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Aigues-Mortes (Occitan: Aigas Mòrtas, i.e. "dead waters") is a commune in the Gard department in...

Aigues-Mortes (Occitan: Aigas Mòrtas, i.e. "dead waters") is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved. The foundation of the city is attributed to Marius Caius, around 102 BC, but the first document mentioning a place called "Ayga Mortas" (dead waters) dates from the tenth century. Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) rebuilt the port in the 13th century as France's only Mediterranean port at that time. It was the embarkation point of the Seventh Crusade (1248) and the Eighth Crusade (1270). The 1,650 metres of city walls were built in two phases: the first during the reign of Philippe III the Bold and the second during the reign of Philippe IV the Fair, who had the enclosure completed between 1289 and 1300. The Constance Tower, completed in 1248, is all that remains of the castle built in Louis IX's reign. It was designed to be impregnable with its six-metre-thick walls. A spiral staircase leads to the different levels of the tower. From 1575 to 1622, Aigues-Mortes was one of the eight safe havens granted to the Protestants. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 caused severe repression of