Château d'If in the context of "Musée des Plans-Reliefs"

The Musée des Plans-Reliefs (French pronunciation: [myze de plɑ̃ ʁəljɛf]) is a museum of military models located within the Hôtel des Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France.

The construction of models dates to 1668, when François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois and minister of war to Louis XIV, began a collection of three-dimensional models of fortified cities for military purposes, known as 'plans-relief'. The models gave particular attention to the city fortifications and topographic features such as hills and harbors. In 1700, Louis XIV installed the collection in the Louvre. Initially the models were constructed in the field, by military engineers, but in 1743, two central workshops were established for their construction in Béthune and Lille. A large number of models were built during and after the War of the Austrian Succession (1741–1748) to represent newly captured sites. The collection was updated in 1754, but then fell into some disuse; the final models built under the Ancien Régime were those of Saint-Omer (1758), and the fort Saint-Philippe aux Baléares (1759).