Fort de Brégançon

Fort Brégançon is perched 35 meters high on an islet which benefits from a strategic position overlooking the harbors of Hyères and Toulon.

It was during the Merovingian era that a fortified castle was built there. Serving successively as a pirates' lair, a fortified castle for Queen Jeanne and for Bonaparte, Brégançon, besieged, disarmed, rearmed, destroyed and rebuilt, has suffered "more from the whims of its occupants than it has influenced the course of history.".

In 1964, General de Gaulle, who had come to preside over the ceremonies commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Allied landings, stayed overnight at Brégançon, which had been hastily prepared for the occasion. He fell in love with it: in 1968, the fort was established as the official residence of the President of the Republic. It is here, in this enchanting setting, that Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, and Nicolas Sarkozy, among others, would come in turn to recharge their batteries.

On October 12, 2013, Mr. François Hollande, President of the Republic, decided to open the Fort de Brégançon to the public and to entrust its management to the Centre des monuments nationaux.