Monday, September 17, 2007
Carcassone
Parker and I explored via Google Earth the town of Carcassonne in Southern France. One of the few fortified towns of Europe to never be conquered, it was restored in 1853 by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, and became a World Heritage Site in 1997.
It is one of the most intact examples of a medieval town in Europe today, and one can't help but fall in love with it on first sight. if we ever get back to the Continent, it will definitely be on the itinerary. Although Parker is endlessly fascinated by castles, most castles in Europe today are in some sort of decay or disorder - eventually they were breached, and conservation efforts there are more inclined to preserve it as it is rather than to restore it. Carcassonne would give Parker a better understanding of what architecture and life was in that time more than the crumbling masonry of most of the fortresses of the age.
Labels: Homeschooling, Parker, Sheer Awesome, Where in the World
------------------------------------------------