page_title: Guérande
section_title: Ramparts (15th–16th century)
hierarchical_section_title: Guérande / Heritage / Medieval town / Ramparts (15th–16th century)
caption_attribution_description: Eingangstor von Guérande. Fotograf: Bernd Reichelt. Aufnahme: November 2005.
context_page_description: Guérande is a medieval town located in the department of Loire-Atlantique in Brittany in western France.
  The inhabitants are referred to as Guérandais, for men, and Guérandaise, for women.
  The Guérande Peninsula overlooks two contrasting landscapes: the "Pays Blanc", because of its salt marshes, and the "Pays Noir", with the Brière peat bog.
  Since 2004, the medieval town of Guérande has been a member of a national network of 120 towns, the Villes et Pays d'Art et d'Histoire. The fortified wall of Guérande is one of the best preserved and complete in France. Its circumference stretches 1434 meters.
context_section_description: Listed building in 1877.
  The surrounding wall: This surrounding wall strengthened Guérande; it is a rare example of a medieval city which has preserved its rampart in its entirety. It is also one of the best preserved in France. Very little has been re-engineered since its main construction phase (in the 15th century), while little has been "restored" in the 19th century. The wall includes at present 10 towers, four doors and a poterne (opened to the 19th century), connected by a curtain, on a 1.434-kilometre-long (0.891 mi) (for comparison: quoted from Carcassonne, 1.250 km (0.78 mi) for the internal surrounding wall). After the sack of Guérande by the troops of Louis of Spain in 1342 during the War of Succession of Brittany, the city began to build a rampart in the following year of 1343. These works would last for more than a century and a half.
  The names of the four gates are:
  La porte Saint-Michel – the main gate: Originally, the gate was occupied by the Captain of the City, who was the representative of the authority of the Duke of Brittany in Guerande. After Brittany's unification with the Kingdom of France in 1532, the Captain of the City ceded his authority to a French Governor. During the French Revolution, however, the populace of Guérande would remove its last Governor, eventually placing a prison in the Gate of Saint Michel. The building was not suited to this function, so the municipality eventually settled the functions of city hall here. Even then, the building would become too small too fast. The city hall eventually was resited elsewhere and this building became a museum to the Friends de Guérande, established in 1928. The museum contains a collection of helmets and traditional costumes, an archaeological collection and the Treasury of the Collegiate Church.
  La porte Vannetaise (13th century)
  La porte de Saillé (16th century)
  La porte Bizienne – it is the most recent part of the walls.
  The ramparts are not the only element of defense of the old city. Also found are:
  A ditch along a large portion of the walls.
  Boulevard in front of the Gate of Saint-Michel.
caption: Saint-Michel gate
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