Fort de la Motte Giron

The Fort de la Motte Giron was built between July 1874 and October 1876. It is located on the Bel Air plateau, west of Dijon. Five other forts are built in Dijon: the fort of Hauteville, the fort of Varois, the fort of Beauregard in Fénay, the fort of Mont Afrique and the fort of Sennecey. Its forts are complemented by a redoubt at Saint-Apollinaire and powder magazines, including a street in Auxonne. The whole constitutes the fortified belt of the City of Dijon, designed by General Seré de Rivières.

The Fort de la Motte Giron is classified citadel of command by General Charton during its construction. The armament was altered in 1901 and disarmed at the end of 1915 in favor of the eastern front (Verdun). At the end of 1915 a decree transformed it into a place of detention for the Prussian officers captured on the front. Between the two wars it became a place of storage and maneuvers. In 1940, the Germans transformed it into a place of detention for French. From 1945 to 1947 German officers were interned there. Subsequently, it served as a communications center for the Air Force. It was alienated by a law of 1954 but it still serves as a maneuver center for the 27th Infantry regiment.

By decision of the municipal council, fort was bought by the city of Dijon in 2002.

Today a global reflection is carried out to, on the one hand, restore and secure the site in order to open it to the public and, on the other hand, give it a reuse. In 2012 the lapidary deposit of the archaeological museum of Dijon will be installed there and part of the site will be open to visits.

The REMPART Bourgogne Franche-Comté Federation, with thirty-five years of experience, was asked by the City of Dijon to carry out restorations by volunteer sites. It deals with the restoration / restitution of the painted decorations of the casemates which served as "barracks" for the soldiers. These decorations were made by themselves and each casemate had a meaning.