Barbican

A building or complex of defensive structures in the form of a foregate. It mostly consisted of a neck that connected a defensive wall with a tower or a bastion. The barbican as a form of gate defense spread in the Middle Ages, and its development and transformation continued until about the middle of the 18th century. The oldest surviving barbican in Europe dates back to the first half of the 13th century and is located in Carcassonne, France.

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