Aigues - Mortes Aigues - Mortes ( ) is a French commune in the Gard department in the Languedoc - Roussillon region of southern France . The medieval city wall s surrounding the city are well preserved . Geography . Aigues - Mortes is located in the " Petite Camargue " some 90 km north - west of Marseilles . By road , Aigues - Mortes is about 33 km south - west of Nîmes , and 20 km east of Montpellier in a direct line . Access to the commune is by Highway D979 coming south from Saint - Laurent - d ' Aigouze to Aigues - Mortes town . Highway D979 continues south - west through the commune to Le Grau - du - Roi . Highway D62 also starts from Aigues - Mortes heading south - west parallel to D979 before turning eastwards and forming part of the southern border of the commune . Highway D62A continues to " Plan d ' Eau du Vidourie " . The commune is composed of a portion of the wet plains and lakes of the Petite Camargue . It is separated from the Gulf of Lions ( Mediterranean Sea ) by the town of " Le Grau - du - Roi " however " Aigues - Mortes " is connected to the sea through the Canal du Rhône à Sète . There is only one other hamlet in the commune called " Mas de Jarras Listel " on the western border . The Canal du Rhône à Sète enters the commune from the north - west and the north - east in two branches from the main canal to the north and the branches intersect in the town of Aigues - Mortes before exiting as a single canal alongside the D979 highway and feeding into the Mediterranean Sea at " Le Grau - du - Roi " . A rail branch line from Nîmes passes through Aigues - Mortes from north - east to south - west , with a station in the town of Aigues - Mortes , to its terminus on the coast at Le - Grau - du - Roi . This line also transports sea salt . The communes of Saint - Laurent - d ' Aigouze and Le Grau - du - Roi are adjacent to the town of Aigues - Mortes . Its inhabitants are called " Aigues - Mortais " or " Aigues - Mortise and in Occitan " aigamortencs " . " Aigues - Mortes " is one of 79 member communes of the Territorial Coherence Plan of SCOT of the South of Gard and is also one of 34 communes in the " Pays Vidourle - Camargue " . " Aigues - Mortes " is one of the four communes of the " Loi Littoral " of SCOT in the South of Gard . Toponymy . Attested in the Latinized form " Aquae Mortuae " in 1248 . The name comes from the Occitan " Aigas Mortas " meaning " dead water " , or " stagnant water " equivalent to toponymic types in the Morteau Oil dialect cf . Moreau ( Doubs ) : " mortua Aqua " ( 1105 , VTF521 ) and Morteaue ( Haute - Marne ) : " mortua Aqua " ( 1163 , VTF521 ) . The name comes from the " Aigues - Mortes " marshes and ponds that stretch around the village and also the fact that there has never been potable water at " Aigues - Mortes " . " Grau " comes from the Occitan " grau " meaning " pond with extension " . " Grau du Roy " in French means " pond of the King " . History . Antiquity . The foundation of the city is said to have been by Gaius Marius , around 102BC , but there is no documentary evidence to support this . A Roman by the name of " Peccius " fitted out the first salt marsh and gave his name to the Marsh of Peccais . Salt mining started from the Neolithic period and was continued in the Hellenistic period , but the ancient uses of saline have not resulted in any major archaeological discovery . It is likely that any remains were destroyed by modern saline facilities . Middle Ages . In 791 , Charlemagne erected the " Matafère tower " amid the swamps for the safety of fishermen and salt workers . Some argue that the signaling and transmission of news was not foreign to the building of this tower which was designed to give warning in case of arrival of a fleet , as for the " Magne Tower " at Nîmes . The purpose of this tower was part of the war plan and spiritual plan which Charlemagne granted at the Benedictine abbey , dedicated to Opus Dei ( work of God ) and whose incessant chanting , day and night , was to designate the convent as " Psalmody " or " Psalmodi " . This monastery still existed in 812 , as confirmed by an act of endowment made by the Badila from Nîmes at the abbey . At that time , the people lived in reed huts and made their living from fishing , hunting , and salt production from several small salt marshes along the sea shore . The region was then under the rule of the monks from the Abbey of Psalmody . In 1240 , Louis IX , who wanted to get rid of the influence of the Italian navy for transporting troops to the Crusades , focused on the strategic position of his kingdom . At that time , Marseille belonged to his brother Charles of Anjou , King of Naples , Agde , Count of Toulouse , and Montpellier , and King of Aragon . Louis IX wanted direct access to the Mediterranean Sea . He obtained the town and the surrounding lands by exchange of properties with the monks of the abbey . Residents were exempt from the salt tax which was previously levied so that they can now take the salt unconstrained . He built a road between the marshes and built the " Carbonnière Tower " to serve as a watchtower and protect access to the city . Saint - Louis then built the " Constance