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Carcassonne
Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Carcassonne
Carcassonnekärkäsôn', city (1990 pop. 44,911), capital of Aude dept., S France, in Languedoc. The old city, a medieval fortress atop a hill, is one of the architectural marvels of Europe. The new city, across the Aude River, is a farm trade center with rubber, shoe, and textile manufactures. Tourism, however, is the main industry. The Romans fortified the hilltop site in the 1st cent. B.C.; towers built (c.6th cent.) by the Visigoths are still intact; and the viscounts of Carcassonne added to the fortifications in the 12th cent. A stronghold of the Albigenses, the fortress was taken by Simon de Montfort in 1209. It yielded to the king in 1247, at which time Louis IX (St. Louis) founded the new city across the river. The outer ramparts of the fortress were constructed during St. Louis's reign, and the work was continued, with intricate defense devices, under Philip III. When completed, the fortress was widely considered impregnable; Edward the Black Prince was stopped at its walls in 1355. However, its usefulness ended in 1659, with the annexation to France of the province of Roussillon. The ramparts were gradually abandoned and fell into disrepair; they were restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th cent.

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Wikipedia search results for: Carcassonne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude département, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc. It is separated into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. The folk etymology – involving a châtelaine named , a ruse ending a siege and the joyous ringing of bells - though memorialized in a neo-Gothic sculpture of Mme. on a column near the , is of modern invention. The fortress, which was thoroughly restored in 1853 by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997....more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Carcassonne
Results 1 - 5  of 5
  • Aude

    Aude, department (1993 est. pop. 289,400), S central France, in Languedoc. Carcassonne, its capital, and Narbonne are the chief cities.

  • Fert, Albert

    Fert, Albert, 1938– French physicist, b. Carcassonne, France. After receiving his Ph.D. at the Univ. of Paris-Sud in 1970 Fert accepted a teaching position there and headed a research group, b...

  • Languedoc

    Languedoc, region and former province, S France, bounded by the foot of the Pyrenees, the upper Garonne River, the Auvergne Mts., the Rhône, and the Mediterranean. It comprises the departments...

  • Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène Emmanuel

    Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène Emmanuel, 1814–79, French architect and writer. He was the most prominent exponent of the Gothic revival in France, and was internationally celebrated for his restoratio...

  • wall

    Wall, in architecture, protective, enclosing, or dividing vertical structure. Its thickness is determined by the material, height, and stress. It may be of studding and lath, either boarded or...

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