Fort Boyard ©Yuriy Buriak
The fort itself was built quite a long time, construction began in 1801. As you can see, these were the years of Napoleon’s tense relations with neighbors, mainly with Great Britain. In 1809 construction was stopped, since the concrete blocks lying on the sea bottom began to fall under their own weight. Construction resumed only in 1837.
In 1857, the fort was completed, but already lost any military importance due to the development of technology. At first inside was a prison and later it just stood abandoned.
In 1962, the fort was put up for auction at a ridiculous price. There were several buyers and the winner paid about 35,000 euros (in 2019 prices). He had no money for restoration works and opened the fort for the tourists. This was not very profitable and in 1979 the owner put the for for sale at a price of 1 million euros (in 2019 prices). Thought, no one wanted to pay such a lot of money for a half-dead fortification.
The fort was sold only 10 years later, this time the buyer was really interested person, producer Jacques Antoine. He carried out the reconstruction, first of all he cleared the fort from the 50-centimeter layer of guano and built a pier. A year later, the first episode of the new TV show was aired.
Tourists can only look at the fort from the outside. To do this buy a ticket to a pleasure boat in Boyardville, La Rochelle or other nearby locations.
Fort Boyard ©Yuriy Buriak
We looked at the fort from the shore, not far from the town of Boyardville. If you park here N 45 58.818 W 1 14.499 and go to the beach, then the fort will be only 2300 meters away. This is the smallest distance from which you can see it from the ground.
