Fort Frère

Restored by an association of volunteers and open to the public since 2000, this site is Europe’s best-preserved example of a Biehler-type fort. Don’t miss out on visiting this superb monument of European military architecture from the late 19th century, located a few kilometres from the centre of Strasbourg. The fort was first called Grossherzog von Baden, then Maréchal Pétain in 1918 and finally Fort Frère in 1945. Built from 1872 to 1875 following the German annexation, it was an especially important part of the ring of forts developed a few kilometres around Strasbourg to protect the city from enemy artillery. It was, in fact, a prototype, designed by the engineer Von Biehler, who later went on to apply its principles to the Empire’s other forts. This large fort, covering a surface area of 10 hectares, was designed to house more than 900 garrison troops armed with 42 pieces of artillery. It was a pivotal piece of the city’s defence system, as enemies were expected at this spot northwest of Strasbourg, on the road to Paris. This is where, on 28 September 1872, all of Strasbourg’s new fortifications were officially inaugurated. In 1945, the fort was renamed Fort Frère in memory of General Aubert Frère (1881-1944), the military governor of Strasbourg in 1940, a member of the French Resistance, who died in the Struthof concentration camp in Alsace in 1944. The tour takes visitors (among other places) to the Gorge Place-of-Arms, the barracks, the artillery quarters, the rampart and its fortifications, the moat and its defences, the glacis and the area surrounding the fort. Information at https://www.fort-frere.eu/