The citadel of Blaye is a military complex of 38 hectares built between1685 and 1689 by the military architect François Ferry. Dominating the estuary of the Gironde, it is located in the town of Blaye in the New-Aquitaine region of France. It forms a vast fortified ensemble surrounded by curtain walls, completed by four bastions and three half-moons.
The interior is conceived as a real barracks articulated around a place of arms, a convent sheltering religious of the order of Minimes, and several barracks intended for the lodging of the troop. Several elements of the medieval fortifications are preserved in the new ensemble, such as the castle of Rudel (12th C.), the door of Liverneuf (13th C.) and the tower of the Éguillette (15th C.)
The presence of a rocky spur 35 meters above the estuary explains the early establishment of fortifications on the site of the current citadel. If it seems likely that the site was chosen by the Romans to build the "castrum” of Blavia and the construction of a Merovingian castle in the 7th C.
Door in the citadel of Blaye by Alexix Plichon on 500px
Blaye échauguette. Stone guerite of the bastion of the Fathers, surmounted by a fleur-de-lis, emblem of the French monarchy. Wikipedia