La Rochelle : La Lanterne

As is the case with much of this blog, my post yesterday about the late president George H.W. Bush and his trip to Africa during the 1985 drought and famine there was a spontaneous, unplanned post. I'll have to go back to the articles I wrote during that trip to refresh my memory about other things that happened. That's research, and might take time.

Meanwhile, back to La Rochelle, the city we visited on October 22, 2018. This is fourth tower in my series, after the two towers that guard the entrance to the old harbor and the 15th century Saint-Sauveur church tower. It is known as the Tour de la Lanterne. The round base is a tower that dates back to the 1200s or even earlier. The top, in the form of a steeple, was added on in the mid-1400s. The Tour de la Lanterne was built as a lighthouse. Below is a photo I took standing at the base of the Lanterne looking straight up. The tower underwent restoration work in the early 1900s.

Here also is a view in which you can see the three seafront towers of La Rochelle. I took it from the opposite side of the old harbor. The Lanterne, on the right, measures 55 meters (180 feet) in height.

During the 16th century religious wars, when La Rochelle fell under Protestant control, Catholics fled the city. Thirteen Catholic priests were imprisoned in the Lanterne tower, and then murdered. For a while, the towers was known as the Tour des Prêtres.