Carcassonne: the city that insists on being photographed

What happens when you visit a city that is so picturesque that you can’t stop taking photos? In Carcassonne, you just take a lot of photos.

I’m so in love with this city. It’s just too pretty to believe it’s real. It’s like leaving the real world and entering a fantasy.

I didn’t know anything about Carcassonne before I arrived here, so there’s been a lot of learning as well as a lot of gawking. I’ll give you a little of the learning and then share the photos, so you can gawk too.

History Lesson

The Roman empire occupied the hill on which the Cité de Carcassonne now stands. It had strategic importance because it was located on trade routes between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and also across the Pyrenees.

The Romans built a fortress on the hill around 100 BCE. Some of the Roman construction is still visible.

When the Roman empire fell in the fifth century, the Visigoths established the city of Carcassonne here and built the fortifications. The name comes from an old Celtic place-name, Carsac. But there’s a completely untrue legend about how the city got it’s name.

Lady Carcas

Outside Porte Narbonnaise, the main gate to the city, is this sculpture.

This is Lady Carcas, a fictional character whose story provides a fanciful explanation of the name of the city of Carcassonne.

The legend takes place in the 8th century, during the wars between Christians and Muslims in the southwest of Europe. At the time, Carcassonne was under Saracen rule and Charlemagne’s army was at the gates to reconquer the city for the Franks. A Saracen princess named Carcas ruled the Knights of the City after the death of her husband.

The siege lasted for five years. Early in the sixth year, food and water were running out. Lady Carcas made an inventory of all remaining reserves. The villagers brought her a pig and a sack of wheat. She then had the idea to feed the wheat to the pig and then throw it from the highest tower of the city walls.

Charlemagne lifted the siege, believing that the city had enough food to the point of wasting pigs fed with wheat. Overjoyed by the success of her plan, Lady Carcas decided to sound all the bells in the city. One of Charlemagne’s men then exclaimed: “Carcas sonne!” (which means “Carcas rings”). Hence the name of the city.

Wikipedia

Medieval Carcassonne

The Franks did oust the Saracens in the 8th century, not led by Charlemagne, but by his father, Pepin the Short. In the 11th century the Trencavel family became the owners of Carcassonne. They built a castle and a church. The church became the Cathedral of Carcassonne until 1803, when a new Cathedral was built in the lower town. It was elevated to minor basilica in 1898, and is known as the Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse.

In the early 13th century Carcassone was attacked by crusaders fighting against the Cathars, a sect of Christianity deemed heretical by the Pope. Another legend tells that the crusaders, unable to tell the difference between Cathars and loyal Catholics, decided to kill everyone and let it get sorted out in heaven. But more likely, the people of Carcassonne were expelled. The head of the Trencavel family was imprisoned, and he died under mysterious circumstances in his dungeon.

Carcassonne came under the rule of the French kingdom in 1247. The fortifications were significantly enhanced after that. In addition, the construction of a lower town began at that time. 

Modern Times

In 1659 the border province of Roussillon became part of France, and Carcassonne’s military importance vanished. The fortifications were soon abandoned, though the lower city flourished for a while as a center for the textile industry. But by the beginning of the 19th century, that came to an end, and Carcassonne was soon nothing more than a small country village.

By the mid-19th century the fortifications had fallen into such disrepair that the government decreed that they would be demolished. This 1849 decree caused such an uproar that a campaign to save Carcassonne gathered steam. 

In 1843, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, already engaged on the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, was called in as an expert for the restoration of the Basilica. That work took places between 1846 and 1864.

In 1849 the plan was extended to include the entire fortress. Under Viollet-le-Duc’s supervision, a full survey of the walled city took place.

In 1862 Viollet-le-Duc submitted a new proposal for a complete restoration of the walled city. Viollet-le-Duc died in 1879, and the work finished in 1910, completed by Paul Boeswillwald, his assistant.

UNESCO named Carcassonne a World Heritage Site in 1997. That and a board game launched in 2000 have put Carcassonne on the tourist map, and today it gets about 4 million visitors per year. I’m happy to be here in low season, even if it’s been drizzly almost the entire time.

At its peak 3,000 people lived inside the fortified Cité de Carcassonne. Today there are only 40 residents; most live in the lower town.

Photos

Below are a few of my favorite photos. You can find lots more (too many more; as I said, this city insists on being photographed) in my photo album.