Photos of Chateau d'If

Located on a 3-hectare limestone island 3.5 miles from the old port of Marseille, the Château d'If is a square fortress with a side length of 28 meters. In 1516, King François I of France came here, fully aware of its defensive value, and ordered the construction of a fort here, which is the symbol of Yves: Fort Yves. Chateau Yves has the advantage of natural danger, the defense is extremely tight, and it is almost impossible for prisoners to escape, and Alexandre Dumas is based on the experience of the only two escapees, Father Faria and Edmond Dantès. The world famous book "The Count of Monte Cristo", Château Yves is also famous because of this novel. Today, the cell in Château Yves has deliberately dug a passage according to the layout in the story. The Château d'If was originally an impregnable fortification in Marseille, and later became a national prison, where many princes, descendants of princes and nobles, Protestants, political prisoners, revolutionaries, etc. were imprisoned. The castle's conversion to a prison dates back to 1658, when Louis XIV, in his crackdown on the heretics, turned the Château d'If into a prison for Protestants and criminals. In the 19th century, after the French bourgeois revolution broke out, Château Yves was completely transformed into a prison for the feudal dynasty to suppress political prisoners. Since the first prisoner was held in 1580, the Isle of Yves has imprisoned more than 3,000 people over the centuries.