Les Halles de Carcassonne

Les Halles de Carcassonne, officially the Halles Prosper-Montagné, are the covered market of the lower town, the Bastide Saint-Louis, and the place where Carcassonne does its food shopping. They stand on the Place Eggenfelden, a short walk from the main square, the Place Carnot, and the building dates from the eighteenth century. Until it was built, markets were held in the open air on Place Carnot, which created difficulties of hygiene, since perishable goods, meat and fish were sold in the sun. The town decided to build a dedicated market hall in the spirit of the Enlightenment, which favoured orderly and healthy public spaces, and the project took many years to carry through.

The building is a good example of eighteenth-century civic architecture, with a regular plan and a covered area where traders sell under a roof. It is named for Prosper Montagné, a famous gastronomic writer who was born in Carcassonne in 1865 and who was the author of the Larousse Gastronomique, the encyclopaedia of French cooking. He is also associated with cassoulet, the dish for which his home town and its neighbours Castelnaudary and Toulouse are renowned, and in the market the ingredients for it are easy to find: white beans, sausages, pork and duck confit.

The halls are open every morning, from seven o'clock, and close in the early afternoon, with the closing time varying by day of the week. The stalls sell fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, bread and regional specialities such as olives, charcuterie and wines from the Minervois, Corbières and Limoux. It is a place for ordinary shopping, as much as for visitors, and you will see locals chatting with the traders. In addition, the hall houses a media library, the Grain d'Aile, which shows how the building has been adapted to cultural use.

The lower town is a pleasant place to explore on foot. It was laid out as a planned town, a bastide, in the thirteenth century, with straight streets and a central square, and it has shops, cafés and restaurants. From the market, you can reach the Place Carnot in a few minutes, and the Pont-Vieux, the old bridge across the Aude, leads to the Cité, the medieval fortress. The Canal du Midi runs along the edge of the lower town, and the Jardin des Carmes, the Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation and the Carcassonne wine cellars are in the area.

The market suits food lovers, those who prefer local life to crowds and anyone planning a picnic at the Cité. Allow an hour.