Enceinte de Namur

En un regard

Le château en bref

Distinct from the citadel that overlooks the confluence, the Namur city wall refers to the succession of ramparts that protected the lower town between the Sambre and the Meuse from the Middle Ages to early modern times. Archaeologists distinguish four of them: an early core near the Grognon, a second 11th-century wall around today's Place d'Armes, a third decided in the 13th century and lined with a ditch about 25 metres wide fed by a diversion of the Houyoux, and finally a wider belt taking in the suburbs. The Sambre flood of 1409 swept away several metres of wall, which were promptly rebuilt. Today the Marie Spilar tower, a half-round tower of Mosan limestone, and the Saint-Jacques and Monnaie towers are its visible witnesses, while recent building sites have revealed a 16th-century tower, a 17th-century bastion on an oak raft and a stretch of wall in the Rue de l'Arsenal. These remains still trace the outline of Namur's historic "corbeille".