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Come and visit Salses fortress, a unique example of military architecture combining aspects from medieval castles and modern bastions, located 15km from Perpignan. Come and discover the arresting dialogue between the 15th-century monument and installations by major contemporary artists.
Visiting Salses fortress
• A masterpiece of military architecture. Salses shows the transition from a medieval castle (with a keep and round towers framing long curtain walls) to a modern fortress (it is strictly geometrical with deep foundations). With walls from 6 to 10 ten metres thick, the construction has three wholly independent parts running from east to west. The various levels are connected by a labyrinth of passages with a multitude of zigzag internal defences.
• Contemporary art at Salses. There have been major public commissions of artwork for the fortress since 1986. Three sculptures by Toni Grand (1986-2004) are currently on show, as are installations by Antoni Muntadas, Marc Couturier, and Daniel Firman, among others.
Understanding Salses fortress
• A strategic defensive position between Catalonia and France. The fortress was built by the Spanish in the late 15th century on a site with a source of spring water, most useful in the event of a siege, and it guarded the old border. It was besieged, captured and recaptured in 1503, 1639, and 1640, before being definitively taken by the French in 1642. The Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 redrew the borders, and Salses lost its strategic role and importance. Nevertheless, Vauban began partially restoring it in 1691.
