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Origin and history

The Porte de la Mercerie, also known as Porte Cabilière, is located in Rocamadour in the Lot, in the Occitanie region. It barred Rue de la Mercerie, which along the cliff southwest of the religious city. This monument consists of a gate itself, allowing the passage of the street, and a semi-troglodytic tower backed by the cliff, connected by a courtine. The door is built of cut stone, with a broken arch with narrow harpsichords, surmounted by a low broken cradle vault. The tower, protected by the rocky overhang, has two levels, with a narrow lintel door on the first floor.

The structure is associated with a fragment of the old ramparts of Rocamadour. The ogival vault of the door is surmounted by a masonry that was to serve as a round road, probably crenelated. Although classified among the 14th and 15th century monuments, its origin probably dates back to the 13th century, like the other gates of the city (Hugon, du Figuier, Cabilière). Its architecture reflects medieval defensive techniques, adapted to the steep site.

Ranked a Historic Monument by order of 20 June 1910, the gate of the Mercerie is now owned by the municipality of Rocamadour. Its state of conservation and its location, noted as "a priori satisfactory" (6/10), make it a remarkable testimony of the fortified enclosure of this Marian city. The gate illustrates the integration of urban defences into a karst landscape, where the cliff itself played a protective role.

The monument is part of the wider context of Rocamadour, a major pilgrim town of the Middle Ages, where the ramparts delineated the sacred space of the religious city. The rue de la Mercerie, which it controls, was a strategic axis for the exchange and circulation between the lower districts and the perched shrines. Its hybrid architecture (stone and natural rock) reflects the adaptations of medieval builders to the geological constraints of the site.

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