City Walls,Fortified Towns,Stadtmauern,Enceintes

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About City Walls,Fortified Towns,Stadtmauern,Enceintes

Welcome to my group dedicated to pictures of fortified walls (the 'Enceinte' in French, "stadtmauer" in German) that surround towns or cities, and the gates and towers that are such a prominent feature of these structures. These are to be differentiated from castles or fortresses unless these are part of a town fortification system. Examples would be Waterford in Ireland,Chester in England,Carcassonne and the Bastides in France, Rothenburg in Germany and Rome. The City Wall has tended to exist in the shadow of its more glamorous cousin, the castle, throughout its history. This is unfair as a quick glance at the photographs here will show that some of the great systems of city ramparts are marvels of defensive fortification, just as ingenious and as formidable as the mightiest fortress, as anybody that has seen Rhodes,Avila,Dubrovnik or Nanjing can see. Not only that but the great fortified towns expressed a civic pride and love of magnificence just as much as the great urban cathedrals and town halls. The great towers and gates of many cities-especially in Germany and the low countries-are artistic and architectural marvels and as much care went into their construction as many churches. Outstanding examples-only some of many-are the Sassenpoort at Zwolle, the gates of Rabat,The Torres de Serrano at Valencia and the great towers and gates at Frankfurt (Eschenheimer Tor),Stendal,Cairo,Tangermunde and Neubrandenburg.
I'm excluding castles and fortified monasteries as they are already well covered in other groups, as well as fortifications built for purely military purposes or uninhabited (by the general population) defences such as Hadrians Wall and the Great Wall of China. Also excluded are ceremonial or triumphal arches. Please don't send pictures of walled towns that don't show the actual walls. Pictures of churches,people and buildings in ,say,Dubrovnik and York will not be admitted.
Photos posted to this group are held in a queue to be moderated by Admin, so please be patient while they are examined.
Don't hesitate to write to me about anything. I run this group by myself and I'd be glad of the company.