CONFERENCE CULTURE ET PATRIMOINE - MAI

5.30PM - NOVELTY ROOM - FREE ADMISSION
Conference organised by Culture et Patrimoine en Côte Vermeille.

"Les tours à signaux du pays catalans", presented by Bernard RIEU.

The silhouettes of watchtowers and signal towers have become inseparable elements of our landscapes, enhancing the mountainous profiles. Since the 19th century, their role and history have given rise to a variety of interpretations, as you can imagine the effort required to build some of them on seemingly inaccessible rocky outcrops. Now landmarks for hikers, these "sentinels of vertigo" have played an important role in the history of the Catalan region, and honorary journalist and columnist Bernard Rieu will be presenting a lecture at 5.30pm on 16 May at the Salle Novelty in Banyuls-sur-Mer.
Bernard Rieu has published a book on signal towers in the "Découverte guidée" collection from Editions Trabucaire. The subject has inspired a great deal of writing, and the author has drawn on texts by Félix Mercader in particular and Anny de Pous in particular, who played a pioneering role in this field in the 20th century. The work of modern historians, who continue to explore the rich collection held by the departmental archives of the Pyrénées-Orientales, is advancing our knowledge of these monuments, whose "golden age" in France was during the reign of the Kings of Majorca (1276 - 1344). However, they existed long before their reign and operated in networks that changed over the course of the complex history of the counties of Roussillon, Cerdagne and Besalú and the former viscounties of Tatzó, Castellnou and Fenollet. In addition, in the 16th century, attacks by Turkish ships on the Catalan coast led to the construction of a new generation of towers.

In particular, the speaker will mention two place names in Banyuls, mentioned in 981 in the precept of the King of the Franks Lothaire to Count Gaufred of Roussillon and Empúries: the "pogium Cariorubio" (puig Querroig) and the "pogium Spilio" (puig d'Espils). Querroig was later given a castle and tower, which a courageous association has undertaken to restore.
The illustrations were provided by photographer Michel Castillo, who knows the department inside out and whose photos, projected onto a screen, give our landscapes a whole new dimension.

Bernard Rieu spent most of his career as a journalist with L'Indépendant. He has also written for magazines such as "Terres catalanes" and "Descobrir", and is the author or co-author of several books, including "Perpignan d'antan", "Oli", "Canigó magie d'une montagne", "Le canal de Thuir", "Pirene nostrum" and "Argelès-sur-Mer, un territoire dans l'histoire". In 1982, he was elected president of the "Association de Restauration de la Tour de la Massane", whose team of volunteers restored the monument with the help of the technical services of the town of Argelès.

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