Carcassonne City Walls

I recently showed you Carcassonne's Castle and briefly introduced the city:

Carcassonne Castle

You may have already heard of Carcassonne, located in the Southwest region of France. In short, it’s a walled medieval city that became important during the Albigensian Crusade and remained so for the rest of the Middle Ages, until the southern border of France moved south to the Pyrénées

Liminal WebDavid Billa

However, the castle is just a small part of the fortifications that protected the medieval town for centuries. The most impressive and most famous aspect of Carcassonne's medieval city is its city walls.

Here are a few lines and a few pictures about them.

The oldest parts of the walls date back to the Gallo-Roman period, but the Kings of France modernized and enlarged them in the 13th century to turn the place into the fortified city it has been ever since.

The walls are made of local stone, are several meters wide, and range from 10 to 12 meters in height.

There are not one, but two enclosures, which made the city particularly difficult to attack. Even if enemies managed to breach the first enclosure, they would still have to pass through the second while in a vulnerable position between the two walls.

You will most likely enter the medieval town of Carcassonne through the Narbonne Gate, pictures above. Dating from 1280, it was built during the reign of Philippe III. It is located east of the city, looking towards the city of Narbonne.

The walkway encircles most, if not all, of the city walls and passes through each of the 52 towers. Nowadays, it is possible to walk along most of it.

The Aude Gate provided access to the Aude river from the castle. It had an amazing, intricate defense system that unfortunately no longer exists. The view is still amazing, though.

The Saint Nazaire Gate is located at the southern tip of the city. It also had an intricate defense system. I wish I could tell you more about it, but you really need to be there to understand how it works. I wouldn't be able to explain it properly. I'm sorry. But make sure you pay attention to it when you visit the city, because the goal of these posts is to make you want to go there.

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Thanks for reading.

Best,

David