Circulade

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Spread of the Circulades in the Languedoc

The term Circulade is used to refer to around 50 round villages in the three departments of Aude , Gard and Hérault in the Occitania region in southern France .

term

The not yet recognized by the scientific research in full term Circulade is a modern creation of the Polish architects and UNESCO Drug Representatives Krzysztof Pawlowski that this first appeared in his 1992 book publication Circulades languedociennes de l'an Milleused. The term describes a type of village in Languedoc that has not yet been or only marginally recognized by research, which are grouped in a semicircle, circle or ellipse around a central castle or church. In some of these villages the castle and / or church are located on a central hill; with others they are only in the center of the place on the plain. In any case, a defensive function against attacks from the outside can be assumed, because the outer ring of houses, which is usually only pierced by one or two gates, formed a replacement for a much more cost-intensive city ​​wall .

meaning

Due to their relatively narrow distribution area and their recurring system, accidents can be excluded. Accordingly, this form of medieval town planning is based on a uniform idea, the age of which - due to the lack of text sources and archaeological field research - is not yet agreed. K. Pawlowski advocates an early dating of the beginnings as early as the 10th century, whereas others assign this to the late Middle Ages. The clarification of this question is important for bastide research, because until now it was always assumed that these were at the beginning of the planned medieval and modern urban development.

tourism

While research on the history of architecture is still arguing about both basic questions and some details, the regional and local tourism authorities quickly recognized the marketing value of this term. a. founded an Association des Villages Circulaires (→ Weblink).

places

Alairac , Aude

Aude department

Gard department

Cessenon-sur-Orb , Hérault

Hérault department

literature

  • Louis Josserand: Les villages ronds du Razès [Aude] in the Revue geographique des Pyrénées et du Sud-ouest 1931.
  • Krzysztof Pawlowski: Circulades languedociennes de l'an Mille. Naissance de l'urbanisme européen. Presses du Languedoc, Montpellier 1992, ISBN 978-28-59981-39-6 .

Web links