List of cities with defensive walls


The following cities have, or historically had, defensive walls.

Africa

Algeria

Egypt

See List of Egypt castles, forts, fortifications and city walls.

Ethiopia

Libya

Mali

Morocco

Niger

  • Zinder, Niger was well known for its city wall, the remains of which can still be seen

Nigeria

Tunisia

Americas

Chile

Colombia

Cuba

Dominican Republic

Mexico

Panama

Peru

Puerto Rico

United States

  • Boston, Massachusetts, maintained a defensive city wall and gate across Boston Neck, the sole point where the city was connected with the mainland, from 1631 until the end of the 18th century.
  • Charleston, South Carolina was a walled city from the 1690s until the 1720s. A portion of the wall, called Half Moon Battery, is still visible in the Provost Dungeon of the Old Exchange Building.
  • St. Augustine, Florida, starting in 1704, the Spanish constructed the Cubo Line – attached to the Castillo de San Marcos and enclosing the city. 18th century maps detail the walls enclosing all of St. Augustine
  • New Orleans, planned in 1718 as a walled city. The wall was present during the Battle of New Orleans, but was found to be in such a state of disarray that it could not be used.
  • New York City, in the 17th century New Amsterdam had a defensive wall across Manhattan. Wall Street is named for the barrier.

Uruguay

Asia

Afghanistan

China

Indonesia

Pakuan Pajajaran, the capital of the Sunda Kingdom, was surrounded by defensive moats and walls. Now the area is part of the modern city of Bogor.
An 18th century wall made by Hamengkubuwono the 1st from the Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Kingdom to protect the inner capital city from the Dutch and other enemies during the Mataram Kingdom period. Today, 96% of the wall still exists and is a local landmark.
On 17 February 1745, the Surakarta Kingdom moved to a new opened forest named Sala Village and build their Royal Residential Palace and urban area with a 15 kilometers long of "Beteng Kraton" or Palace wall around it. As of 2022, 90% of the city walls still remain.
Well known as Banten Kingdom's capital. The wall was destroyed by the Dutch during its colonial period in the way to ended the Banten reign. The city wall that left is only about 10% from the real appearance.
Trowulan was the capital of the former Majapahit Empire. When its glory period, the capital being a first European systemized ancient city in Indonesia, because Trowulan was developed in Majapahit's glory period in 13th–15th century.
The wall was protecting the inner "Kraton" or royal palace and some important places. Today the wall can't be seen as the original appearance.

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Lebanon

  • Baalbek: sections of the Arab fortifications can still be seen around the Acropolis and the old town
  • Batroun: the town is known for its 225 m long Phoenician seawall. There was also a 9th-century BC citadel, parts of which are still visible
  • Beirut: sections of the Phoenician and Roman fortifications and Ottoman citadel have been unearthed in the city's central district. The famous walls erected by Emir Fakhruddin II have yet to be recovered.
  • Byblos: the old town is surrounded by medieval walls, with a castle standing at their Southern edge
  • Sidon: little remains today of the city's medieval fortifications, except the Castle of St. Louis.

Malaysia

  • Malacca – Built by the Portuguese after the city's occupation in 1511, it was torn down by the British in 1806. Known locally as the A Famosa.

Pakistan

Almost every old city in Pakistan had a defensive wall. Much of these walls were destroyed by the British in order to refortify the cities. Few cities which were fortified are:

Palestine

Philippines

South Korea

Sri Lanka

Syria

Taiwan

Some other towns were fortified with thorny bamboo in the Qing era.

Thailand

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

Yemen

Europe

Albania

Azerbaijan

  • Baku retains most of the city walls that separate the historic Inner City from the newer parts of the city developed after the 19th century.
  • Shaki
  • Shusha

Bulgaria

Denmark

  • Fredericia, extensive renaissance ramparts to the north and west of the city and sea facing ramparts.
  • Copenhagen, extensive renaissance ramparts to the south and east, trace remains to the north and west, nice fort at the harbor mouth, three small island fortlets outside the harbor entrance.
  • Nyborg – the remains include three preserved bastions, a town gate and the old town is still mostly surrounded by a moat indicating the locations of the other bastions.
  • Stege, One of the town gates, the Mølleporten, still remains. Most of the earthwork rampart and dry ditch surrounding the town center still remain.

