Bard Fortress
The Fortress of Bard is an imposing barrage, erected at the mouth of the Aosta Valley.
The Savoy fortress entirely occupies the strategic rocky spur that bars access across the valley. The present fortification was built between 1830 and 1838 on the ruins of an earlier castle, destroyed in 1800 by Napoleon's troops.
On that occasion, after enduring a 15-day siege, the garrison surrendered-with the honor of arms-to the 40,000-strong French Armée de Réserve, which had crossed the Alps at the Great St. Bernard Pass.
The complex, designed by military engineer Francesco Antonio Olivero, consists of several independent bodies of buildings capable of ensuring mutual defense. The stronghold is a perfect example of the military architecture of the time; it had powerful artillery (50 guns of various calibers including mortars, howitzers and cannons) housed in casemates placed on different levels. It could accommodate 416 men (which could be doubled with straw accommodation on the ground) and had supplies to withstand a 3-month siege.
This fortress was never the scene of clashes and has therefore been preserved virtually intact. A few numbers are enough to give an idea of the size of this bastion: 14,467 sq. m. of area, 283 rooms, 106 m. of height difference, 806 steps, 2,036 sq. m. of inner courtyards, 9,000 sq. m. of roofs, 1,295 sq. m. of corridors, 385 doors, 323 windows and 296 loopholes.
From the late nineteenth century, the fort gradually lost its wartime importance and was used first as a military prison and then as an ammunition depot.
