Fort Boyard in France has a long military history, but thesis days is better known as the site for a popular international games program. However, strength desperately needs repair work.
If you have visited the caritime department of France, then you may have walked along the coast and notice the Fort Boyard gray Hulk that came out of the water located between the île-d’aix and the île d’Oléron.
If you have not done so in person, you may be familiar with the television games program of the same name, which has popular versions in French and international.
However, the fort now requires serious repairs to stay above the waves.
An image shows an aerial view of Fort Boyard, off the western coast of France, near La Rochelle, on November 15, 2013. (Photo by Xavier Leoty / AFP)
The fort itself, which has a kind of appearance in the stadium inside, dates back to the nineteenth century, having served as a military fort equipped with canons and military personnel to protect France against the British and a military prison.
Advertisement
The Begen construction in early 1800 under Napoleon, was stopped in 1809 and was finally completed in 1857.
The fortress was abandoned in 1913, and spent decades gradually falling into poor condition before it was bought by the local maritime council of Charente in 1961.
Television career
At the beginning of the 1990s, the Fort became the site of the French television game program ‘Fort Boyard’, which involves contestants who have to complete the challenges to win awards.
The French version of the program has been running since 1990 and is still being transmitted in France 2. The 2024 series (the 35th season) had more than two million viewers.
The series has been exported to more than 30 countries, including the United States, where it was executed in 1991 and in a version revived in 2011, and the United Kingdom, where it extended from 1998 to 2003. The creator of Ford Boyard, Jacques Antoine, also created the popular and something.
The filming for the program takes place within the fort, so it is recognizable instantly for millions of television spectators.
Urgent repairs
Although it is still used for filming, the site now needs urgent repair.
The monument is “directly under the attack of the offshore waves,” Matthieu Barbier, the manager of the Maritime Department Council of Charente, told Le Parisien.
“The waves are causing important cracks. The keys are also beginning to loosen. If we do nothing, the fort will be ruined,” Barbier warned.
As such, the fort will be submitted for three and a half years of repairs, which will cost a total of € 44 million and will imply the reconstruction of the three main protective structures (Protection ovrages). After that, Parisien reported that there would be a second phase of repairs to “restore the building to its original state.”
Advertisement
As reported, filming and construction will coexist, and construction will not begin until July (after the French and foreign versions of the program have involved the filming.
The construction will be paid to a large extent by the Partement, with some of ALP (the company that rents the site for the filming of the show) and the collection of community funds.
At the end of 2024, there was a call to donations, which raised € 135,000 for repairs.
Once the first phase of repairs are completed, Barbier told Le Parisien that the goal will be to open the building to the public.
Alp also said they would consider leaving some established pieces of the television games program in their place, so that visitors discover them.
Currently, it is impossible for people to visit, but private boat owners can navigate the monument, and there are some ferry local services that allow visitors to approach the fortress.
]
