Fort de Tournoux - Batterie des Caurres

Work on the Fort de Tournoux began in 1843 with the aim of defending the region against invasions from Italy. These massive, spectacular fortifications constituted the core of the valley's strategic defence.

The Tournoux fort rises from battery B12 (1330 m), a group of gun casemates carved out of the rock, to the middle fort (1550 m), and finally to the upper fort (1690 m), organised around a barracks and casemated batteries. In 1880, the Caurres battery was built at an altitude of 1780 m to defend the heights; surrounded by a ditched enclosure, it was linked to the upper fort by gates and a crenellated fort, as well as by a gallery dug into the rock.

Construction began in 1843 with the middle and upper forts, completed in 1865, to which the Caurres battery was added in 1880.

Situated on a rocky spur at the confluence of the Ubaye and Ubayette valleys (the access route to Italy), the fort's buildings inevitably attract attention due to their size and their almost Tibetan layout, spanning a height difference of almost 700 metres.

The upper fort, set into the rock, has a facade whose architectural simplicity is enhanced by the use of Serennes marble. Visitors approaching from the village of Tournoux will soon find themselves in front of the wide, Vauban-style ditches that protect the Caurres battery.

Continuing higher up, they will discover the Serre de l'Aut fort at over 2,000 metres, where the view embraces the entire horizon. This position was intended to be one of the links in an optical transmission chain linking Briançon to Toulon.

During the Second World War, the fort fired 500 cannon shots, its baptism of fire.