"The Fort de Bellegarde is a 17th-century fortification located above the town of Le Perthus, in the Pyrénées-Orientales département of southern France.
History
Le Perthus became French territory after the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). Bellegarde was captured by the Spaniards in 1674, but retaken by Schomberg in 1675.
In 1678, Vauban's plans for the new fortress of Bellegarde were approved.
During the War of the Pyrenees, the fortress was besieged in May - June 1793 by the Spanish and then by the French (May - Sept. 1794).
During World War II, the fort was used as a holding prison by the Gestapo for escaped prisoners of war and enemy agents.
In 1974, scenes from the Charles Bronson film Breakout were filmed at the Fort. The filmmakers were portraying an actual helicopter prison escape that happened in Mexico.
Tourism
The fort is open to the public between June and September only and includes exhibits on the history of the fort, its archaeology and the surrounding area. The property of the state, it has been listed since 1967 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture."

Fort de Bellegarde

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Le château de Valmy, est un château de style Art nouveau, typique de la Belle Époque, bâti sur les hauteurs d'Argelès, dans les Pyrénées-Orientales. C'est une œuvre de l'architecte danois Viggo Dorph-Petersen.
Description
La construction se fit à partir de 1888 et dura 12 ans, jusqu'en 1900, et son inauguration en 1904. C'est une grande demeure bourgeoise Art nouveau aux dimensions extravagantes, dont les clochetons travaillés, les tourelles élancées, les fenêtres longues et asymétriques, les bow-windows et les médaillons floraux en céramique forment de curieux, mais harmonieux, mélanges de styles. Ce château est l'un des premiers bâtiments privés construits à partir d'une charpente en béton armé.
Histoire du Château de Valmy
Pierre Bardou, richissime industriel perpignanais qui a développé la marque des papiers à cigarette JOB créée par son père, Jean Bardou, commande à l'architecte Viggo Dorph-Petersen un château pour chacun de ses trois enfants. Pour son fils Justin, le château d'Aubiry, à Céret. Pour l'une de ses filles, Camille (décédée en 1934) mariée à Charles Ducup de Saint-Paul (1841-1909), le château Ducup de Saint-Paul (légué en 1934 à l'Église catholique) aux abords de Perpignan. Enfin, pour Jeanne, le château de Valmy à Argelès-sur-Mer.
En 1888, Jeanne Bardou épouse Jules Pams, grande figure politique de la IIIe République: avocat, président du conseil général des Pyrénées-Orientales, député, sénateur, ministre de l'Agriculture puis ministre de l'Intérieur, dans le cabinet de Georges Clemenceau (1917-1920). Il fut l'adversaire malheureux de Raymond Poincaré à la présidence de la République en 1913.
En 1930, à la mort de Jules Pams, sa seconde épouse, Mme Holtzer, héritière de la fortune des Pams et d'une partie de celle des Bardou, vendit le château de Valmy à Victor Peix, distillateur à Millas. Ce dernier étendit le domaine viticole et créa les marques Valmy et Valmya. Ces crus de qualité, acquirent vite un grand renom. Ses descendants sont toujours aujourd'hui les propriétaires du château. Ces derniers ont relancé l'activité viticole sur le domaine de 24 hectares dans les années 1990. Offrant une véritable offre œnotouristique, il y a cinq chambres d'hôtes au château et un restaurant ouvrant sur un panorama unique allant des Albères à la méditerranée.
Culture
C'est sur les terres de ce château que se déroule chaque année, au mois de juillet, "Les Déferlantes", évènement regroupant différents styles de musiques.

