#78 La Tour de Constance
Aigues-Mortes, Gard, France
1241-1252
This is NOT an official Lego site


This most imposing of towers was commissioned by the French king, Louis IX, in 1241 in response to the need for a secure French port on the Mediterranean (Marseilles still being in German hands). Before construction of the "Great Strong Tower" was completed, the king and his army arrived in 1248 for his unsuccessful Seventh Crusade to the Holy Land, where he was imprisoned for four years.


Saint Louis began construction of the famous ramparts around Aigues-Mortes in 1271, but died of the plague on a visit to the ruins of Carthage in Tunesia shortly thereafter. The walls were completed by his son, King Phillipe the Bold, but by 1300 the harbor had deteriorated, the great tower lost its strategic value, and it was turned into a prison. The name was changed to The Tower of Constance in 1490 in honor of Louis' great-aunt who was the wife of Raymond VI of Toulouse. The huge tower is 113 feet tall and 73 feet in diameter, with walls 19 feet thick!


Plans
South Elevation Floor Plans Cross-section

 

Photos of the Lego Model
Built August 2001
South Southeast View
South View
Southwest View
East View
Entrance View
East Northeast View

 

Build Your Own
General Lego Plan
Battlements


Other La Tour de Constance pages:
http://www.casteland.com/pfr/chateau/languedoc/gard/aiguesmor/am_hist4.htm
http://www.multimania.com/petitecamargue/
http://aiguesmortes.free.fr/la%20ville.htm
http://www.south-france.com/nouvelle4.htm


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Castles created by Robert Carney
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