Petit Bé is a tidal island near the city of Saint-Malo, France, close to the larger island of Grand Bé. At low tide one can walk to the island from the nearby Bon-Secours beach.
Fort
In 1667 the French government built a small fort on the island of Petit Bé. Construction on the present fort began in 1689.
The fort was part of the defenses that Vauban designed to protect Saint-Malo from British and Dutch fleets. The defensive works included the walls of Saint Malo, Fort National, Fort Harbourg, Fort de la Conchée, and the forts of Cézembre and Pointe de la Varde; these last two have been destroyed.
Construction began under the direction of the engineer Siméon Garangeau. The fort was still under construction in at the time of the British attack on Saint-Malo in November 1693. When an Anglo-Dutch force attacked Saint-Malo again in 1695, the fort helped repel the attack.
The fort consists of a horseshoe-shaped battery on the seaward side that has 19 embrasures for guns. In 1695 it held nine guns; two years later it was armed with 15 guns, including four 48-pounders and six 36-pounders, as well as two mortars. A garrison of 177 men manned the fort and served its guns. On the landward side the fort consisted of two half-bastions that flank the entrance, which is a few metres above the level of the rocks. The bastions are loopholed for muskets to enable the defenders to resist attempts to scale the defences. Several different plans were advanced for a demi-lune outwork in front of the entrance but in the end none was built. Cross-fire from Petit Bé and Fort Harbourg in Dinard protected the estuary of the Rance. The fort was finally finished in 1707.
The French army occupied the fort until 1885. Later, the army turned the fort over to the city of Saint-Malo. It became a Monument historique in 1921, but was neglected until 2000, when the city gave it to a non-profit organization rent-free to renovate it and prepare it for tourism. Under the direction of Alain-Etienne Marcel, the fort has been restored. Brush was removed from the embrasures, some of which received period cannons. The cistern had to be emptied of garbage and it now retains storm water fed into it from the restored roof of the barracks building.

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Fort National is a fort on a tidal island a few hundred metres off the walled city of Saint-Malo. The great military architect Vauban had it built in 1689 to protect Saint-Malo's port.
The fort was originally called Fort Royal. In 1789 the fort's name became Fort d'Îlette or Républicain, then Fort Impérial and, after 1870, Fort National.
History
Origins
The fort stands on l'Îlette rock. This was originally the site of a beacon that was lit at night to act as a lighthouse. Îlette was also a place of public executions for the seigniory of Saint Malo, which burnt criminals there. Latter a gallows occupied the site. A model in Saint-Malo's history museum suggests that a battery may have occupied the site before the erection of the Vauban fort.
Vauban
The engineer Siméon Garangeau built the fort following Vauban's plans, and on the orders of King Louis XIV. Construction seems to have taken from 1689 to 1693. The fort augmented the defences of the city, and was part of a chain of fortifications that stretched from Fort-la-Latte to Pointe de la Varde.
The original fort was a rectangle, built of granite, with two half bastions at the south, protecting the gate. A drawbridge gave access across a dry moat. Inside the fort there is a long building that contained quarters for the officer and troops, and equipment rooms.
Anglo-Dutch attack
On 26 November 1693, a fleet of 30 English and Dutch ships appeared off Cap Fréhel. They cannonaded Fort-la-Latte and Ébihens island, and then sailed towards Saint Malo. Three days later, the Anglo-Dutch force captured Fort de la Conchée and Cézembre island. For their attack on Saint Malo the English had brought a vessel packed with gunpowder to use as a floating mine against the city's defences, but it ran aground short of its target. The crew of the vessel were able to set off their bomb, but it was too far from its target to do any harm.
At the time, the fort was armed with 14 guns on marine carriages and three mortars. (Other accounts suggest that the fort originally had 23 guns, with the mortars being added in 1704.)
The fort contains an underground cistern with a capacity of 50,000 liters, fed by gutters, and accessible both by a trapdoor and a well. The garrison held its ammunition in an underground bomb-proof magazine with a vaulted ceiling. Angled apertures provided light and air.
Later developments
In 1848 the government added a wall pierced for small arms that encircled about three-quarters of the fort. The wall was intended to protect the fort against infantry attack from the land or by troops landed on the rocks on which the fort stands. The engineers also added a small bastion in front of the gate. This gave the fort a total area of about 4000 square metres.
In 1906 the fort received recognition as a historic building. However, in 1927 the government sold the fort to a private buyer.
World War II
The German army took control of the French coast from Cap Frehel to Saint-Malo by the end of June 1940. In 1942 work on fortifying Saint-Malo sped up as Hitler's Atlantic Wall project took form.
On 6 August 1944, the allies bombed Saint-Malo, which was still under German occupation. The next day the German commander imprisoned 380 men from St. Malo in the fort to prevent an uprising. The prisoners remained there for six days, where allied shellfire killed 18 of them on the night of 9 to 10 August. Food ran out on 11 August, and on 13 August 150 old men and women joined the existing prisoners. However, that evening, the Germans permitted all the prisoners to leave during an hour-long truce.
The American 83rd Infantry Division was responsible for the liberation of Saint Malo, including Fort National. The fort itself was liberated on 16 August, but not till after allied shellfire had damaged it. The fort was later restored in accordance with Vauban's original plans.
Tourist information
One may visit the fort when the fort is flying the French flag. Access is only possible at low tide during the period from 1 June to 30 September and on certain other days. To see the daily opening times see the fort's website.

