Roland Monument

Spain / Navarra / Roncesvalles /
 monument, battlefield, Medieval / Middle Ages
The modern but still-impressive massive stone monument -- "PrinceValiant-style" -- commemorating the exploits here in 778 of Roland and Turpin and all the others of Charlemagne's army, also of the Basques or whoever it was who set upon them, as-recounted in the Chanson de Roland, foundation-epic of much that is good & bad & whatever-heroic in European civilization. A wonderful roadside site, looking down into the famous valleys, from which to view the mountains and muse upon what "Europe" really means.
For a great "Celtic mist" photo of the monument see www.well.com/~kessler/monumento_roldan.jpg
For the battle see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roncevaux_Pass
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Roland
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   43°1'13"N   1°19'24"W
This article was last modified 14 years ago