belfort citadel is a citadel and fortifications from the 17th century and completed in the 19th century by the military engineers Haxo and Séré de Rivières, in Belfort in the Territoire de Belfort in Burgundy-Franche-Comté.

It is a historic strategic military defensive center, the fortified place of Belfort, the fortifications of Eastern France, the iron belt and the towns fortified by Marshal of France Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. Its status as an “impregnable” fortress of the Belfort gap was commemorated in the 19th century by the monuments Lion of Belfort and Monument of the Three Sieges of Belfort, by the sculptor Auguste Bartholdi.

The citadel is the subject of multiple protections as historical monuments: a classification on October 23, 1907 (Brisach gate) modified by a classification on August 20, 1913, a classification on March 6, 1923 (Advanced works: advanced bastion B, exterior walls and roofing of the bastion, wall of the rampart and its cover going from bastion B to the gate of Brisach, wall of the rampart and its cover going from the gate of Brisach to the castle, ditches which complete the defense system of the 17th century), an inscription on 13 August 1993 (covered factory canal) and a classification on April 29, 1997 (All the works constituting the castle and its fortifications)1.

On September 18, 2020, the citadel was designated a “favorite monument of the French” during the France 3 program The Favorite Monument of the French, on the occasion of European Heritage Days.