Fort Boyard ( French pronunciation: [fɔʁ bwajaʁ] ) is a fort located between the Île-d'Aix and the Île d'Oléron in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits, on the west coast of France . Though a fort on Boyard bank was suggested as early as the 17th century, it was not until the 1800s under Napoleon Bonaparte that work began. Building started in 1801 and was completed in 1857. In 1967, the final scene of the French film Les aventuriers was filmed at the remains of the fort. Since 1990, it is the filming location for the eponymous TV game show .
21-455: Fort Boyard can refer to: Fort Boyard (fortification) Fort Boyard (game show) , a game show set in the aforementioned fort, which first premiered in France in 1990 Fort Boyard: Ultimate Challenge , a joint US-UK 2011 production Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
42-623: A factory for the French engineering giant Alstom , where the TGV , the cars for the Paris and other metros are manufactured (see fr:Alstom Aytré ). It is a popular venue for tourism, with its picturesque medieval harbour and city walls. The inhabitants of the département are called Charentais-Maritimes . The President of the Departmental Council has been Dominique Bussereau ( LR ) since 2008. He
63-448: A fort to be built on the bank. To facilitate the work, a port was established on île d'Oléron. The village of Boyardville was built for the workers. The first stage of construction was to establish a plateau, some 100 by 50 m (330 by 160 ft), to act as foundation. To this end, stones were piled up on the bank. The project was suspended in 1809. Construction resumed in 1837, under Louis-Philippe , following renewed tensions with
84-594: A possible beach landing by the Allies , the Organisation Todt constructed a number of sea defences in the area. Defences such as pillboxes are particularly noticeable on the beaches of the presqu'île d' Arvert and the island of Oléron . At the end of the war, the two last pockets of German resistance were both in this area: at La Rochelle in the north and Royan in the south. Despite Royan having been nearly destroyed during an RAF bombing raid on 5 January 1945,
105-408: Is stadium -shaped, 68 metres (223 ft) long and 31 m (102 ft) wide. The walls were built 20 m (66 ft) high. At the centre is a yard, and the ground floor provided stores and quarters for the men and officers. The floor above contained casemates for the emplacements of guns and further quarters. Above that were facilities for barbette guns and mortars . The construction of
126-545: Is mild and sunny, with less than 900 mm of precipitation per year and with insolation being remarkably high, in fact, the highest in Western France including southernmost sea resorts such as Biarritz . Average extreme temperatures vary from 39 °C (102 °F) in summer to −5 °C (23 °F) in winter (as of 2022). The economy of Charente-Maritime is based on three major sectors: tourism , maritime industry , and manufacturing . Cognac and pineau are two of
147-881: The Charente and its tributaries, the Boutonne and the Seugne , along with the Sèvre Niortaise , the Seudre and the Garonne , in its downstream part, which is the estuary of the Gironde . The département includes the islands of Île de Ré , Île d'Aix , Ile d'Oléron and Île Madame . The département forms the northern part of the Aquitaine Basin . It is separated from the Massif Armoricain by
168-558: The Marais Poitevin to the north-west and from the Parisian basin by the Seuil du Poitou to the north-east. The highest point in the département is in the woods of Chantemerlière, near the commune of Contré in the north-east, and rises to 173 m. The most populous commune is La Rochelle , the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 7 communes with more than 8,000 inhabitants: The climate
189-576: The TV game show of the same name since 1990, and was also the location for filming The Last Adventure , starring Alain Delon , Lino Ventura and Joanna Shimkus . Charente Maritime Charente-Maritime ( French pronunciation: [ʃaʁɑ̃t maʁitim] ; Poitevin-Saintongeais : Chérente-Marine ; Occitan : Charanta Maritima ) is a département in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on
210-476: The United Kingdom. The fortifications were completed in 1857, with sufficient room for a garrison of 250 men; however, by this time the range of cannons had significantly increased, covering the hitherto unprotected gap and making the fort unnecessary. After 1871, Fort Boyard was briefly used as a military prison, and abandoned in 1913, after which the unmaintained fort slowly deteriorated and crumbled into
231-421: The fort was first considered during a build-up of the French armed forces undertaken by Louis XIV between 1661 and 1667. Fort Boyard was to form a line of fortification with Fort Enet and Fort de la Rade on Île-d'Aix to protect the arsenal of Rochefort from Royal Navy incursions. With the limited range of artillery in the 17th century, there was an unprotected gap between the fields of fire of
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#1733106621002252-402: The fort was still exposed to harmful influences from the sea. Therefore, in 1998, additional restoration work was carried out. The outer walls were completely cleaned and the sealing of the terrace completed. The final stage was the restoration of a central courtyard which was completed in early 2004. It has been used as the location for the filming of both the French and international versions of
273-440: The fortifications on the islands of Aix and Oléron; a fort on Boyard bank, roughly midway between the two, would have filled that gap. In 1692 the French engineer Descombs began planning the programme of building the fort; however, once it became clear how expensive it would be the scheme was abandoned. Vauban , Louis XIV's leading military engineer , famously advised against it, saying "Your Majesty, it would be easier to seize
294-445: The major agricultural products with maize and sunflowers being the others. Charente-Maritime is the headquarters of the major oyster producer Marennes-Oléron. Oysters cultivated here are shipped across Europe. Rochefort is a shipbuilding site and has been a major French naval base since 1665. La Rochelle is a seat of major French industry. Just outside the city, in Aytré , is
315-462: The moon with your teeth than to attempt such an undertaking in such a place". After a British raid on Île-d'Aix in 1757, plans for a fort on Boyard bank were once again considered. Though plans were drawn up, it was abandoned again due to the logistical problems. Efforts were renewed under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800, and the following year engineers Ferregeau and Armand Samuel de Marescot , and Vice-Admiral François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros designed
336-442: The sea. In 1950 it was made a listed building, and in 1961 was sold to Charente Maritime Regional Council. In 1989, the reconstruction of fort began in preparation for hosting the game show. An access platform for the berth of ships was built 25 meters from it (the old fort pier was destroyed long ago). The fort was completely cleared of a huge layer of guano (50 cm thick). In 1996, artillery platforms were also restored. However,
357-490: The southwestern coast of France . Named after the river Charente , its prefecture is La Rochelle . As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kilometres (2,650 sq mi). Previously a part of the provinces of Saintonge and Aunis , Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original département created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. On 4 September 1941, during World War II, it
378-480: The title Fort Boyard . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fort_Boyard&oldid=1144045752 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Fort Boyard (fortification) Fort Boyard
399-534: The town was not liberated by the French Forces of the Interior until April of the same year. La Rochelle was finally liberated on 9 May 1945. Charente-Maritime is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine administrative region. It is surrounded by the départements of Gironde , Charente , Deux-Sèvres , Dordogne and Vendée . It has a land area of 6864 km and 651,358 inhabitants as of 2019. The important rivers are
420-514: Was renamed as Charente-Maritime. When the département was first organised, the commune of Saintes was designated as the prefecture of the département (Saintes had previously been the capital of Saintonge ). This changed in 1810 when Napoleon passed an imperial decree to move the prefecture to La Rochelle . During World War II , the département was invaded by the German Army and became part of occupied France . To provide defence against
441-571: Was replaced by Sylvie Marcilly after the departmental elections of June 2021 . In the 2022 legislative election , Charente-Maritime elected the following members of the National Assembly : In the Senate , Charente-Maritime is represented by three members : Daniel Laurent (since 2008), Corinne Imbert (since 2014) and Mickaël Vallet (since 2020). Popular destinations include La Rochelle , Royan , Saintes , Saint-Jean-d'Angély , Rochefort ,
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