| dc.description | General view of the square near Notre-Dame-des-Sablons; Aigues-Mortes is a town in Gard, southern France, in the north-western section of the Rhône Delta or Camargue. It is one of the largest surviving medieval fortified towns. Louis IX (reigned 1226-1270) conceived of the walled city. He wanted a port to establish a royal presence in, and access to, the Mediterranean, and he needed a fortified town to protect crusaders, pilgrims and merchants, providing a safe haven from which to launch crusades, as well as a commercial centre for trade between the Levant and northern France. Soon after 1240 Louis IX began the construction of the Tour de Constance, the isolated tower on the north-western corner of the site; it was finished in 1249, the year after he launched the Seventh Crusade. Construction of the walled town did not, however, begin until 1272 during the reign of Louis's son Philip III (reigned 1270-1285), and work continued into the early years of the 14th century. Notre-Dame-des-Sablons, erected in the mid-13th century, is a handsome if simple unvaulted structure of nave and two aisles with a flat east end. It was restored between 1964 and 1967. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 2/7/2008) | en_US |
