"Villefranche-de-Conflent, a fortified city" Villefranche-de-Conflent by tompt

Villefranche-de-Conflent is an exceptionally good preserved fortification from the Middle Ages.

It was built in 1090 on the initiative of the Count Guillaume-Raymond de Cerdagne. The ramparts of Villefranche-de-Conflent kept their original layout and the medieval essence. The ramparts were strengthened by king d'Aragon in the 13th century to use it as an outlying post. But it is Vauban who gave it its actual aspect in the 17th century when six bastions were added. This Vauban was also the men who built the stronghold fort Liberia some meters higher.

Villefranche-de-Conflent is located, as its name indicates it, in the middle of Conflent, in the south of France.

The city was known since its origin for fiscal advantages, that's why its name means in French "free town".

Until the eighteenth century, it was the administrative capital of the region Conflent.

The pink marbled houses in the city date back to the 13th - 14th century.