Carcassonne (Occitan: Carcassona) is a fortified French town in the Aude d??partement, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc. It is separated into the fortified Cit?? de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. The folk etymology ??? involving a ch??telaine 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 by the theorist and architect Eug??ne Viollet-le-Duc, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997. Carcassonne was struck from the roster of official fortifications under Napoleon and the Restoration, and the fortified cit?? of Carcassonne fell into such disrepair that the French government decided that it should be demolished. A decree to that effect that was made official in 1849 caused an uproar. The antiquary and mayor of Carcassonne, Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille, and the writer Prosper M??rim??e, the first inspector of ancient monuments, led a campaign to preserve the fortress as a historical monument. Later in the year the architect Eug??ne Viollet-le-Duc, already at work restoring the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire, was commissioned to renovate the place. In 1853, works began with the west and southwest walling, followed by the towers of the porte Narbonnaise and the principal entrance to the cit??. The fortifications were consolidated here and there but the chief attention was paid to restoring the roofing of the towers and the ramparts, where Viollet-le-Duc ordered the destruction of structures that had encroached against the walls, some of them of considerable age. Viollet-le-Duc left copious notes and drawings at his death in 1879, when his pupil Paul Boeswillwald, and later the architect Nodet continued the rehabilitation of Carcassonne. The restoration was strongly criticized duri...