Anciens remparts

English translation

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History

According to certain local historians, the large blocks at the base of the ramparts would be vestiges of the ancient city, Roman or Greek. It is possible that a few infrastructure courses come from fortifications of the Romanesque period, built in 1185. The bulk of the city's fortified works dates to the 14th century. At that time, the city was divided into two parts: the Cité, comprising the bishopric and the cathedral, and the burgh, established to the south and comprising the parishes of Saint-Sever and Saint-André. Both parts were equipped with separate curtain walls. Their development reached, in 1360, 676m for the Cité and 745 for the burgh. The towers were square or rectangular and have all disappeared. The crenellated superstructures, pierced with stirrup loops, are visibly more recent than the curtains. The ramparts thus present three distinct periods: a part of the 14th century: north curtain, to the right of the arches, with rusticated ashlar and an armorial shield; large arches from the mid-16th century; an eastern part rebuilt and superstructures dating from the religious troubles of the second half of the 16th century. The citadel raised in the 16th century was located in the immediate extension of this work. It was demolished in 1632 on the orders of Richelieu.