City walls of Poitiers, Medieval ramparts in Poitiers, France.

The City walls of Poitiers are a stone fortification running alongside the Boivre and Clain rivers with defensive towers and gates around the urban perimeter. The surviving sections now form a continuous walking path that connects different parts of the city.

The first walls were Gallo-Roman, built from the 3rd century when the empire faced military chaos and barbarian invasions; they were several metres thick and enclosed only the area between the palace of the dukes of Aquitaine and Saint-Pierre cathedral, leaving the Roman arenas outside. This enclosure remained largely in place until the Renaissance. The medieval walls around the promontory were built by the last Ramnulfid counts and completed by Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II Plantagenet; Duke John of Berry later turned one tower into a decorated triangular castle at the confluence of the Boivre and Clain.

The name Porte de Paris now belongs to Place Jean de Berry, where only the Tour du Cordier remains of the western ramparts. The medieval walls were largely demolished in the 19th century to make way for the railway and the station, and the cliff and terraces were later landscaped to evoke a rampart wall, as at Parc de Blossac.

Several stretches are protected as monuments historiques, including the Porte de la Tranchée with its two flanking pavilions and the old enclosure walls of the Promenade de Blossac up to the Tour à l'Oiseau. The Tranchée front runs from the Ateliers Proux to the Tour à Prieur, also called Tour Achard, facing the Boivre. The three towers of the old castle stand at the confluence of the Boivre and the Clain, with the moats between the Savale factory and the Porte Achard.

At the meeting point of the Boivre and Clain rivers, three castle towers still stand and offer a rare view of medieval defensive architecture. Medieval moats are even preserved between the Savale factory and Porte Achard, making this section especially interesting for those studying fortifications.