Dinant’s Citadelle is a wonder. It crowns a 300 foot cliff overlooking the cathedral. Belgium’s history is fascinating, complex and dramatic. The name Belgium has been around in various forms for thousands of years. It was a Roman province. The Franks came from here. In short, this part of the world has flipped ownership many times and has been, in just the last few centuries, French, Dutch, Spanish, Austrian and, of course, captured by the Germans in both World Wars. About 1830, it had a northern Dutch speaking half and a southern French speaking half that joined and formed a “new” country: Belgium.
But before that, the Dutch owned this area, and they built the current citadelle atop the cliff. An older fortress was built by the French, designed by Vauban, the all-time superstar of star-shaped fortress designs.
There is an impressive World War I gallery. Charles de Gaulle was wounded near the bridge below the citadelle. There has been heavy fighting in and around Dinant on quite a few occasions, but the citadelle hasn’t been fought over, as far as I recall
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We join a tour in progress. Sometimes they’re in English. This one is in French, but we follow along. We learn the following:
The citadelle housed 400 men. Everyone was in great shape and exercised six to eight hours a day other than its chefs. On the downside, they lacked Wifi, Netflix, Youtube, TVs, etc.
Speaking of the chefs, the citadelle’s kitchen had four giant cauldrons. A giant potage was cooked daily. For breakfast, the men received the meat and soup from the top of the cauldron. For the afternoon meal, they received the potatoes and other stuff from the bottom. They also received something like 800 grams of bread per day. For those who don’t know metric, that’s two miles, 15 pounds and three shillings! Actually, someone says, 800 grams is about 1.8 pounds.
The men slept 32 per arcaded room in bunk bed cots. Hey wait a minute… this was essentially a bunker. All of a sudden, “bunk” bed makes sense. The two story rampart surrounded a generous courtyard. This is where the men trained. And it’s where one can now enjoy a coffee. Or snack. Or maybe a light meal.
An arms gallery showcases guns, carbines and rifles from the last several hundred years.
