Carcassonne (Occitan: Carcassona) is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc. It is separated into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. The folk etymology – involving a châtelaine named Carcas, a ruse ending a siege and the joyous ringing of bells ("Carcas sona") - though memorialized in a neo-Gothic sculpture of Mme. Carcas on a column near the Narbonne Gate, is of modern invention. The fortress, which was thoroughly restored in 1853 (159 years ago) by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997 (15 years ago). In popular culture Carcassonne, possibly because of its spectacular stronghold, is sometimes described in literature as a city people dream of seeing, without being able to do so. It gives its title to the short story Carcassonne by Lord Dunsany (in A Dreamer's Tales), and to a poem by Nadaud, sung by Georges Brassens. On 6 Mar. 2000 (12 years ago) France issued a stamp commemorating the fortress of Carcassonne. The history of Carcassonne is re-told in the novel Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. A board game and a video game version of it are named after this town. Portions of the 1991 (21 years ago) movie Robin Hood (8 pics): Prince of Thieves were shot in and around Carcassonne. A 1993 (19 years ago) album by Stephan Eicher was named Carcassonne.

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