Marquis de Vauban

Pele was a superstar in the world of soccer as was Michael Jordan in Basketball. In the world of military engineers Marquis de Vauban (1633-1707) was a superstar. This Frenchman's specialty was building fortresses and upgrading medieval fortifications. Between 1667-1707 Vauban oversaw the design, construction or upgrading of fortifications in over 300 cities as well as the building of over 35 fortresses from scratch. During my dozen years traversing Europe I've come upon Vauban's works in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany---this guy seem to have been everywhere! Many of Vauban's fortifications have survived the elements and have become tourist destinations. To get an idea of what I'm talking about click here. It takes you to Wikipedia's profile on Vauban. Scroll down to the bottom of the Wikipedia page and under the heading "External Links" look for the one which reads: "(French) aerial pictures of the 100 citadels in France. wonderful shots". Click on the link and be sure to click on each photo to see an enlargement.