Between the opening of the complete route of the ramparts in the fall and the spotlighting with the passage of the Olympic flame, the site benefited from solid assets to attract 643,882 visitors last year. An increase of 7% compared to 2023.
As in 2023, the count’s castle and the ramparts of the City of Carcassonne retain their place in the Top 5 most visited sites managed by the center of national monuments (CMN) last year: with 643,882 visitors recorded by the CMN , the Aude monument retains its 5e place in an unchanged quinté, behind the Arc de Triomphe (1,758,087 visitors), the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey (1,480,031 visitors), the Sainte-Chapelle (1,234,676 visitors) and the Pantheon (922 426 visitors). In total, the network managed by the CMN brings together more than 100 monuments (eleven in Occitanie), visited in 2024 by more than 11 million visitors, a level reached for the 2e consecutive year.
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In the press release evoking this success, the CMN recalls that “the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Paris 2024 were the occasion for a strong mobilization of the monuments of the network, with in particular the installation of the Paralympic Agitos on the Arc de Triomphe and the passage of the Olympic and Paralympic Flames in 22 monuments”. On May 16, 2024, the ramparts of the City of Carcassonne were used by the bearers of the Olympic flame at the end of the day dedicated to the Aude department, with a cauldron lit by the singer Olivia Ruiz in the parking lot. de la Cité, below the monument listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
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Enough to benefit from an extraordinary development, and a boost in attendance. If the City certainly did not benefit from the 61% increase in attendance recorded at the Saint-Denis cathedral basilica over the period of the Olympics compared to the same period in 2023, the summer of 2024 will have particularly benefited the Aude monument, with a 5% increase in attendance over July-August.
It is also an overall increase of 7% in attendance compared to 2023 which is calculated for the year 2024. Rejoicing news that the CMN links to the opening of the visit of the complete tour of the ramparts. On September 12, 2024, after two years of work on 300 meters of ramparts and 9 towers of the eastern front, the president of the CMN Marie Lavandier inaugurated the new tour circuit, allowing you to explore the entire 1,300 meters of ramparts and 35 towers of this monument. An additional asset for the site, thanks to an investment estimated at €5.6 million, including €4.5 million from the government’s recovery plan. And what we hope to maintain this increase in attendance in 2024.
