Castle Map

Castle

Tour Barberousse

France · 10th century

Founded
c. 975
Heritage status
monument historique inscrit
Location
Gruissan
Coordinates
43.10778°, 3.08444°
Links
Wikimedia Commons
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Tour Barberousse in France
Photo: Emeraude · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Tour Barberousse (in English, Redbeard Tower) is in the coastal village of Gruissan in the Aude département of France.

The tower is all that remains of a castle built at the end of the 10th century to observe the approaches to the harbour at Narbonne and to guard against seaborne invasions of the city. Built on a steep, rocky hill, the castle was enlarged in the 12th century by the Archbishop of Narbonne, Guillaume de Broa.

In the 16th century it was dismantled on the orders of Richelieu and has been left neglected since then.

Today, the village of Gruissan surrounds the castle remains. The view from the castle site over the village and surrounding coastline is quite spectacular. The tower and the ruins of the castle are listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Text adapted from “Tour Barberousse” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Tour Barberousse ranks #7,360 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #708 of the 954 mapped in France. Founded c. 975, it is older than 92% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 206 atlas entries founded in the 10th century. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Perpignan, 48 km away. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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