Chateau d'if in Marseille

It turns out, Dumas in the history of the count of Monte Cristo was based on the Chronicles of real events. And the castle d'if, which for many years had been Edmond Dantes – the real castle near Marseille.





A novel Alexander Dumas told police chronicle, and the writer has immortalized the story of a shoemaker, only gave him a new name and made the count. Now in the Chateau d'if to visit the chamber of the literary character and the eyes to see traces of digging. The camera of Edmond Dantes the sign with his name. However, the signs were plenty of other cameras for a long three centuries that the castle served as a prison, the inmates managed to be included in the history of the French. Here isolated the Huguenots, the leaders of the Paris commune, everyone deems dangerous could be in the sinister castle.





Castle on the small island of If built first as a prison and as a Fort to protect the coast near Marseille. Its construction was finished by 1531, when king Francis I, but by the end of the XVI century the castle was rated as a prison from which escape is particularly difficult. Castle really, as if intended for the prisoners. It is separated from the shore for several kilometers, and fast currents around him very dangerous.





The courtyard of the castle is a typical prison. It's a small patio, stone bag with heavy rough well in the center. The castle had grown into the rock, and some of the rooms are under the ground. They kept prisoners in cells without Windows. Those who were lucky to take the camera above the ground, could spend hours to contemplate through the lattice of the sea or even see Marseille across the channel. Now on one of the grounds of the castle organized a cafe for tourists with views of Marseille.





It's amazing: describing in his novel the castle, Dumas influenced his destiny. The novel "the Count of Monte Cristo" has become one of the most widely read in the French language. It gradually became clear that Chateau d'if going to be very interesting as a tourist attraction, and in 1890 the prison with a long dark history did not — the legendary Chateau d'if was opened to the public.

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