The Castillet ( or Castellet in

Standard Catalan Catalan () is a Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, where it is called ''Val ...

, meaning ''small castle'') is an ancient

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

and city gate located in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

(

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

). Today, this monument, a strong symbol of the city, has become a museum: Museu Català de les Arts i Tradicions Populars (''Catalan Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions''). The Castillet was made of three parts: the ''big Castillet'', the ''small Castillet'' (former city gate), and a polygonal

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

. The bastion was destroyed in the early 20th century, but the big and small Castillet were saved from demolition.

References

{{PyrénéesOrientales-geo-stub Castillet Monuments historiques of Pyrénées-Orientales