Tour Saint-Louis, Historic tower in Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France
The Tour Saint-Louis is an 18th-century stone tower in Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, in southern France, near the mouth of the Rhône river. The square limestone structure stands about 50 feet (15 meters) tall, has three floors, and a flat roof terrace that opens onto the surrounding landscape.
The tower was built in 1737 to watch over the Rhône, guide boats, and shelter travelers along one of the river's key crossing points. It was part of a line of similar structures along the river built to control the flow of goods and people. It was listed as a historic monument in 1942, and restoration work began in 1973.
The first floor of the Tour Saint-Louis holds a collection of around 170 bird species from the Camargue delta, organized by habitat. Panels help visitors understand where each species can be spotted in the wild around Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône.
The ground floor houses the local tourist office, which is a good starting point for planning visits to the surrounding area. The roof terrace gives a wide view over the Saint-Louis canal, the salt marshes, and the Rhône delta, and a free telescope is available to use up there.
The tower was designed by a military engineer named Philippe Jacques and built from limestone quarried in Beaucaire and Fontvieille, towns far upstream along the Rhône. Over the centuries, shifts in the river's course gradually moved the shoreline away, so the tower now stands further from the water than it did when it was first built.
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