Tower " on the site of the old " Matafère Tower " , to house the garrison . In 1272 , his son and successor , Philip the Bold , ordered the continuation of the construction of walls to completely encircle the small town . The work would not be completed for another 30 years . This was the city from which Louis IX twice departed for the Crusades : the Seventh Crusade in 1248 and again for the Eighth Crusade in 1270 for Tunis where he died of dysentery . The year 1270 has been established , mistakenly for many historians , as the last step of a process initiated at the end of 11th century . The judgment is hasty because the transfer of crusaders or mercenaries from the harbour of Aigues - Mortes continued after this year . The order given in 1275 to Sir Guillaume de Roussillon by Philip III the Bold and Pope Gregory X after the Council of Lyons in 1274 to reinforce Saint - Jean d ' Acre in the East shows that maritime activity continued for a ninth crusade which never took place . There is a popular belief that the sea reached " Aigues - Mortes " in 1270 . In fact , as confirmed by studies of the engineer Charles Leon Dombre , the whole port of " Aigues - Mortes " , including the port itself , was in the Marette pond , the " Canal - Viel " and " Grau Louis " , the Canal Viel being the access channel to the sea . The Grau - Louis was approximately at the modern location of " La Grande - Motte " . At the beginning of 14th century , Philip the Fair used the fortified site to incarcerate the Templars . Between 8 and 11 November 1307 , forty - five of them were put to the question , found guilty , and held prisoner in the " Tower of Constance " . Modern and contemporary periods . Aigues - Mortes still retained its privileges granted by the kings . Curiously it was a great Protestant in the person of Jean d ' Harambure who said that the one - eyed light horse commander of King Henry IV and former governor of Vendôme should be appointed governor of " Aigues - Mortes " and the Carbonnière Tower on 4 September 1607 . To do this , he took an oath before the Constable of France Henri de Montmorency , Governor of Languedoc . But one Catholic , the Lord of Berichère , supported the rival " Adrien de Chanmont " . The conflict continued until 1612 , and Harambure , supported by the pastors of Lower Languedoc and the inhabitants , finished it by a personal appeal to the Queen . He eventually resigned on 27 February 1615 in favour of his son Jean d ' Harambure , but King Louis XIII restored him for six years . On 27 July 1616 he resigned again in favour of Gaspard III de Coligny , but not without obtaining a token of appreciation for the judges and consuls of the city . At the beginning of the 15th century , important works were being undertaken to facilitate access to " Aigues - Mortes " from the sea . The old " Grau - Louis " , dug for the Crusades , was replaced by the " Grau - de - la - Croisette " and a port was dug at the base of the Tower of Constance . It lost its importance from 1481 when Provence and Marseille were attached to the kingdom of France . Only the exploitation of the Peccais salt marshes encouraged François I , in 1532 , to connect the salt industry of " Aigues - Mortes " to the sea . This channel , said Grau - Henry , silted up in turn . The opening , in 1752 , of the Grau - du - Roi solved the problem for a while . A final solution was found in 1806 by connecting the Aigues - Mortes river port through the Canal du Rhône à Sète . 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 . During the French Revolution , the city was called " Port - Pelletier " . At that time the port had almost disappeared due to silting , induced by the intensification of labour in the watershed at the same time as the clearing of woods and forests following the abolition of privileges . The decline of forest cover led to soil erosion and consequently a greater quantity of alluvial deposits in the ports of the region . Thus , in 1804 the prefect " Mr . de Barante père " wrote in a report that : " The coasts of this department are more prone to silting . . . The ports of Maguelonne and Aigues Mortes and the old port of Cette no longer exist except in history " he alerted : " An inordinate desire to collect and multiply these forest clearings since 1790 . . . Greed has devoured in a few years the resource of the future , the mountains , opened to the plough , show that soon naked and barren rock , each groove becoming a ravine ; the topsoil , driven by storms , has been brought into the rivers , and thence into the lower parts , where it serves every day to find the lowest parts and the darkest swamps . " The massacre of Italians ( August 1893 ) . In the summer of 1893 , the " Compagnie des Salins du Midi " launched a recruiting campaign for workers for the threshing and the lifting of salt . Hiring was reduced due to the economic crisis that hit Europe , so the prospect of finding a seasonal job was attractive in this year and there were a greater number of workers looking for work . These were divided into three categories nicknamed : Because of the recruitment operated by Compagnie des Salins du Midi , the " chefs