Nice is paradise; the sun, like butter, falls on everything; moths, flies in great numbers, and the air is summer. Peace of mind is perfect. Life is cheaper than anywhere else. I continue to work … the creation of "Dead Souls" is about to take place …
N. Gogol
Castles and fortresses. We know Nice as the center of international tourism in the south of France. We know Nice as a "Russian city" where Herzen lived and was buried, where Dostoevsky and Chekhov played in the casino, where Lenin lived (well, how could he not have visited this city of all Russian celebrities!), That is, this is a city, in fact business with our, Russian history. But besides all this, this city was also an important fortress, which more than once was subjected to sieges and assaults. And just about the fortress of Nice we will tell you today, as well as about what it has become today.
Ancient acropolis
Throughout the Mediterranean, steep hills were used as dwellings. Therefore, it is not surprising that already in ancient times the Ligurian peoples on the Riviera built their settlements on them and fortified them with walls. So the Castle Hill 92 meters high in the area of modern Nice attracted their attention and was inhabited at least in the 10th century BC. During the 3rd century they established trade contacts with the Greeks in Marseilles. And the Greeks gave this place the name Nicaea, which means "conqueror". This heroic name was reported by many ancient authors, which is why it has come down to us.
A beach on which boats could moor, a river, a nearby rocky hill, arable plains, all suitable for the Greeks to settle here, as they did, for example, in Syracuse. Their colony of Nicaea may have been founded at the foot of the hill, while the inhabitants sought refuge on the ridge. Especially enemy attacks had to be feared with the fall of the Roman Empire, when the plain became especially dangerous.
All that remains of this abandoned city are fragments of ancient walls and foundations. However, archaeological excavations, begun in 2009, may one day lead to a complete reconstruction of this settlement on Zamkovaya Gora, since the territory around it is all built up, and there is very little hope of discovering what lies under the foundations of the buildings standing here.
Medieval fortress
Let's start with the fact that the 11th century witnessed the construction of the so-called castra on the Castle Hill (“fortified place” in Latin). The city wall was designed to wrap around all of its curves at a height of fifty meters in order to protect as much of it as possible. Within these walls, a city began to flourish with several thousand inhabitants, with churches, monasteries, a market, a hospital and palaces of the nobility. And until the XII century, the entire city of Nice was concentrated on this hill.
But the city grew and already in the XIII century its buildings were splashed outside the city walls. For Nice, this was a period of relative peace, economic growth and an influx of all kinds of people. Gradually, it took over the western slopes of the hill and spread to the plain in the area of the Payon River, the coastal river that now lies under the Promenade du Payon. It is clear that this settlement also needed protection and this lower part of the city was surrounded by a rampart, which partially followed the course of the river.
At the highest point of the hill, there was a castle located on the site of the modern belvedere. It housed the city magistrate and court. Outside the citadel was the Cathedral of Sainte-Marie and many mansions of the noble inhabitants of Nice. The tower and town hall were located not too far from the wall, in the upper part of the lower city.
Since 1388, Nice has belonged to the House of Savoy, a mountainous state, whose capital, Turin, was, however, quite far away. At the same time, Nice and Villefranche were the only cities of this duchy facing the sea. A number of goods passed through them, in particular, salt, which was so valued at that time. Naturally, the dukes of Savoy had to strengthen the defenses of these important places for them, which made it possible to receive real money.
Cannon bastions
Therefore, the dukes Amadi and Louis I began to rebuild the castrum magnum ("great castle") as early as the 15th century. Around 1520, three semicircular bastions were built on the north side of the citadel to reinforce the most vulnerable part of the walls. It turned out that this was very timely, since already in 1543 Nice was captured by the troops of the Franco-Ottoman coalition, but the castle continued to heroically resist. Locals traditionally associate this event with the name of Catherine Seguran, the heroine of the legend, according to which it was this woman who inspired the garrison of the castle and the inhabitants who took refuge there to resist the attackers.
After this dramatic event, the Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel-Philibert, decided to make major changes in the city's defensive system. He decided to demolish the buildings in the upper part of the city to make way for a new castle, which was now supposed to turn into a powerful citadel. After that, between 1550 and 1580, all civilians left the hill to go down to the present old city and live there. There was already little space, and therefore the existing housing began to grow in height. It was during this period that the old town of Nice acquired a significant part of its architectural style, based on the incredibly dense settlement of areas caught between the sea, river and castle.
