From the archive record
A walk inside the Fort Royal Museum, the prison that housed the Man in the Iron Mask in Ile Sainte-Marguerite, Cannes. In 1617, the Duke of Guise gave Jean de Bellon the task of building a fort intended to block sea access to Cannes. Constructed between 1624 and 1627 on the site of remains that dated back to Roman antiquity, at the time it was nothing more than a simple fortified house. These humble origins would be enhanced a few years later by the Spanish who then occupied the islands. Only two years later in 1637 the French took back possession of the island and named the fortress Fort Royal. At the end of the seventeenth century, the fort became a state prison and continued to grow in size. The prisoners held inside the fort include most notably: the famous, but nevertheless unidentifi