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Forteresse de Salses is a window into France’s royal and medieval past. Locate it on the map, book a room nearby in a click, or add it to your travel list to build your itinerary.
About Forteresse de Salses
On the frontier between France and Spain in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the Forteresse de Salses is one of the most remarkable military monuments in Europe, a revolutionary artillery fortress built by the Catholic kings of Spain between 1497 and 1503. Designed to withstand the new power of cannon, it is a startling half-buried stronghold of thick, rounded walls of pink brick and stone, sunk into the ground and utterly different from the tall towers of medieval castles — a pioneering masterpiece of the transition to modern fortification. Guarding the coastal route between France and Spain, it later passed to France and was adapted by Vauban. Powerful, innovative and unlike any other castle, the Forteresse de Salses offers a fascinating journey into the history of warfare and fortification, an essential and unique monument in the sun-drenched countryside of Roussillon.