Fort Lagarde de Prats-de-Mollo-la-preste

Fort Lagarde overlooks the fortified town of Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste, in the Haut Vallespir, close to the Spanish border. Vauban came to the spot in 1670: he wanted the town's ramparts rebuilt and proposed a fort around the Tour de la Guardia, an old medieval signal tower.

The project, first rejected by Louvois, was taken up by the engineer Rousselot in 1692 and then interrupted for lack of funds in 1693: only about a third of the planned work was built. At the centre, the medieval tower is surrounded by a keep reinforced at the end of the seventeenth century.

An underground passage, a military fallback route, links the fort to the town. The monument is listed, and the whole is part of the fortified sites of Roussillon. It is reached on foot by a path or through the tunnel, and guided tours are offered from April to November.

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