Fountain with
little girl
 
Statue of Jean-Pierre
Cros-Mayrevieille,
postcard
 
Gargoyles, North
transept balustrade, Old
Saint-Nazaire Cathedral,
postcard
 
© Archives départementales de l'Aude
Private Collection
Cl. Michel Jordy, Private collection
THE URBAN AREA

THE WALLED CITY
MARIE R's DESCRIPTION

"We lived in the Place du Grand-Puits where each of our neighbours put their pot of geraniums on the coping [of the well] which was surrounded with wire netting because of the wind. Every day, everyone watered their plants...I have happy memories of school. To get there we crossed the square where there was a bronze model: a miniature of the whole city…


  There were also a few antique shops, with pottery and above all, weapons, big guns and huge swords in the windows …
 
What impressed me were the gargoyles on the church roof. When it rained, it wasn't a good idea to stop beneath them...
 
There were gardens. My grandfather worked in one where there was a passion flower arbour.
 
As you came off the drawbridge there was a big covered wash house where the women went to do their washing. It was round and very big….
 
After the war the tour de l'âne (Donkey Ride) was taken up again. The last couple to marry in the year, were perched on its back and the new husband wore two bull horns. And, since there were tourists again we made them lift up the ass's tail and kiss its behind."
 
Marie R.
Private Collection
Private Collection
© Archives départementales de l'Aude
Private Collection

...Back
           

 
 The Urban Area
 Boundaries and Territories
 Beyond the Ramparts
 Life around the Gates
 The Walled City
 The City's Castles
 
  Antique shop,
interior
  Rue porte d'Aude,
postcard
  Ramparts and gardens
  Wash house