Carcassonne, Medieval fortress city in Occitanie, France
Carcassonne is a fortified town on a hill above the Aude River in southern France, surrounded by a double ring of walls punctuated by 53 towers. The enclosed area spreads across several hectares and contains narrow cobbled streets, stone buildings, and an inner castle section with drawbridge and keep.
A Roman settlement appeared on the hill in the 1st century BC and grew into a key stronghold linking Atlantic and Mediterranean trade routes. French kings reinforced the defenses in the 13th century after seizing the region during the Albigensian Crusade against local heretics.
Local artisans still practice medieval crafts in small workshops along the narrow lanes, selling handmade leather goods and pottery to passing visitors. Residents gather for the annual summer festival when torches light the ramparts and musicians perform in period costume within the old walls.
Visitors can walk through the fortifications freely, though some towers and the inner castle require separate entry tickets. The old town sits at the top of a steep slope, so comfortable shoes help when climbing from the lower parking areas or train station below.
Architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc restored the crumbling fortress between 1853 and 1879, adding the pointed slate roofs on the towers that define its silhouette today. Historians now believe the original medieval roofs were flatter and simpler, so the appearance visitors see reflects 19th-century imagination as much as ancient design.
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