Plan-relief

This collection included 144 examples according to Vauban's 1697 inventory of it and was put on a show at the Palais des Tuileries.

Vauban's successors expanded the collection as and when operational necessity demanded, right up until 1870 when they were rendered obsolete by advances in the power of artillery.

Some examples from this collection were destroyed and as a whole, it fell into disrepair until being made a Monument historique on 22 July 1927.

One hundred examples from this collection survive, of which most are on show in the Museum of Plans-reliefs at Les Invalides and some others in the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, still providing a witness to the towns and fortresses of France at this era.

After the success of the panorama painting, a spin-off of the plan-relief called the "panstereorama" emerged, this time for popular rather than military use.