Aigues-Mortes

French commune
nomcommune=Aigues-Mortes
City walls
région=Languedoc-Roussillon
département=Gard
arrondissement=Nîmes
canton=Aigues-Mortes
insee=30003
cp=30220
maire=Jeannot René
mandat= 2001-2008
intercomm=
longitude=4.19333333333
latitude=43.5675
alt moy=1 m
alt mini=0 m
alt maxi=3 m
hectares=5,778
km²=57.78
sans=6,012
date-sans=1999
dens=104
date-dens=1999

Aigues-Mortes is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.

The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved.

History

The foundation of the city is attributed to Marius Caius, around 102 BC, but the first document mentioning a place called "Ayga Mortas" (dead waters) dates from the 10th century.

Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) rebuilt the port in the 13th century as France's only Mediterranean port at that time. It was the embarkation point of the Seventh Crusade (1248) and the Eighth Crusade (1270). The town is actually several miles inland and the port, as such, would have been in nearby lagoons and estuaries, linked to Aigues-Mortes.

In 1893 a conflict between the French and the Italians who worked in the salt evaporation ponds of Peccais erupted, killing nine and injuring hundreds on the Italian side (Enzo Barnabà, "Le sang des marais", Marseille, 1993).

The 1,650 metres of city walls were built in two phases: the first during the reign of Philippe III the Bold and the second during the reign of Philippe IV the Fair, who had the enclosure completed between 1289 and 1300. The Constance Tower, completed in 1248, is all that remains of the castle built in Louis IX's reign. It was almost certainly the gatehouse tower, designed to be impregnable with its six-metre-thick walls. A spiral staircase leads to the different levels of the tower.

From 1575 to 1622, Aigues-Mortes was one of the eight safe havens granted to the Protestants. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 caused severe repression of Protestantism, which was marked in Languedoc and the Cévennes in the early 18th century by the "Camisard War". Like other towers in the town, from 1686 onwards the Constance Tower was used as a prison for the Huguenots who refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. In 1703, Abraham Mazel, leader of the Camisards, managed to escape with sixteen companions.

Geography

Aigues-Mortes is located in the "Petite Camargue".

By road, Aigues-Mortes is about 35 km (21.75 mi) from Nîmes, "préfecture" (administrative capital) of the Gard "département" and 30 km (18.65 mi) from Montpellier, "préfecture" of the Hérault "département". As the crow flies, Aigues-Mortes is 32.5 km (20.19 mi) from Nîmes and 26 km (16.16 mi) from Montpellier.

A rail branch line from Nîmes passes through Aigues-Mortes to its terminus on the coast at Grau-du-Roi. This line also transports sea salt.

Economy

While tourism plays a large part of the town's economy, wine, asparagus and sea salt are also important staples. In the surrounding countryside, bulls and Camargue horses are bred.

Literary reference

Ernest Hemingway's third major posthumous work, the novel "The Garden of Eden", takes place in Aigues-Mortes.

Gallery

External links

* [http://www.ot-aiguesmortes.fr/ Office de Tourisme d'Aigues-Mortes]
* [http://www.claudetravels.altervista.org/VdR/AiguesMortes/gal.html Aigues-Mortes Photogallery]
* [http://www.photos-france.net/content/view/20/67/ Photos of Aigues Mortes]