The ''Barrage Vauban'', or Vauban Dam, is a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

and defensive work erected in the 17th century on the River Ill in the city of Strasbourg in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. At that time, it was known as the Great Lock (''grande écluse''), although it does not function as a navigation lock in the modern sense of the word. Today it serves to display sculptures and has a viewing terrace on its roof, with views of the earlier ''Ponts Couverts'' bridges and Petite France quarter. It has been classified as a ''

Monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

'' since 1971. The barrage was constructed from 1686 to 1690 in pink

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

by the French Engineer Jacques Tarade according to plans by Vauban. The principal defensive function of the barrage was to enable, in the event of an attack, the raising the level of the River Ill and thus the flooding of all the lands south of the city, making them impassable to the enemy. This defensive measure was deployed in 1870, when Strasbourg was besieged by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n forces during the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

, and resulted in the complete flooding of the northern part of the suburb of Neudorf. The barrage has 13 arches and is in length. Within the structure an enclosed corridor links the two banks and a

lapidarium A lapidarium is a place where stone (Latin: ) monuments and fragments of archaeological interest are exhibited. They can include stone epigraphy, epigraphs; statues; architectural elements such as columns, cornices, and acroterions; bas relief ...

serves to display ancient

plaster cast A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a pregnant belly, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – ...

s and copies of

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

s and

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s from

Strasbourg Cathedral Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (, or ''Cathédrale de Strasbourg'', ), also known as Strasbourg Minster (church), Minster (), is a Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. Although considerable parts of ...

and Palais Rohan. Three of the arches are raised to permit navigation, and the corridor is carried across these by

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

s. The roof was rebuilt in 1965-66 in order to construct the panoramic terrace. Admission to the barrage and terrace is free, and they are open daily from 09:00 to 19:30. The Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the '' Commanderie Saint-Jean'', now home to the prestigious ''

École Nationale d'Administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

'', are both adjacent to the northern end of the barrage. The headquarters (''Hôtel du Département'') of the

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

department is by the southern end.

Gallery

BarrageVauban1750.png, An image of the upstream side of the barrage from 1750 Rear of Barrage Vauban.jpg, Upstream side of the barrage showing the stonework Barrage Vauban interior 2.JPG, The internal corridor Strasbourg, Barrage Vauban 01.JPG, Statues from Palais Rohan in the lapidarium Strasbourg, Barrage Vauban 04.JPG, Statues from Strasbourg Cathedral in the lapidarium Strasbourg, France, Ponts Couverts seen from Barrage Vauban.jpg, View of part of the ''Ponts Couverts'' and Petite France from the terrace

References

External links

Barrage Vauban
on archi-wiki.org {{in lang, fr
Bridges in France Buildings and structures completed in 1690 Fortifications in France Monuments historiques of Strasbourg Tourist attractions in Strasbourg Weirs in France 1690 establishments in France