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Narbonne |
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NARBONNE "The southern crossroads of Europe", so read the signs when you arrive by car. This slogan is just as valid today as it was during Roman times when the town was founded. Narbonne is the oldest Roman colony on Gallic soil and was founded in 118B.C. at the meeting point of the routes for Aquitaine, Spain and Italy. Hence it gained a significance that it might not otherwise have had, it became the seat of a powerful Archbishop, and it is amongst the buildings that remain of the palace that was his home that the town hall (and the tourist office) are now situated. -: Narbonne Town Hall A small section of this ancient road has been uncovered in the square in front of the town hall, you can still see the ruts made by the wagon wheels over two thousand years ago, and ponder upon what those wagons carried and to where. (Interestingly the width between these ruts is 4'8½" (1m43) which was the gauge adopted for the railways in Britain and the USA, but that's another story!). |
The tower on the extreme left of the above photograph, behind the water fountain, is the "Donjon Gilles Aycelin" (built 1295-1306) and the walls contain some carved stones from another building, probably much earlier. Some details of the carved stones :- Behind these walls lie the main
courtyard and beyond, the
cloisters and the
cathedral, which wasever finished. In fact they only ever
built the nave, the unfinished transept of St.Eutrope
stands testament to the decline that Narbonne suffered towards the end of the 14th century,
caused in part by wars and in part by epidemics. During the French Revolution the seat of the
Archbishop was withdrawn and it was not to be until the arrival of the railways at the end of
the nineteenth century that Narbonne's fortunes would recover. Today, Narbonne is a medium
sized town which has a go-ahead leadership in the Mayor and his staff, and which has built
hugely on tourism, partly the enormous interest in holidays on the canal which passes
through the very heart of the town under a bridge which
dates from Roman times, and partly on the vast wealth of Roman remains such as the bridge and
the Via Domitia which crosses it. |
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In the other direction the
canal connects with the Aude river (formally the "Atax")
and then, via the canal de Jonction, to the canal du Midi, which in turn joins Toulouse and
Sète. | |