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Tour Philippe-le-Bel

Avignon PapacyBuildings and structures completed in 1302Buildings and structures in GardCastles in GardMonuments historiques of Gard
Museums in GardPhilip IV of France
Tour Philippe le Bel
Tour Philippe le Bel

Tour Philippe-le-Bel (English: Tower of Philip the Fair) is a medieval tower in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon which marked the French terminus of the Saint-Bénézet Bridge across the Rhone between the Kingdom of France and Papal territory of Avignon. It is named after the French king Philippe-le-Bel (Philip IV "the Fair") who was responsible for its construction. A tower with only two storeys was completed in 1302. In spite of protests from the Count of Provence and the population of Avignon, Philippe-le-Bel pressed ahead and built a gatehouse at the end of the bridge. The tower and gatehouse formed part of a fortress with a curtain wall that enclosed several buildings including a chapel and a residence for the châtelain. A third storey was added to the tower in the middle of the 14th century. The Saint-Bénézet Bridge was abandoned in 1669 and the fortress then ceased to serve any useful function. The French crown continued to pay for repairs, but after the French Revolution the buildings were abandoned and allowed to fall into ruins. In 1822 the town of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon decided to demolish all of the fortress except the present tower. It was listed as a Monument historique in 1862 and is now open to the public.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Tour Philippe-le-Bel (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Tour Philippe-le-Bel
Rue Montée de la Tour, Nîmes

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N 43.95856 ° E 4.79757 °
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Tour Philippe le Bel

Rue Montée de la Tour
30400 Nîmes
Occitania, France
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Tour Philippe le Bel
Tour Philippe le Bel
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Pont Saint-Bénézet
Pont Saint-Bénézet

The Pont Saint-Bénézet (French pronunciation: [pɔ̃ sɛ̃ benezɛ]; Provençal: Pònt de Sant Beneset), also known as the Pont d'Avignon (IPA: [pɔ̃ daviɲɔ̃]), was a medieval bridge across the Rhône in the town of Avignon, in southern France. Only four arches survive. A wooden bridge spanning the Rhône between Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Avignon was built between 1177 and 1185. This early bridge was destroyed forty years later in 1226 during the Albigensian Crusade when Louis VIII of France laid siege to Avignon. Beginning in 1234 the bridge was rebuilt with 22 stone arches. The stone bridge was about 900 m (980 yd) in length and only 4.9 m (16 ft 1 in) in width, including the parapets at the sides. The bridge was abandoned in the mid-17th century as the arches tended to collapse each time the Rhône flooded making it very expensive to maintain. Four arches and the gatehouse at the Avignon end of the bridge have survived. The Chapel of Saint Nicholas which sits on the second pier of the bridge, was constructed in the second half of 12th century but has since been substantially altered. The western terminus, the Tour Philippe-le-Bel, is also preserved. The bridge was the inspiration for the song Sur le pont d'Avignon and is considered a landmark of the city. In 1995, the surviving arches of the bridge were classified as a World Heritage Site, together with the Palais des Papes, Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms, and other monuments from the historic centre of Avignon, because of its testimony to Avignon's leading role in the Papacy during the 14th and 15th centuries.