Town wall (16th c)

Saint-Paul de Vence's bastioned fortifications hug the contours of the rocky spur on which the village stands. Curtain walls and bastions were constructed on the order of François I in the 1540s, forming a one-kilometre perimeter that has undergone only slight modifications since the 16th century. They were designed by Jean de Saint-Rémy, Commander of the Artillery and an expert in fortifications. His name first cropped up in the 1530s, when François I sent him on missions in the south of the kingdom - Marseille, Antibes, Arles and Beaucaire.
Interestingly enough, the ramparts in Saint-Paul de Vence were among the very first bastioned fortifications erected in France to have been designed by a French architect.
Constructing the ramparts completely changed the physiognomy of the village, as several dozen houses had to be demolished in the process. The archives state that almost 450 inhabitants were forced to leave Saint-Paul de Vence. The hamlets they founded later became the communes of La Colle-sur-Loup and Roquefort-les-Pins.
Back in 1872, the commune bought back the bastioned walls of Saint-Paul de Vence. They were declared a Listed Historical Monument in 1945. Today, they are the jewel in the village's historical crown.