Coat of Arms of Carcassonne - FRANCE Key Ring

Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Aude between historic trade routes, linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea and the Massif Central to the Pyrénées. Its strategic importance was quickly recognised by the Ancient Romans, who occupied its hilltop until the demise of the Western Roman Empire. In the fifth century, the region of Septimania was taken over by the Visigoths, who founded the city of Carcassonne in the newly established Visigothic Kingdom. Its citadel, known as the Cité de Carcassonne, is a mediaeval fortress dating back to the Gallo-Roman period and restored by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1853. Image attribution: By I, Manassas, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2437449