The engineering mastermind Vauban drew up plans for this forward bastion on the Îlette rock at the western end of Plage du Sillon.
It bears his tell-tale star configuration, and was the final piece in Saint-Malo’s defensive puzzle, conceived to protect the city from the British navy.
It did just this job in 1693 when it helped to fend off an Anglo-Dutch attack.
Much later it became a makeshift prison for the German forces in the last days of their occupation in 1944. The fortress is open in the summer for tours, and is a perfect document of 17th-century military design.
You’ll know when you come for a look around because the French tricolour will be flying
