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THE MONUMENT
The City of Carcassonne is primarily known as a fortified medieval city, but this rocky spur has been inhabited for much longer. The Gauls had created a town in the 6th century B.C. which in Roman times became an active urban centre. In the 4th century A.D., ramparts were built, remnants of which are still visible along two-thirds of the inner wall.
It was on the west side of this primitive fortification that the château was built in the 12th century by the family of Vicomte Trencavel, before it was enlarged and surrounded by a wall a century later. In the meantime, Carcassonne had been captured by Simon de Montfort during the Crusade against the Albigenses and had become part of the royal domain. Works continued throughout the 13th century. An outside wall was constructed and the inner rampart modernised to make the site which had been the key element in the defence of the Franco-Albigense border into a utterly impregnable fortress. It lost all strategic importance, however, after the signature of the Treaty of the Pyrénées in 1659, and became successively an arsenal, an arms depot and a warehouse for foodstuffs under the Ancien Regime and the French Revolution.
After having been used as a stone quarry in the 19th century, its was saved from demolition by the protests of concerned Carcassonne intellectuals and by Prosper Mérimée. The French State then commissioned Eugène Viollet-le-Duc to restore the site. Thus were preserved the 52 towers and 3 kilometres of ramparts of this exceptional architectural monument, which is now on UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites.
The property of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the château and the ramparts have been opened for visit by Centre des monuments nationaux.
LODGING
See thelisting of the Hotels in Carcassonne
PRACTICAL INFORMATIONS
Château comtal de la cité de Carcassonne
11000 Carcassonne
Going there
From Perpignan: exit n° 1, motorway A 9 towards Narbonne, motorway A 61, exit n° 24, then main road N 113 towards “Carcassonne centre”
From Montpellier: exit n° 4, motorway A9 towards Perpignan motorway A 9 towards Narbonne, motorway A 61, exit n° 24, then main road N 113 towards “Carcassonne centre”
From Toulouse : exit n° 7, motorway A 6, exit n° 23 and main road N 113 towards “Carcassonne centre”
Localisation
On the Toulouse/Perpignan or Toulouse/Montpellier raods
50 km west of Narbonne
Opening / Closing
Open
from april to september : 10 am to 6:30 pm
from october to march : 9:30 am to 5 pm
The ticket office closes 30 mins prior to the castle closing in the evening from October to March and 45 mins from April to September.
Closed
on January 1, May 1, July 14, November 1, November 11 and December 25