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The fortress of Salse, masterpiece of military architecture and work of Francisco Ramirez, Spanish Minister of the War, was built at the request of the king Ferdinand d'Aragon at the end of the fifteenth century.
It was considered as impregnable with its walls of 15 metres thick on their base.
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It was built with the purpose of being a foreseen for a garrison of 3 000 men. One feels very surprised because of its dimension, its shape "rasaute", its difficult accesses made only with moats, demi-lune, embankments.
When King Louis XIII wants to reoccupy Roussillon, Salses is the stake in relentless fights.
The Frenchmen occupied the fort in June 1639 but of course with heavy losses of men, then lost it in January 1640 ; the last attack on it was launched in 1642 both on the ground and sea.
The Spanish besieged garrison of the city called Perpignan
surrendered with all the honours of war on September the ninth in 1642.
The garrison of Salses does the same on the fifteenth of September. The Spanish soldiers return at home... Vauban decided modifications and removed the donjon, razed to the ground all the bell towers which were higher than the galleries.
But the treaty of Pyrenees in 1659 confirms the return of Roussillon to France, which suppresses the military interest of the Pas of Salses.
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