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Origin and history

The Belfry of Sommières is a medieval fortified tower built between the 13th and 14th centuries, in the Gard department, in the Occitan region. It was one of the two entrances to the medieval city, the other being the Taillade gate to the south. Originally, it was accompanied by a more modest tower, the "Gleizette", located at the other end of the Roman bridge, now extinct after a flood in the eighteenth century. Its coat of arms, carved with the bridge, the belfry and the Gleizette, attests to this historical symmetry.

The monument, of rectangular plan, is built of cut stones with bosses and presents an ogival door surmounted by the municipal coat of arms. It houses a monumental clock visible on both sides (intra and extramural), as well as cannon-shaped gargoyles. A circular turret, with a wrought iron campanile, houses a 1300 kg bell dated 1613, classified as a historic monument in 1912. This bell, cracked after a fall in 1657, emits a characteristic "suffocated" sound.

The belfry has been included in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments since March 27, 1926. It stands in the immediate vicinity of the town hall, facing the Roman bridge over the Vidourle, marking the western entrance of the old town. Its Gothic architecture and defensive role make it a symbol of the local medieval heritage, linked to urban history and frequent floods of the Vidour.

Inside, a spiral staircase leads to the turret, while a harrow and a dogid vault protect the passage through the tower. Historied buttocks, although damaged, recall his defensive use. The "180" vintage engraved on the intramural clock bears witness to subsequent restorations, without altering its medieval character.

The belfry embodies both a civic function (public clock), defensive (fortified door) and symbolic (represented on the communal coat of arms). Its inscription in the title of historical monuments and the protection of its bell underline its heritage importance, between Gothic heritage and adaptations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

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