La Cité de Carcassonne (bis)

I thought I'd better try to improve on yesterday's blip, so here's la Cité in daylight, taken from the Pont Neuf this time, so no intruding cypress.

La Cité is now listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site, but the medieval fortress had fallen into such disrepair by 1849 that the French government wanted to demolish it. There was a public outcry, and the architect Viollet-le-Duc was commissioned to restore it, resulting in what we see today.

It has to be said that the restoration wasn't very authentic. Viollet-le-Duc put steeply pitched slate roofs on the turrets, which enhances the fairy-tale look but runs counter to the Midi conventions of tiled roofs and gently sloping roof pitches (no snow here). This has recently been "corrected" in places -- see the turret on the left of the photo.

Still, without Viollet-le-Duc, there probably wouldn't be much left to look at, and the overall effect is magnificent.