The Narbonne Gate, or Porte Narbonnaise, is the grandest entrance to Carcassonne's medieval Cité, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its name comes from the Via Occitania, the Roman road it once guarded, the only route in Europe connecting the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts.

Flanking the entrance is a carving of Dame Carcas, the legendary noblewoman said to have saved the city from Charlemagne by throwing a pig stuffed with grain over the walls, convincing him the city was well-supplied. The story is fiction, but a good one. The gate itself is formidable: twin towers, a barbican designed as a killing zone for any attacker who breached the outer wall, and arrow loops covering every angle.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tour uses the Narbonne Gate to unpack the mechanics of medieval siege warfare, tracing how its layered defences fit into the broader military logic of the Cité.