The famous
architect set to work on their southern side and had completed about one-
third of the restoration when the disastrous issue of the Franco-Prussian
war arrested all further progress until the Third Republic feebly resumed
the task. The walls along the Rhone, especially useful in time of flood,
were backed with stone, their battlements and machicoulis renewed. The
visitor, however, will need no reminder that the present passive aspect of
the ramparts conveys but a faint impression of their former state, when a
broad and deep fosse, seven feet by twelve, washed their bases, above
which they raised their once impregnable curtains full thirty feet.
Two of the old gates have been demolished--the Porte de Limbert in 1896,
and the Porte de l'Oulle in 1900--the former, many times repaired, was the
only existing example of the external aspect of a medieval gate, the
latter had been rebuilt in 1786 in the Doric style. A new gate, the Porte
Petrarque, now the Porte de la Republique, was erected by Viollet-le-Duc
when the walls were pierced for the new street; the Porte St.
Pages:
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192