| |
 Brimming with Bastides > Vianne : strong walls and delicate crystal
 |
Formidable town gate at Vianne ( :J.M.-CDT47) |
+ |
Lying hard up against the river Baïse, Vianne is one of Edward I’s Bastides constructed in 1284 and named after his builder’s aunt, Vianne de Gontaud-Brion, the only Bastide to be named after a woman.
Vianne provides a history-book image of what fortified towns should really look like, with angle towers, great stone towered gates and 8-metre high curtain walls that still protectively enfold the 11th to 14th century houses and churches.
Today, Vianne is a world-renowned glass-making centre, where specialist craftsmen, artists and designers blow and decorate opal, crystal and coloured glass objects. And the summer’s Friday evening markets should not be missed, either.
|
|
