Muses of Montparnasse
Littlelot celebrates the discovery of the Great Horn

From Mont Valérien to Montparnasse

The Eiffel Tower from Mont Valérien to Les InvalidesYou may have seen this view before: the Eiffel Tower from the top of Tour Montparnasse. Have you noticed the mound below the horizon on the left?

 

Since antiquity, Mont Valérien was a high place of churches and hermits. Then, in the 19th century, long-range cannon came into wide use.

Tour Montparnasse  footman to the Iron LadyThis photo shows the return view: Tour Montparnasse (right) plays footman to the Iron Lady.

Louis-Phillip, last King of the French, made Mont Valérien a domain of the state in 1830 and built a star-shaped fort atop the hill in the 1840s. It was the only fort of the Parisian defensive belt to hold out against the enemy in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.

During the war, 10,000 cannon shots were fired from the 162-meter high fortress. The largest cannon, named “La Valérie” by the troops, weighed 14 tons and had a range of 8 km (5 mi.).

Almost 150 years later, the fort remains. Now a modern military installation, it’s open to the public only on la journée de la patrimoine, French heritage day. The rest of the year, the best view is from a park just outside the curtain wall. From there, all of Paris is at your feet, and Tour Montparnasse is 8 km away…