Carcassonne
The municipality of Carcassonne in the Languedoc-Roussillon region is known as the Cité de Carcassonne (a mediaeval walled city).
At the beginning of the 13th century, Carcassonne was taken by Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian Crusade, then annexed to the royal estate. The fortification works lasted throughout the 13th century, with the building of the outer wall and the modernisation of the inner rampart, turning the site into an impregnable fortress. This group of mediaeval monuments was restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, and UNESCO added it to its list of Word Heritage Sites in 1997.