Château de Valmy

The Château Royal de Collioure is a massive French royal castle in the town of Collioure, a few kilometers north of the Spanish border in the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales.
History of the Castle of Collioure
The Château is the juxtaposition of at least four castles.
Roussillon was conquered by the Romans around 120 BC and then occupied by the Visigoths from 418. The first mention is about a fortified site in Collioure under siege in 673, by Wamba, king of the Visigoths who lay siege to the “Castellum Caucolibéri” to subdue a rebellion.
Castle of the Templars
In the 12th century, Girard II, the last independent count of the Roussillon, bequeathed his land to Alfons II, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona. Concerned about the prosperity of Collioure, the kings of Aragon granted privileges and tax exemptions. An annual fair was established, and important works were undertaken in the castle, the port and the town. The Knights Templar built the castle around 1207 and integrated it to the royal castle in 1345.
Kings of Majorca
A second castle was later built by the Kings of Majorca during the 13th and 14th centuries. In the 13th century, the Castle was annexed to the Kingdom of Majorca, which included the domain of Montpellier, the earldoms of the Roussillon and Cerdanya, the Conflent and Vallespir, and the Balearic Islands. The Kings of Majorca were itinerant. They travelled with their court, moving frequently from Maguelonne, near Montpellier, to Perpignan, to Palma de Majorca or to Collioure.
Habsburg fortress: Charles Quint and Philip II
In the 16th century, after a brief occupation by Louis XI, the Spanish Habsburgs, starting with Charles Quint, again occupied Collioure. He and his son Philip II turned the castle into a modern fortress of the 16th century. It was imperative that the fortifications were adapted in line with the advances in artillery, and so the castle defences and its surroundings were considerably reinforced.
Bourbon citadel
In the 17th century Collioure was at stake in the wars between the Spanish Habsburgs and the French Bourbons. In 1642, Louis XIII's troops lay siege to Collioure and the Château Royal. Ten thousand men including Turenne, d'Artagnan and the King's musketeers occupied the hills overlooking the town, while the French fleet blocked the port. Deprived of water due to the destruction of their wells, the Spanish were forced to surrender. In 1659, France annexed the Roussillon and Collioure and the castle passed definitively into French hands. Vauban built the bastions, reinforced the structure and upgraded Fort Saint-Elme.
The Roussillon war
In 1793, the Spanish again besieged and occupied Collioure, which General Dugommier took back the next year. He captured Fort Saint-Elme on 25 May and forced the Spanish general Eugenio Navarro to surrender the next day.
The 20th century
Fort Saint-Elme was sold at auction in August 1913.
The castle was designated an historic monument in 1922.
The castle was turned into a men's prison in March 1939 and became the first disciplinary camp for the Spanish refugees of the Retirada, the exile from the Spanish Civil War. Many others were sent to the camps of Argelès-sur-Mer and Rivesaltes. After 1941, French detainees were prisoners of the Vichy regime. The prison received men sentenced for indiscipline, attempted escape and incitement to rebellion from the camps of Argelès-sur-Mer, Saint-Cyprien and Le Barcarès. The detainees transited there before being sent to North Africa.
Property of the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales since 1951, the castle is one of the major tourist spots in Northern Catalonia.