Estonia

Finland

  • Hamina Surrounded by about 4–5 km long star-shaped walled fortification
  • Lappeenranta The old center of the town is located inside a fortress
  • Loviisa It was planned to build a full fortress around the town, but only two bastions were complete
  • Suomenlinna An inhabited sea fortress off the coast of Helsinki

Germany

Gibraltar

Greece

Many towns and cities still retain at least parts of their defensive walls, including:

Hungary

  • Buda – the Castle Hill is surrounded by preserved medieval and early modern fortifications. Only a short section survived from the walls of the Víziváros neighbourhood.
  • Pest – segments of the 15th-century city walls are preserved inside the courtyards of later houses.
  • Eger – some segments preserved, mostly demolished
  • Győr – the walls were demolished in the 19th century but segments are preserved
  • Komárom
  • Kőszeg
  • Mosonmagyaróvár – the walls were demolished in the 1820s
  • Pécs – long sections of the medieval walls are preserved and freed to later intrusions.
  • Sárospatak
  • Sopron – medieval circle of walls partly built on ancient Roman foundations
  • Szécsény – some segments of the city walls preserved
  • Székesfehérvár – long sections of the medieval walls are preserved
  • Vác – some segments and one tower preserved
  • Veszprém – walled old town on Castle Hill

Republic of Ireland

PlaceCountyConditionImageNotes
ArdeeCounty Louth
AthenryCounty Galway
AthloneCounty Westmeath
BandonCounty Cork
CarlingfordCounty Louth
CashelCounty Tipperary
ClonmelCounty Tipperary
CorkCounty Cork
DroghedaCounty LouthSaint Laurence Gate, Drogheda is an original barbican dating from the 13th century. Another town gate survives in Drogheda, the Buttergate. It is thought to have been used as a pedestrian entrance to the town as no road ran to or from it.
FethardCounty TipperaryStill retains over a kilometer of medieval town wall – 90% of the circuit. Some sections survive to a height of over.
DublinCounty Dublin
GalwayCounty Galway
KilkennyCounty Kilkenny
Kilmallock
LimerickCounty Limerick
New RossCounty Wexford
Rindoon / LecarrowCounty RoscommonThe best preserved abandoned medieval town in Ireland
TrimCounty Meath
WaterfordCounty Waterford
WexfordCounty Wexford
YoughalCounty Cork

Italy

Latvia

  • Riga – the best preserved part of the old town walls is the Powder Tower. Just north west of the Powder Tower remains a stretch of wall with a square tower. Foundations of the wall can be seen at Kalēju iela street, and there are fragments of a ruined wall at the site of a demolished building at Minsterejas iela street. The only remains of the earthen ramparts around the old town is a star shaped moat, now transformed into a park.
  • Cēsis
  • Daugavpils fortress
  • Limbaži
  • Valmiera

Lithuania

Luxembourg

North Macedonia

Monaco

Montenegro

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania


Russia

;City walls
;Kremlins

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

  • Celje
  • Koper
  • Kranj – evidence of the 1st-century fortifications and parts of the medieval fortifications, with four of the original eight towers preserved
  • Ljubljana – In the 1st century AD, a Roman settlement called Emona, on the site of the present-day Ljubljana, was fortified with strong walls. A small section of the southern wall is still preserved to this day. Ljubljana got its medieval walls, like many other towns in Slovenia, in the 13th century
  • Maribor – Originally 13th-century fortifications, rebuilt several times until the 17th century; some segments, including three towers and two bastions, are still preserved. Withstood sieges by Matthias Corvinus in 1480/1481 and by the Ottoman Empire in 1532.
  • Novo Mesto
  • Piran – 7th-century fortification, expanded between 1470 and 1533
  • Ptuj – 13th-century fortification
  • Slovenj Gradec
  • Škofja Loka
  • Vipavski Križ

Spain

Sweden

  • City wall of Visby
  • Gothenburg has a part of the western city wall left, the bastion Carolus Rex at Esperantoplatsen and most of the city moat is still left.
  • Halmstad had renaissance ramparts. To the north of the old town a bastion with adjacent town gate remains, the Norre Port. To the south of the old town a bastion with a remnant of the moat remains.
  • Kalmar substantial remains of the walls. Sizable stretches of walls and a bastion remain to the south of the old town. To the east remain two bastions. To the north remain portions of wall near Fiskaregatan. To the west the shape of two bastions is clearly recognizable, with a ravelin in front of the remaining town gate Westport. Two other town gates still remain, an unmanned gate of later date at the Skeppsbrogatan, and a gate at Skeppsbron.
  • Stockholm has a small remainder of the medieval city wall preserved.
  • Bohus Fortress