Fort National

Château de Saint-Malo was built between 1424 and 1690, first by Jean V, the Duke of Brittany. The Duke Francois II built the first tower in 1475. In 1590 during the Wars of Religion the castle was occupied by local people, who wanted to prevent local governor to gave the city to Protestant king Henry IV.
The château was modified in the 17th century according the design of famous fortress architect Sebastian Vauban. In the 19th century it functioned as barracks. Today it is a museum, covering a number of themes including the long maritime history of St-Malo, 19th century writers of which Chateaubriand is the most well known, WWII occupation and the destruction and reconstruction of the town.
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/2969/chateau-de-saint-malo/

Château de Saint-Malo

The first manor on the site was built in 1666 by the Pointel family. Today the ruins of this original manor are still visible. The current Château de la Briantais was built by Eugene Sully-Brunet between 1850-1864. Today it is owned by the city of Saint-Malo and used for concerts and other events. The 27-hectares park is worth of seeing, including a chapel from 1778.
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/3459/chateau-de-la-briantais/

Château de la Briantais

Château de Montmarin was built in 1760 by Aaron Magon, Squire of the Château du Bosq. It is the only 'Malouiniè' (the typical 18th century summer résidence of rich ship-owners and merchants from Saint-Malo) to be located on th left bank of the Rance, with a magnificent panoramic view across the estuary. An Imposing classic gateway opens on to the Court of Honor ornemented by a splendid 18th century fountain in white Carrare marble. The restrained classicism of the entrance side of the housse is in striking conytrast with the fanciful Louis XV elegance of the main façade facing the Rance with its pavilions rooped in the shape open upturned.
The 6 hestares park is praised by the writers of the period, Madame de Genlis, and Chateaubriand, slopes gently down to the Rance in a series of terraces. In front of the house, the French formal garden, pratically unchanged since the day it was designed, overlooks the park, laid out in 1885 in the English style, with its historic trees, wide lawns, thickets, rock-garden, ans flowering borders.Each year, new varieties of plants and trees are added to already considerable collection.
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/3453/chateau-de-montmarin/

Château de Montmarin

Château du Nessay was built on an emplacement of a castle originating form the 12th century. The original castle was destroyed in mid-1600s. During the French Revolution, it was used as a prison, to hold political prisoners. The current castle was built by Count Maurice de Villebresme in 1886.
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/3456/chateau-du-nessay/

