The Citadel, a time-honoured workcamp

Place : Saint-Tropez (Var)

Participants: Adults

Workcamp description:

At the top of the rocky spur which dominates the town and its bay, you will work in the heart of the citadel of Saint Tropez. You will be working on a long low wall whose masonry has deteriorated. Sometimes only a few stones remain on the lower part, sometimes it has completely disappeared, buried in the embankment. The aim is to restore the damaged part and rebuild the part of the wall that is missing.

Workcamp programme:

• Dismantling the damaged wall
• Removal of the wall remains in the slope
• Search for the foundations
• Reconstruction of the wall

Building technique: Lime mortar stonework

Special bonus: The workcamp takes place in September, so you’ll still have the summer sun but none of the crowds that mob the Côte d’Azur in July and August.

Accommodation: In campsite chalets, with shared rooms, 20 minutes’ drive from the workcamp.

Workcamp life: Help out, in turn, with daily tasks (cooking, cleaning).
Building work in the mornings, Mon-Fri. Free time in afternoons and weekends, with a choice of group excursions and activities.

Some ideas for excursions: Visits to the seaside resorts of the Côte d’Azur but also into the back country of the Var to see the La Verne Monastery, walks in the Massif des Maures or discovering the Salins d’Hyères sea salt basins.

A bit of history:

Saint Tropez is best known for its port, beaches, police and of course, it’s citadel!

While it has reigned over the town for 400 years, our teams of volunteers have been carefully working to conserve and restore it for the last 20 summers.

The citadel is a pre-Vauban construction and remains one of the only sizeable monuments of this type on the Var coastline.

The first reference to it dates back to 1583 when a record refers to a building on the “Colline des Moulins” hill. Later, in 1607 the castle keep was completed, with its thick hexagonal walls encircling a large internal courtyard.

Today, the citadel houses the town’s maritime history museum, where visitors can learn about famous seafaring explorers as well as the men and women who lived in the town and port.