Citroën Perua Sob os Muros de Carcassonne, França, Anos 1960 — Archive & Atlas
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Carcassonne, France

Citroën Perua Sob os Muros de Carcassonne, França, Anos 1960 — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1960–1969

AA-2026-A97EBA

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Alguém estacionou um carro de passeio azul-pálido sob oitocentos anos de alvenaria e não se importou, que é a coisa mais francesa possível. Os muros duplos de Carcassonne estavam em pé desde a Idade Média, restaurados com ameias de cauda de andorinha no século anterior por homens que acreditavam que uma fortaleza deveria parecer mais medieval do que o próprio Medioevo jamais conseguiu.

Nos anos 1960, a função militar da cidade havia muito estava aposentada; seu novo trabalho era ser matéria de cartão-postal, e a perua ao ralenti em sua base era simplesmente um turista fazendo o equivalente moderno de um cerco, motor ligado em vez de catapulta. Ninguém na foto está olhando para o muro. Esse é o sinal mais certo de que um monumento se tornou mobiliário.

A árvore à direita, não planejada e não consultada por arquiteto algum, vem tranquilamente superando os baluartes há décadas, o que a coloca em um cronograma de construção mais longo do que os pedreiros jamais tiveram.

The historian's note

Carcassonne, in the Languedoc region of southern France, preserves one of Europe's most complete examples of medieval double-walled fortification, its origins reaching back to Gallo-Roman and Visigothic construction later expanded under the Cathars-era counts and the French crown. By the 19th century the fortress had fallen into disrepair and was slated for partial demolition before the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc undertook its restoration beginning in 1853, a project completed after his death and still debated by historians for its interpretive liberties, including the addition of the pointed, Italian-style merlons visible along the wall.

By the 1960s the restored cité had become a major stop on the postwar European touring circuit, drawing motorists in family station wagons on routes through the Aude countryside. The site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage location in 1997, decades after this scene, in recognition of its role as a rare surviving model of medieval military architecture.

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