Switzerland

Turkey

  • Troy. The ancient city of Troy was famous for its defensive walls. There is archaeological evidence that Troy VII, generally identified as the stage of the legendary Trojan War of Homer's Iliad, usually dated between 1194 BC – 1184 BC, had walls with a carefully built stone base over four meters thick and some nine meters high in places, which was surmounted by a larger superstructure with towers in mudbrick. The walls in Homer's epic are so mighty that the siege of Troy by Achaeans lasts more than nine years, and only could be finished with the trickery of the Trojan Horse. Sections of the stone base of Trojan walls still survive on the archaeological site in present-day Hisarlık, in Çanakkale Province.
  • Istanbul. The system of walls around Constantinople built in 412 by the Roman emperor Theodosius II was a complex stone barrier that stretched 6.5 kilometers and is often called the Wall of Theodosius. This barrier stood impregnable for ten centuries and resisted several violent sieges until 1453 when the Ottomans succeeded in breaching the walls. There was a new element in the battlefield: the Ottoman army had powder cannon and the walls offered limited resistance to them.
  • Diyarbakır. Diyarbakır is surrounded by an almost intact, dramatic set of high walls of black basalt forming a circle around the old city. There are four gates into the old city and 82 watch-towers on the walls, which were built in antiquity, restored and extended by the Roman emperor Constantius in 349.
  • Ankara
  • Çanakkale
  • İznik
  • Antalya
  • Sinop
  • Rize
  • Amasya
  • Bodrum
  • Alanya
  • Ani
  • Kuşadası
  • Pergamon
  • Assos
  • Bozcaada
  • Edirne
  • Trabzon. Most of the city walls are still standing and are among the city's oldest buildings. Their oldest part can be dated back to the 1st century AD during the Roman Empire era. Historical sources provide information about older stages of their construction. Xenophon, who visited the city in the 5th century BC also mentioned the existence of city walls
  • Enez
  • Bursa
  • Sığacık
  • Notion (ancient city)
  • Ephesus
  • Foça
  • Alaşehir

