Carcassonne is a town noted for its hilltop medieval fortified town, whose massive defences were constructed on walls dating from Late Antiquity. The fortified town of Carcassone fell in disrepair before the restoration work carried out in the second half of the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc, which itself was hugely influential in the science of architectural conservation. Today, the fortified town is one of the largest and best preserved - although somehow inauthentic, with its fairy-tale witch hat hat tower roofing - medieval sites in Europe. The Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The other attraction of Carcassonne is its section of the Canal du Midi. The Canal du Midi was built between 1667 and 1694 to link the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Incorporating more than 328 structures (locks, aqueducts, bridges, tunnels, etc.), the Canal du Mid was a considerable feat of civil engineering, all the more remarkable for the way it blends with its surroundings into a designed landscape. The Canal du Midi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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