Aigues-Mortes

#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!

Photos of the Lego Model Built August 2001

South Southeast View	South View	Southwest View

East View	Entrance View	East Northeast View

Plans

South Elevation	Floor Plans	Cross-section

Build Your Own

General Lego Plan	Battlements