Uzes

Uzes was the premier duchy of France, and the Duche, the castle of the Crussol family, still stands in the middle of town with a twelfth-century keep called the Bermonde and a Renaissance facade; the family has held it for around a thousand years. The Place aux Herbes is an arcaded square shaded by planes where a Saturday market fills the whole space. The Tour Fenestrelle beside the cathedral is a round six-storey Romanesque bell tower, unusual in France and closer to Italian campanili in form. Water from the spring at Uzes fed the Roman aqueduct that crosses the Gardon at the Pont du Gard.

History

Uzès, Ucetia in Latin, was a small Gallo-Roman oppidum, its name found on a stela in Nîmes, and the source of the Alzon at the Fontaine d'Eure fed the aqueduct built in the first century AD to carry water 50 kilometres to Nîmes, across the Pont du Gard; in 2017 Roman mosaics of a deer, an owl, an eagle and bulls were found by chance during building work at a high school. A Jewish community lived here from the 5th century, and by the early 8th century Uzès was a fortified bishopric; around 725 it became the northernmost stronghold of Muslim Spain, held out against Charles Martel's siege in 736 and passed to Pepin the Short in 752. Known for its serge cloth, the town and its countryside became strongly Protestant in the 16th century, and in the Wars of Religion many of its churches were burned, only two surviving to the present (Wikipedia, Uzès).

What's there

• The Tour Fenestrelle - a round six-storey Romanesque campanile.
• The Duche - the ducal castle held by one family for about a millennium.
• Place aux Herbes - an arcaded plane-shaded square with a Saturday market.
• The aqueduct source - the spring that fed the Pont du Gard.

When to go

April to June and September to October; the Saturday market is the day to come, and a truffle market runs in winter. Summer is hot and busy.

Good to know

Saturday parking is very difficult and the market crowds the whole centre. The Tour Fenestrelle cannot normally be climbed. The town is affluent and prices reflect it.

Nearby

The Pont du Gard lies south; Nimes is southwest.

Key facts