Château royal de Collioure

The Fort Saint-Elme is a military fort built between 1538 and 1552 by Charles V. It is located in the district of Collioure, 30 km south-east of Perpignan, in the department of Pyrénées-Orientales. It is designated as a monument historique of the Côte Vermeille. Since 2008, the fort has been a museum with medieval and Renaissance arms collections, exhibitions and a panorama over the area from the terrace.
Localisation
The fort Saint-Elme is located at the top of a hill overhanging Collioure on the west and Port-Vendres on the east. One can reach the fort following a local road linking the D114 road at the north, through the Coll d'en Raixat at the south.
Toponymy
Several assumptions exist for the origins of Saint Elme: Firstly the name of Saint-Elme may come from Erasmus of Formia, an Italian martyr of the 4th century. Secondly it could have been given in honour of the Spanish saint Peter González (1190-1246). This explains why we find this name around the western Mediterranean coasts: Saint Elme in Naples, Sant Elme in St Feliu de Guixols, Sant Helme and Santem in Provence, etc… Saint Erasmus may have become the patron saint of sailors because he is said to have continued preaching even after a thunderbolt struck the ground beside him. This prompted sailors, who were in danger from sudden storms and lightning, to claim his prayers. The electrical discharges at the mastheads of ships were read as a sign of his protection and came to be called "Saint Elmo's Fire".
By decree on 3 June 1794, during the French Revolution, the city took briefly the name of Fort-du-Rocher (Rock's fort).
History
From the origins to the Middle-Ages
The history of Fort Saint-Elme began with the edification of the watchtower in the 8th century, i.e. either during the period when Arab-Berber troops occupied Septimania between 719 and 759. Integrated to the Marca Hispanica, the tower belonged to the independent Counts of Roussillon until the death without heirs of Girard II of Roussillon in 1172. He bequeathed his county to Alfonso II, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona. This is during the Aragonese period that the tower took its nickname "Torre de la guardia" (Watchtower).
Between 1276 and 1344, Majorca’s kings, whose summer residence was the castle of Collioure, rebuilt this signal tower on this ideal point of view. This tower was integrated in an efficient communication system including the Massane and Madeloc towers located on the heights of Collioure and funded by James II of Aragon in the 13th century. These towers communicated through smoke signals that permitted to alert the surroundings population with smoke signals (black or white, discontinuous or continuous) according to the danger. At night, some dry wood permitted to light fires to alert garrisons until Perpignan. By day, some green wood was used to emit smoke and thus communicate with the others towers and strongholds of the region. But it was the enemy of the kingdom of Majorca, the king Peter IV of Aragon, who, once he conquered the coast in 1344, made significant military works to improve the defense of the fort.
During the second part of the 15th century, the French controlled the Roussillon. In 1462, the king Louis XI took advantage of the Catalan civil war (1462-1472) to sign the treaty of Bayonne and thus took over the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne. The French decided to strengthen the fort which took the name of Saint Elme. A part of ramparts dates from this period. The successor of Louis XI, Charles VIII, who wanted to assure the neutrality of Spain for his ambitions over the kingdom of Naples, signed with Ferdinand II of Aragon the treaty of Barcelona in 1493. The catholic king recovered thus the lost territories.
The fortification of Charles V
In the 16th century, the Roussillon is an essential piece of the Spanish kingdom. The region had a triangular shape delimitated by the cordilleras in the north, the Albera Massif in the south and the Mediterranean Sea in the east. Perpignan was an important industrial, cultural and commercial center which got important privileged links with the wealth of Italy. Perpignan was defended in the north by the Fortress of Salses and in the south by the Fort Saint-Elme. This castle protected also the Collioure and Port-Vendres ports which assured supplies and troops helpers to the regional capital of Roussillon.
The progress of the modern artillery changed profoundly the war art and the siege technics. Architects and artillerymen were converted to new war masters and advisers of sovereigns. In 1537, the Italian architect Benedetto of Ravenna caught the emperor’s attention on the weaknesses of the Collioure position. After an inspection, Benedetto obtained the agreement of Charles V. He began the works in 1538 until 1552 and transformed the fort’s appearance which took its star-shaped aspect.
A French fort
Despite this modernisation and its adaptation to the artillery, on 13 April 1642, French troops of king Louis XIII achieved to take the fort. After the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, the Spanish threat remained. When Vauban, military architect of King Louis XIV, made a reconnaissance of the defensive structures in 1659 in the region of Collioure, he decided to build a counterscarp, which forms with the ramparts base a ten-meter pit where infantry and cannons could easily operate.
Around 1780, the fort’s facade was whitened to serve as landmark from the sea, with the Massane Tower, to better situate the port of Port-Vendres.
During the French Revolution, more precisely during the War of the Pyrenees, between 1793 and 1795, the region was the center of violent fights. The Fort Saint Elme was conquered successively by Royalists and Republicans. In 1794, the Spanish army took the fort. Six months later, the general Dugommier crushed with 11 000 cannonballs the garrison which surrendered on 25 May 1794 after a 22-day siege. After the revolutionary period, the fort, unified with the municipality of Collioure, was transformed in military warehouse.
A private museum
The Fort Saint-Elme was demilitarised in 1903 and abandoned. The tower was shattered, the (shooting place) was partly impracticable and lots of walls threatened to collapse. On 21 August 1913, the State decided to auction the fort. Several owners succeeded but none restoration was made. The fort was registered as Monument Historique by decree of 2 April 1927. A new owner decided thus to restore it. The works ended in 1936. During the WWII, the fort was occupied by the Kriegsmarine between 1942 and 1944. At their escape, some buildings were dynamited to block the progression of allied troops. Rebuilt partially in 1950, most restoration works began in 2004. Since 2008, the fort has been a museum.
Architecture
The interior of the fort Saint-Elme is composed of rooms edified around the exterior circumference of the tower. On the first floor, there were the troop’s dormitories, the weapons room, the throne’s room, the jail and the oven. Today, the floor is fit out historical objects which date from 15th century to 19th century: helmets, knights’ armours, chest, polished-stone and iron cannonballs, medieval and "Renaissance" weapons (culverin, falconet, crossbows, halberds, flails, hammers, lances, bows, swords, arquebus, 16th-century pistols), howitzer fragments.
Others rooms reveal the history of the monument: the genealogy and life of Charles V, the fortifications of Vauban, the inventory of 1770 and the attack of general Dugommier in 1794.
On the second floor, the flour and artillery warehouses were next to the guardroom and the bakery. Saint-Elme, a stronghold with an ingenious defensive system, has been conceived to support sieges and resist to assaults. Some walls reach up to eight-meters thick. The tower contained the powder. The shooting place could receive more than 20 cannons and howitzers. The undergrounds are not open to the public. Formerly, they were used as a warehouse for food and housing. They could also house all trades (corps de metier) necessary to the fight.

Fort Saint-Elme

The Château de Castelnou (also called the Château Vicomtal) is a medieval castle in the commune of Castelnou (Catalan: Castellnou dels Aspres) in the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales.
The village of Castelnou takes its name from the castle. The Latin castellum novum became in Catalan castell nou, the "new castle".
History
From 990, the castle served as the administrative and military capital of the Viscount of Vallespir. Its irregular pentagonal plan follows the rocky outcrop on which it was built, this elevated position providing defence against enemy attacks.
The castle was taken by the troops of James II of Majorca en 1286, and again in 1483. Largely demolished in 1559, it was no longer restored or inhabited and deteriorated throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. At the time of the French Revolution it became the property of the commune. It was sold to Viscount Satgé in 1875 and, by 1900, had become again an elegant and habitable fortress. It was acquired in 1946 by Charles-Emmanuel Brousse who was married to Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, a famed American spy. Having been ravaged by a terrible fire, in 1987 it was sold and has since been restored.