I’m enjoying the historic medieval French city of Carcassonne.  It is perfectly formed, with magnificent double curtain walls, a grand fortress, tall round towers with spiky roofs, portcullis gates, the works.  It is very cool!

Note that this is not like one of those recent Chinese “restorations” of Ancient City Walls.  Mais non!  This is an authentic 19th c French restoration!  By an eminent architect who had a very clear vision of what a medieval walled city ought to look like and spared no expense to implement it!

Alas, some pettifogging historians objected to some of the details, and so in the 1960s some of the towers got re-restored with more plausible battlements and flattish tile roofs.  But most of that wonderful 19th c. vision is still intact.

Kidding aside, the bases of the walls and most of the castle made it into the 19th c, so the restorative creativity was mostly around the battlements and the roofs.  The core structure is real.  And it is seriously impressive!

The Restored Castle
The 1960’s Re-Restoration