The iconic medieval walls of Carcassonne in southwestern France are fully walkable and open to visitors for the first time in a century. After more than two years and €5.6 million ($6.2 million) spent on a restoration program, the entire 1.3 km (.8 miles) circuit of the upper ramparts can now be walked, offering breathtaking 360-degree views of the city, its castle and cathedral.
The restoration repairs 1,000 feet of the inner curtain wall including nine towers. The crumbling sandstone was patched or replaced and the interiors of the towers refurbished with new oak flooring. It is the biggest restoration of the curtain walls since the mid-19th century reconstruction by architect Eugène Viollet-Le-Duc.
From this Friday, September 13, 2024, visitors will be able to walk the 1,500 meters of these legendary Aude ramparts. “You need a good 2 hours to discover everything, walk along the ramparts and take the time to admire the landscape towards the Corbières , towards the Massif Central and towards the interior of the City. You also have to take the time to read all the information panels,” confides Cathy Jeanjean.
Evidence of human habitation on the hilltop that would become Carcasonne goes back 5,500 years, and there was a fortified settlement there starting in the 8th century B.C. Many, many fortifications followed. The Celtic tribe of the Volcae Tectosages occupied it in the 3rd century B.C. and built it up into an oppidium (hill fort) named Carcaso. It was fortified yet again by the Romans when a veteran’s colony was established there after Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul in the 1st century B.C.
The Germanic raids of the Late Imperial period drove construction of a far more extensive fortification system in the late 3rd century A.D. This is the template for the iconic medieval walls and towers that still stand today. There were 35 to 40 semicircular towers 45 feet high spaced along the curtain walls, and at least 40 gates. The Visigoths rebuilt the Gallo-Roman walls when they conquered France in the 5th century.
The ancient walls were restored and expanded in 1130 by order of Bernard Aton V, Viscount of Nîmes, encircling the citadel, the Cité de Carcassonne, completely. The stronghold of Carcassonne and the viscounts of the Trencavels dynasty were targeted by Pope Innocent III in 1209 in a crusade against the Cathars who were under the viscount’s protection. The city was besieged and fell in 15 days due to treachery (the viscount was poisoned) and Carcassonne was claimed by the crusader general Simon de Montfort. A couple of skirmishes later, it became property of the King Louis VIII of France.
The citadel’s defenses became obsolete with the rise of modern warfare and artillery in the 17th century, and the double walls were pilfered for construction materials. In 1849, the French government ordered the demolition of Carcassonne’s fortifications, but the mayor was a most formidable historical preservation nerd and he enlisted more of them to get the government to reverse its decision. He engaged Eugene Viollet-le-Duc to restore the city walls in 1853. He added some fanciful stuff here and there (drawbridges that never existed before), but even so, today the Cité de Carcassonne is the largest and best preserved medieval fortification in Europe.
* This article was originally published here
No comments:
Post a Comment