Cité de Carcassonne - Languedoc-Roussillon - France
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KaPsTeam
N 43° 12.386 E 002° 21.827
31T E 448317 N 4783936
The Cité de Carcassonne is a medieval citadel located in the French city of Carcassonne. From the list of military buildings in France it was around 1850 deleted.
Waymark Code: WMMQZQ
Location: Occitanie, France
Date Posted: 10/27/2014
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The Cité de Carcassonne is a medieval citadel located in the French city of Carcassonne. From the list of military buildings in France it was around 1850 deleted.
The landscape in the Aude visible from afar impressive fortifications consist of two circular walls and a castle from the 12th century, which is in turn surrounded by fortifications. The facilities cover a total distance of 3 kilometers.
Occupied since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the Aude plain between two great axis of circulation linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean sea and the Massif Central to the Pyrénées. Its strategic importance was quickly recognized by the Romans who occupied its hilltop until the demise of their western empire and was later taken over by the Visigoths in the fifth century who founded the city. Also thriving as a trading post due to its location, it saw many rulers who successively built up its fortifications up until its military significance was greatly reduced by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659.
However, the use of new techniques of war (gunpowder, cannons) and especially the larger distance to the French-Spanish border since the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 lead to a gradual abandonment of the fortress. In the 18th century it is only an impoverished and remote areas of the city that has come through the wine trade and cloth production to wealth. Only through the joint initiative of Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille, a scholar from Carcassonne, the writer Prosper Mérimée and the famous architect Viollet-le-Duc, the old town was saved from demolition, and we have them to thank for the fact that today thousands of visitors can admire the best preserved fortress town in Europe.
Carcassonne was the first fortress to use hoardings in times of siege. Temporary wooden ramparts would be fitted to the upper walls of the fortress through square holes beneath the rampart itself. It provided protection to defenders on the wall and allowed defenders to go out past the wall to drop projectiles on attackers at the wall beneath.
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