La Ferté-Milon
Encyclopedia
La Ferté-Milon is a commune
in the Aisne
department in Picardy
in northern France
In La Ferté-Milon stand the ruins of an unfinished castle, whose façade was 200 m long and 38 m high. The singular form of the tower walls was probably designed to resist cannons and protect the gate. The façade is preceded by a moat. On the right is a square tower of which two bare walls remain. The top of the ramparts is adorned with machicolation
. Access to the town was protected by a former gate of which two towers remain.
Behind the ramparts, two 160 mm cannons from 1909 sit facing towards the valley. One is annotated in Russian with the number 5085.
was born in La Ferté-Milon on 21 December or 22 December 1639.
A statue of Racine as a child is located at the bottom of the paved Ruelle des rats. Nearby is a slate-roofed church with a square belfry with four turrets in each corner, one of which serves as a staircase.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Aisne
Aisne
Aisne is a department in the northern part of France named after the Aisne River.- History :Aisne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Île-de-France, Picardie, and Champagne.Most of the old...
department in Picardy
Picardy
This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...
in northern France
In La Ferté-Milon stand the ruins of an unfinished castle, whose façade was 200 m long and 38 m high. The singular form of the tower walls was probably designed to resist cannons and protect the gate. The façade is preceded by a moat. On the right is a square tower of which two bare walls remain. The top of the ramparts is adorned with machicolation
Machicolation
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was developed in the Middle Ages when the Norman crusaders returned. A machicolated battlement...
. Access to the town was protected by a former gate of which two towers remain.
Behind the ramparts, two 160 mm cannons from 1909 sit facing towards the valley. One is annotated in Russian with the number 5085.
Population
Personalities
The tragedian Jean RacineJean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
was born in La Ferté-Milon on 21 December or 22 December 1639.
A statue of Racine as a child is located at the bottom of the paved Ruelle des rats. Nearby is a slate-roofed church with a square belfry with four turrets in each corner, one of which serves as a staircase.