Musée de la Citadelle

The Citadel of Saint-Tropez is a typical example of the work that the army did not know what to do, and, coupled with the weakness of the garrison, this policy led the Tropezian prefer to defend themselves. Too costly for the Kingdom, the Empire or the Republic, it displeased the former. It should be remembered as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the composition of the population of Saint-Tropez is a special case: the vast majority of the population is made up of sailors. Often at sea, in trade or in the Royal, the men used to fight. Most had weapons in their homes, as evidenced by the inventory: a musket, a blunderbuss, a sword ... As long as the King left them his guns, they were ready to fight alone. In 1637, they defeated the Spanish galleys. In 1596 and 1652, they took the fortress of dissidents. Still in 1652, they drove two hundred galleys coming from Toulon. Whether they were helped by some outside forces, the wind or their patron saint: it was their glory and history belongs to them. Since its construction, the citadel was the subject of contradictory feelings among civilians. It protected, but at times she watched and she rebelled. Island of royal power, it was still considered foreign to the City. Now she is reaping the fruits of the fame of Saint-Tropez.