Visiting the Musée des Plans-Reliefs 

• An unrivalled panorama. 28 of the museum’s collection of a hundred or so extant models of forts and fortified towns are presented by broad geographical area with descriptions and historical information, site maps and annotated comparative photos. 

• Masterpieces of realism. No expense or trouble has been spared in representing the towns and their environment with painted or engraved papers for the walls, fine sprinklings of sand to lend the ground texture and very finely cut painted and dyed silks for the vegetation.

Understanding the Musée des Plans-Reliefs 

• Objects of prestige. In addition to French towns situated on the borders of the kingdom, there are models of foreign towns taken from the enemy. Great battlers and sieges are also shown, as proofs of the power of the monarchy and kingdom. The most recent models date from 1870, when fortifications with bastions disappeared. 

• Documentary resources. The models were used in Louis XIV’s reign to follow the fortification works being carried out by Vauban, and then for military teaching, and the collection is now a precious source of information about architectural history, town planning and changes to the landscape.