Ukraine

;City walls
;Citadels and castles

United Kingdom

England

PlaceCountyConditionImageNotes
AlnwickNorthumberlandGrade 1 listed Bondgate and section of wall remain of medieval defences, Pottergate Tower is C18 rebuild of medieval gate and may incorporate some medieval fabric.
BathSomersetSeveral fragments of the medieval wall still survive. The East Gate is the only remaining gateway.The length of wall opposite the Mineral Water Hospital is largely a reconstruction of the medieval wall. By far the best length, over 160 ft, could until 1963 be seen on the site cleared by an air-raid in 1940. This was the SE corner of the medieval city. The remains of this wall now lie buried below the shops of Stall Street.
Berwick-upon-TweedNorthumberlandThe Elizabethan ramparts with their bastions, gateways and earthworks survive.Spades Mire is an earthwork linear ditches, possibly forming an outer line of defence for medieval Berwick. Situated on the south side of the ditch are traces of an accompanying rampart, now much spread and up to 13m wide. The Lord's Mount is a massive curved stone bulwark which was built in the 1540s to protect the town walls at their weakest point.
BridgnorthShropshireThe North Gate is still present, the site of the former Postern Gate still very visible; and parts of the wall now form garden walls in various parts of the town.Bridgnorth's town walls were initially constructed in timber between 1216 and 1223; murage grants allowed them to be upgraded to stone between the 13th and 15th centuries.
BristolBristolMost of the walls were demolished in 1760, although traces and one city gate remain.The walls were initially raised by Geoffrey de Montbray, a Norman nobleman who built Bristol Castle.
CanterburyKentOver half of the original circuit survives, including Westgate, the largest surviving city gate in England.Originally fortified by the Romans.
CarlisleCumbriaThe castle and western walls largely survive.
ChesterCheshireMostly intactThe city walls are one of the city's biggest tourist attractions. They were originally built by the Romans and continue to form a complete ring around much of the present-day city centre.
ChichesterWest SussexThe original Roman city wall was over 6 1⁄2 foot thick with a steep ditch. It survived for over one and a half thousand years but was then replaced by a thinner Georgian wall.
ColchesterEssexApproximately half of the walls remain.The town was surrounded by a wall built by the Romans after Boudica had sacked the town.
CoventryWest MidlandsTwo gates survive, connected by a section of wall that runs through Lady Herbert's Garden. Other small fragments dotted around the city centre, mainly hidden by modern buildings, include the remains of a bastion near Upper Well Street. Several fragments have been incorporated into newer buildings, including the Town Wall Tavern.The walls were mostly demolished in 1662.
DurhamCounty DurhamThe Castle formed the largest part of Durham's defences, with the neighbouring "Backgate", demolished in the 1760s, which sat across Sadler Street. This was accompanied by a Gaol, which survived until the 1840s, remains of which are present in an alley off Sadler Street. Other walls surrounding the centre of Durham survive between the River Wear, and the houses lining a number of thoroughfares: Sadler Street, North Bailey, South Bailey, and Palace Green. The street names North Bailey and South Bailey are testament to this fact.It is debatable just how defensive these walls were, and some parts have since become garden walls. The archway of a Water Gate survives where South Bailey meets Prebends' Bridge.
ExeterDevonThe walls comprise Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval elements. 72% of the circuit survives.
Great YarmouthNorfolkAbout two-thirds of the wall remains. Of the original eighteen towers, eleven survive.The walls date back to the Middle Ages.
HartlepoolCounty DurhamDating from the late 14th century, the limestone wall once enclosed the whole of the medieval town.
HerefordHerefordshire
Kingston upon HullEast Riding of Yorkshire
LeicesterLeicestershireMostly demolished in the 16th century.The city walls were originally built by the Romans and most of them still remained by the 15th century, however archaeological evidence suggests that they were partially destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, including after the 1173 rebellion.
LincolnLincolnshireFragmentary remains.
LondonGreater LondonFragments of London's Wall, the wall that once surrounded the Roman town of Londinium, are still visible just outside the Museum of London and at Tower Hill in the City of London.
LudlowShropshireGood lengths of the wall remain and a number of the gates too
Newcastle upon TyneTyne and WearMuch of the town wall was demolished during the late 18th and early 19th centuries but several sections still remain.
NorwichNorfolk
OxfordOxfordshireMajor fragments are preserved in the gardens of New College and Merton College and as part of the exterior wall of Pembroke College on Brewer Street.
RochesterKentThe city walls were first built by the Romans.
RyeEast SussexIn 1377 the town was sacked by the French, after which the city walls were completed as a defence against foreign raiders.
SalisburyWiltshireAround the original medieval city, including the cathedral and the close.
ShrewsburyShropshireOne long section remains along the 'Town Walls' road; other shorter sections exist, such as behind Newport House on Dogpole, and near Shrewsbury Castle.
SouthamptonHampshireLengthy sections of Southampton town walls remain, especially to the south and west.
WarehamDorsetWareham town defences consist of an earthen rampart and ditch.The best preserved Saxon town walls in England.
WarwickWarwickshireTwo of the three main gates of the Norman town wall survive.
WinchelseaEast SussexThree of four gateways survive from the walls built c. 1415; Strand Gate, Pipewell or Land Gate and New Gate.
WinchesterHampshireWalls fragmentary, but traceable throughout their length. Repaired in 14th and 15th centuries. Limestone rubble. South east corner of full height complete with battlements. Walls shared by the city, Wolvesey Palace, Cathedral Close and Wolvesey Castle. Two gates remain. Wall ran along line of Roman Wall."
WorcesterWorcestershireRemains of the Worcester city walls can still be seen
YorkNorth Yorkshirethe extensive city walls are the longest and most complete in England, lacking only a few short sections and most of the posterns.

Scotland

PlaceConditionImageNotes
DundeeOnly one section of the city walls remainFirst constructed in 1545, the Wishart Arch.
EdinburghFragments of the 16th-century Flodden Wall and 17th-century Telfer Wall remain.Walls were first constructed in the 12th century, although none of these remain today.
Stirling5 significant segments of the 16th century town wall remain, including two defensive bastions.The irregular 7m high and 1.8m thick wall was constructed to defend the southern and western approaches to the town, and today is bordered by the public walkway "the back walk"
St AndrewsOnly two city gates remain.

Wales

Vatican City