Fort Royal de l'Île Sainte-Marguerite

Fort Royal sits on the northern point of the Île Sainte-Marguerite, distinguished by a stark pentagonal layout and high, austere stone walls that overlook the bay of Cannes. Originally built between sixteen twenty-four and sixteen twenty-seven as a fortified manor house, the site was expanded by Spanish forces in sixteen thirty-five before being captured by the French in sixteen thirty-seven. The military engineer Vauban later oversaw its final transformation into a fortified citadel, adding the bastions that give it its rigid, geometric silhouette.