The lower the better
During the 1560s, the Piedmontese engineers and architects Ferrante Vitelli and Francesco Pacciotto significantly fortified the city's and coastal defenses, including the citadel of Nice and its ramparts, the fort of Mont Alban, the citadels of Villefranche and Saint Hospice in Cap Ferrat. The lower plateau (there is now a cemetery), was fenced with a fortress wall in the "modern" style of that time, that is, thick and low, which made it less vulnerable to artillery fire. To supply water to this impressive fortress, a 72-meter well was dug, which allowed water to be drawn at the level of the ancient river. This was a real feat of technical skill, and it was appreciated by descendants: when you take the elevator to the top of Zamkova Hill, remember that the elevator shaft, installed in 1952, is located in this well!
There are no impregnable fortresses
The defensive citadels of Nice and Villefranche were considered impregnable and discouraged opponents of the Duchy of Savoy for a century and a half. But the same Nice was a painfully tidbit on this coast. Therefore, it is not surprising that during another war in March 1691, it was besieged by French troops. They subjected it to intense bombardment, which led to the explosion of the powder store and the death of many people. After that, the defenders of the citadel surrendered, and the city itself fell into the hands of the French, although not for long. Under the Treaty of Turin, all coastal lands were returned to the Duke of Savoy in 1696.
A new chapter in the history of Nice and its Castle Hill began during the War of the Spanish Succession, when Duke Victor-Amede II decided to enter into an alliance with Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg. In April 1705, the city was again attacked by the French, and it capitulated, as did Villefranche, Mont-Alban and Saint-Hospice. The fortress, however, refused to surrender and was shelled both from the sea and from the land for several weeks (!). Finally, broken by cannonballs, the wall collapsed and at the beginning of 1706 its defenders surrendered.
Louis XIV decided to abandon the huge fortifications of Nice, which cost a lot of money to maintain. Therefore, he ordered the complete destruction of the citadel and its city walls, which was done in the spring of 1706. So the military role of Nice came to an end. And a new destiny began - a tourist center.
Although the mountain was no longer used for military purposes, it still remained the property of the Dukes of Savoy. The surviving barracks were used by merchants as warehouses, and cattle grazed on the lawns. Since no one monitored the condition of the slopes, landslides began, destroying several houses at its foot.
Let there be a park
During the Restoration period, the next Duke of Savoy, Karl-Felix, in 1822 satisfied the wishes of the inhabitants of the city of Nice and allowed to turn the Castle Hill into a public garden, however, the artillery battery, gunpowder warehouse and guardhouse were still preserved here. The place was rocky, so it took a lot of money to turn it into a green park. It helped that in 1831 the Royal Chamber of Agriculture was allowed to use the site for its experiments in the acclimatization of various plants. So here we managed to plant pines, cypresses, cedars, evergreen oaks, agave, figs and a lot of other plants that were not previously characteristic of this place. This magnificent flora admired both King Victor Emmanuel II, who visited Nice in 1857, and Emperor Napoleon III, who visited here in 1860. When Nice finally became French in the same year, the territory of the castle belonged to the military. There were warehouses and barracks. But in 1934, it was transferred to the municipality of the city of Nice, and then the last military buildings on its top were destroyed. Here, for example, from 1924 to 1958, equestrian competitions were held and even one of the anniversaries of the French Communist Party was celebrated.
On June 27, 1885, a water supply was installed here and an artificial waterfall was arranged, so now there was no need to worry about planting moisture-loving plants. But on the other hand, archaeological excavations began here, in particular, the excavation of the ruins of the cathedral. And it is not surprising that very soon the park on the top of the mountain became very popular among both local residents and everyone who comes here. By the way, today its area reaches 19.3 hectares, which is truly God's blessing for hot sunny Nice.
And what were they all drawn to Nice?
By the way, the Chateau cemetery, which is located in the lower part of the Castle Hill, has survived to this day, is a real open-air museum and is considered the most beautiful necropolis in Europe. Not only prominent residents of the city are buried here, but also French, Russian and English celebrities: writer and revolutionary Alexander Herzen, politician Leon Gambetta, author of The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux, founder of the Mercedes company Emil Jellinek and his daughter Mercedes Jellinek, mother Giuseppe Garibaldi and many, many others.