Château du Nessay

In 1715, la Ville Bague was build by Guillaume Eon, Julien Eon's nephew. Eon family, wealthy merchants of Saint-Malo, had opened many outlets abroad, notably in Cadiz.
A more modest mansion stood at the place of the present malouinière. The dovecot, the chapel and the walls are older (late seventeenth century). Successive property of families Eon (in 1670), Magon lords Chipaudière (in 1676), and Eon (1776). In 1768, Julie Marie Eon du Vieux Chastel married Jonathan Penfentenyo, Marquis de Cheffontaines. The Marquis de Cheffontaines becomes the owner of la Ville Bague in 1789.
With the Revolution, the house was abandoned by its owners. The original ramp was melt down in 1794 and replaced in 1980 by the one of a demolished malouinière of la Madeleine district in St Malo. After the revolution, the property was own by the Esnoul le Seneschal family between 1892 and 1946. In 1975, Jacques Chauveau and his wife, Madeleine, buy the property and begin a long process of restoration of the Malouinière and the park. Without subsidies, but through the Malraux Act, la Ville Bague finds its glory through the work of Jean-François Chauvel, head gardener since 1980 and is open to visitors coming from around the world to admire this jewel of the architecture of St Malo.
The panoramic wallpaper
The large living room wallpaper was created in 1820 (Dufouret Leroy factory) and represents Pizzaro's arrival among the Incas. He was placed in the halls of la Ville Bague at the request of Hiacynthe Penfentenio, Cheffontaines Marquis and his wife, Julie-Marie-Rose Eon, on their return from exile. Exceptional model in its entirety, this pan is a historical monument. It was take off and sold in 1972 and was then found for sale on the art market in 1976. Badly damaged, it was restored by the Beaux-Arts in Paris who, by chance, had an other intact example at the Museum of Decorative Arts.
The Chapel of St. Sophia
Built in 1690 by Julien Eon, Sieur de la Ville Bague, and consecrated by the Bishop of Dol in 1695, the chapel is of the same era as the old mansion which stood in place of the current malouinière. They say she is semi-enclosed as it is partly outside the property. It has two entrances, one for the Eon family and one for the villagers of Saint Coulomb.
This chapel was used to store potatoes in the 1960s and was in ruins. It was fully restored from the ground (Carrara marble) to the roof.The altarpiece is from the demolished Chapel "Notre-Dame de Lorette" in St Servan district.
The square Dovecot
Built in the late seventeenth century, it was still an orange grove because Julien Eon was not knighted. But the dovecot is the main privilege of the nobility, outward sign of wealth. In 1715, Guillaume Eon did raise this orangery which becomes a dovecot with three hundred and twenty bearers, which corresponded to one hundred sixty acres, regulations are very strict (two pigeons per acres).
http://www.la-ville-bague.com

Malouinière de la Ville Bague

Château du Guildo dates from the 11th century, when there was a fortified manor, probably made of wood. The stone castle was built in the 13th century in three phases. It was destroyed a century later and the new castle construction began in the late 1300s. Later it was restored as a living residence, but badly damaged in the late 1400s during the French-Breton War. The castle took part also to the Wars of Religion, when it was surrounded several times by Catholic League. This caused the final destruction Château du Guildo.
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/3069/chateau-du-guildo/

Château du Guildo

Fort la Latte or Castle of La Latte is a castle in the northeast of Brittany, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) southeast of Cap Fréhel and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) west of Saint-Malo, in the commune of Fréhel, Côtes-d'Armor.
It is a famous tourist attraction on the Cote d'Émeraude. This impressive castle was built on a small piece of land at the Baie de la Fresnaye in the 13th century. Various films have been shot at this site, including The Vikings (1958) by Richard Fleischer with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. It also features in the French band Manau's video for "La Tribu de Dana." A much larger, fictionalized version of the fort appears in the 2015 animated film April and the Extraordinary World.
The castle has been classified as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1925.