A little history of Manosque fortified gates
And also
The tops
A real fortress!
Manosque (the name means "hillock inhabitant") was plundered by Saracens in 900.
2 centuries later, the current city was born! Last count of Forcalquier raised a castle on the town heights.
Meanwhile, several districts extended little by little, with, in order to protect them, big fortified gates: to the north, Soubeyrane gate; to the west, Guilhem-Pierre gate; to the south, Saunerie gate; to the east, Aubette gate.
Two of them are still standing, the Soubeyrane and the Saunerie gates...
They also added a powerful surrounding wall flanked by 12 big towers, with deep, deep moats! Manosque, at that time, was a real fortress...
Two nice medieval gates
The Saunerie gate was raised in 1382, when king François Ier came in Manosque.
Its name comes from a word meaning “salt”, because here, we found salt warehouses!
The Soubeyran gate (Soubeyran means “superior”) dates back to the 14th century, except the upper part, from the 19th century.
Oh, do you notice a thing? The gate has a pear shape! Why? Because the city itself has this shape...