The Man in the Iron Mask and Fort Royal

When I was about 7 years old  I was awarded a prize book at school  'The Man in the Iron Mask' by Alexandre Dumas.    I still have it and of course it fascinated me.      I was thrilled to find that we could sail to the Island of Ste Marguerite one of the Lerins Islands to visit the real life location Fort Royal which was the inspiration for the book.       It was only a 15 minute sailing in lovely warm weather.    The museum at Fort Royal was very interesting and we spent most of the afternoon there soaking up the history both past and present.

'The Man in the Iron Mask' a prisoner whose name no one knows to this day, was incarcerated there for 11 years and eventually he was moved to the Bastille where he died in 1703.  

an enigma forever

The Man in the Iron Mask prison cell

Other cells have had beautiful wall murals painted by John Le Gac, a French artist who volunteered to be 'a prisoner' in the early 1990s.

"There are some years when I dreamed of going to prison to paint quietly.... I remembered during my visit to the island, crossing the long avenue of eucalyptus with the museum curator who introduced me to the mystery of the Iron Mask and the long history of Arab prisoners ... who were killed ... and many others.    .... On the one hand I had a faceless man, the other too many names, facts and history, and still alive in me that old desire for imprisonment for attempting to perform a final effort of concentration and drill the thin membrane that separates me from the unique work which I feel I had long prepared...    It is in this spirit of voluntary prisoner painter, I started 2 July 1992 paintings in the cells".

- Jean Le Gac

prison cell mural - Jean Le Gac

prison cell mural - Jean Le Gac

The Arab mural

The famous artist photographer, painter, sculptor and architect Georges Rousse had an exhibition at Fort Royal from 6 July to 30 September 2013 creating geometric shapes, lines or words in suspension.    Visitors can see in the hallway of the prison a gold star that appears floating in space. Rousse said, ….this simple geometric shape, the star is a powerful symbol of our societies: myth or religious belief, the star of the shepherd leads the Good News. Star sailors, the Southern Cross, or the North Star, indicate the naval route.

The Gold Star in the prison hallway

Alas we had to leave this lovely little island -must return one day and would like to see her sister Island Ste Honoratus too...

on the boat back to Cannes