de colle " were forced to compose teams including both French and Italians . In the early morning of 16 August 1893 a fight broke out between the two communities that quickly turned into a struggle of honour . Despite the intervention of the justice of the peace and the police , the situation rapidly degenerated . Some tramps met in " Aigues - Mortes " and , saying that Italians had killed some " Aiguemortais " , swelled the ranks of the population and of people who had not managed to find employment . A group of Italians was then attacked and tried to take refuge in a bakery that rioters wanted to burn . The prefect called for troops at 4am , but they did not arrive on the scene until 18 hours after the drama . Early in the morning , the situation escalated and the rioters moved to the Peccais saltfields where there were the largest number of Italians . Police Captain Cabley , trying to provide protection , promised the rioters to hunt the Italians and escort them to the Aigues - Mortes Police Station . It was during the journey that the Italians attacked by the rioters were massacred by a crowd that the police were unable to contain . There were seven dead and fifty wounded , some of whom had lifelong consequences . This was the largest massacre of immigrants in the modern history of France and also one of the biggest scandals in its judicial history because no condemnation was ever pronounced . The case became a diplomatic issue and the " transalpine " ( Italian ) foreign press took up the cause of the Italians . There were Anti - French riots in Italy . A diplomatic solution was found and the parties were compensated while the nationalist mayor " Marius Terras ' was forced to resign . A theatrical play by Serge Valletti called " Dirty August " is based on the tragic events . Economy . Tourism . The medieval heritage from the 13th and 14th centuries of the commune and its proximity to the sea attract many tourists and residents of France . Transport . River . The city of Aigues - Mortes is a crossroads of canals : Railway . The Line Nîmes to Le Grau - du - Roi serves the towns and villages of Costières and the coastline , with a terminus at Le Grau - du - Roi . It is also used for the transport of salt produced by the saltworks of the Salins Group ( see link below ) . Road . The development of seaside tourism since the 1960s was marked by the construction of new resorts ( La Grande - Motte ) and the extension of existing facilities from Le Grau du Roi to Port Camargue . To facilitate access to tourists , a coastal road network has been augmented and connected to the A9 motorway . " Aigues - Mortes " benefits in these ways : The bus 106 also connects Montpellier and Saintes - Maries - de - la - Mer . Administration . Municipal Administration . The municipal council consists of 29 members including the mayor , 8 deputies , and 20 municipal councilors . Since the last municipal elections , its composition is as follows : List of Successive Mayors of Aigues - Mortes Canton . The town is the capital of the canton of the same name whose general counsel is Leopold Rosso , deputy mayor of Le Grau - du - Roi and president of the Community of Communes Terre de Camargue ( UMP ) . The canton is part of the arrondissement of Nîmes and the second electoral district of Gard where the member is Gilbert Collard ( FN ) . Demography . In 2010 , the commune had 8 , 341 inhabitants . The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses conducted in the town since 1793 . From the 21st century , a census of municipalities with fewer than 10 , 000 inhabitants is held every five years , unlike larger towns that have a sample survey every year . Pyramid of Ages . The distribution of the population of the municipality by age group is as follows : The female population is over - represented compared to men . The rate of ( 52 . 4 % ) is substantially the same as the national rate ( 51 . 8 % ) . Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Aigues - Mortes and Gard Department in 2007 Local Culture . The Aigues - Mortes Fougasse . " Fougasse " was one of the first pastries which could rise . It can be sweet ( sometimes called " tarte au sucre " or sugar tart ) or salty ( with or without gratillons ) . Traditionally , making sweet fougasse in " Aigues - Mortes " was reserved for the Christmas period , as part of the Thirteen desserts . Based on a Brioche dough , sugar , butter , and orange blossom , it was made by the baker with ingredients provided by the client . Now Aigues - Mortes fougasse sells all year . Lou Drapé . " Lou Drapé " is an imaginary horse mentioned in local folklore , which was supposed to walk at night around the ramparts of the city and take 50 to 100 children on his back , and disappear to " nowhere " . Historical sites . The " Tower of Constance " and the ramparts . The Tower of Constance was built in 1242 by Saint - Louis on the former site of the Matafère Tower which was built by Charlemagne around 790AD to house the king ’ s garrison . The construction was completed in 1254 . It is 22 metres in diameter with a height of either 33 or 40 metres depending on the source . The thickness of the walls