Château Comtal

The Château Comtal is the castle inside the walls of the Cité de Carcassonne, a fortress within a fortress, and it is the part of the old city that best tells its medieval story. It was built in the twelfth century by the Trencavel family, who ruled the area as viscounts, at the western side of the Cité, beside the ramparts. The castle was the residence of the viscount and the headquarters of his government, and it was also a last refuge, with its own moat and towers, if the town should fall.

Its history is bound up with the Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade. In the early thirteenth century, the Catholic Church launched a crusade against the Cathar heresy, which had spread across the Languedoc, and the northern French barons took the opportunity to extend their control over the south. In August 1209 the crusaders besieged Carcassonne, and the young viscount Raymond-Roger Trencavel was captured while negotiating. He died in the castle a few months later, and the lands passed to the crusader Simon de Montfort. In 1226 Carcassonne passed to the French crown, and the kings of France strengthened the walls in the following decades, adding the outer ring and several towers, which gave the Cité its present double line of defences, about three kilometres long.

By the nineteenth century the fortress had fallen into decay and was used as a quarry and a barracks, and there were plans to demolish it. A local campaign led to its rescue, and the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc led a large restoration from the 1850s, rebuilding roofs and adding the conical slate caps and timber galleries that give the Cité its fairy-tale look. His work remains controversial among historians, since he restored the towers with features typical of northern France, but it saved the monument, and the Cité was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997.

A visit to the castle takes you through the courtyard, the surviving rooms and a collection of carved stones from the town's churches, including sculptures taken from the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire, and along the ramparts, where the walls give a good idea of medieval military design. From the walkways you look over the roofs of the Cité, the lower town across the river and the Pyrenees on a clear day. Guided tours are available, and one ticket covers the castle and the ramparts.

The castle suits history lovers, families and anyone interested in medieval warfare. Wear good shoes, since the steps and stones are uneven, and avoid the midday heat in summer. Allow one to two hours.