at the base is 6 metres . On the ground floor , there is a guardroom protected by a portcullis . In the middle of the room , there is a circular opening leading to the cellar which served as a pantry , storage of ammunition as well as for dungeons . These areas were called the “ culs de basse fosse ” , an old way of saying underground dungeons in French . On the first floor , there is the knight ’ s hall . Structurely it is similar to the guardroom . It was in this room that the Protestants were imprisoned during the 18th century , most notably Marie Durand , who engraved the word “ résister ” ( English : resist ) into the edge of the well which can be seen to this day . She was imprisoned at the age of 15 , and was freed 38 years later , along with political prisoners such as Abraham Mazel , leader of the Camisard s . Between these two rooms , a narrow , covered way was built within the walls to keep watch on the room below . After the knight ’ s hall , there is an entrance to the terrace which offers a wide panoramic view of the region , making it an ideal position for surveillance . Sometimes , the prisoners were allowed to go on the terrace to get some fresh air . The ramparts stretch for a distance of 1650 metres . Spectacular in their height and their state of preservation even though they were not restored in the 19th century , as was Carcassonne for example , they remain in a well preserved state . Along with the " Tower of Constance " , they are a testimony to Western European military architecture in the marshlands during the 13th and 14th centuries . The Carbonnière Tower . Located in the commune of Saint - Laurent - d ’ Aigouze , the Carbonnière Tower was first referred to in an old text from 1346 specifying the function of the structure . It said , “ this fortress is the key to the kingdom in this region . ” Surrounded by salt marshes , the fortress was the only passageway into " Aigues - Mortes " . It was guarded by a garrison made up of a châtelain and several guards . From the terrace , which could support up to four cannons , there is a panoramic view of Petite Camargue . The Church of Notre - Dame - des - Sablons . This Gothic - style church was probably built before the ramparts in the mid - 13th century , during the time of Saint - Louis . In 1537 it served as a Collegiate church but was later vandalized by Protestants in 1575 . After the reconstruction of the bell tower in 1634 it later served as a Temple of Reason during the French Revolution , a barracks , grain merchant , and a salt warehouse . It was re - established as a place of worship in 1804 and the building was restored in the neo classical - baroque style . Between 1964 and 1967 all of the 19th century decor was removed , notably the coffered ceilings , resulting in the much more basic and medieval style church we see today . Since 1991 , the stained - glass windows by Claude Viallat , a contemporary artist belonging to the " Supports / Surfaces " art movement , add extraordinary light and colour to the building . With the exception of a few statues , the rest of the 18th and 19th century furniture disappeared during this period . The façade is crowned by a simple bell - gable housing 3 bells . The largest of the three is 1 . 07 metres in diameter . It was dated to 1740 , cast by master smelter Jean Poutingon , and has been designated a historical monument of France . The church also houses a statue of Saint - Louis . The Chapel of the Gray Penitents . Located to the east of the " Place de la Viguerie " , it is the property of the Brotherhood of Grey Penitents established in 1400 . The facade is in the style of Louis XIV . The entrance door is from the 17th century and is decorated with a wooden statue . The altarpiece was carved in 1687 by " Sabatier " . Inside , an altarpiece represents the passion of Christ . It was built of gray stucco plaster in 1687 by the sculptor " Sabatier " from Montpellier . This altar , on which are the arms of the brotherhood , occupies the back of the choir . The Chapel of the White Penitents . Located at the corner of the " Rue de la République " and " Rue Louis Blanc " , it belongs to the Brotherhood of the White Penitents created in 1622 . Above the choir , on the roof , there is a copy of the Retable of Jerusalem where Christ celebrated the Passover and Holy Thursday with his apostles . Around the high altar , a painting on canvas traces the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost . It is attributed to Xavier Sigalon a painter born in Uzès in 1778 . On each side of the choir stand two statues : on the left Saint Felix for the redemption of captives , on the right James , son of Alphaeus , first Bishop of Jerusalem . Saint - Louis Square . This is the touristic heart of the city . In the centre , opposite the main entrance of the " Porte de la Gardette " , stands the statue of Saint - Louis , the work of James Pradier in 1849 . Theatre Plans . The Plan of Theatres are arenas for the Camargue bullfights . They were listed in 1993 on the inventory of the list of Historic Monuments ( MH ) for their ethnological and cultural interest . They can accommodate more than 600 people .