The Cathars avoided bloodshed by the pursuing French army by abandoning it before their appearance. It is often regarded as the last Cathar stronghold. Queribus The castle was another strategic border protector with Spain until 1659. It was abandoned during the French Revolution and left to decay with the elements. The castle was the site of numerous armed conflicts until finally decommissioned as a border fort with the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 after having lost its strategic prominence. The fortress later defended the French border against the kingdom of Aragon and then Spain until the 17th century. He built the castle at the end of the 13th century. Peyrepertuse Guillaume de Peyrepertuse resisted submission to the Catholic Church and was excommunicated in 1224. Photographer Marques Vickers lived in the Languedoc region between 2005-2009, while capturing these portrayals. The stark photographic severity examines the ravages of time, warfare and neglect. The principal fortresses photographed include the castles of Peyrepertuse, Queribus, Chateau de Thermes and the Abbey of Saint Hilary. Time brakes to a halt enabling the viewer to understand the allure of simplistic elegance and majesty. The finely crafted masonry and vaulted remaining pillars cast expansive shadows across the soaring landscape. Desolate and foreboding, these staggering monoliths bear the sole testimony of the Cathar race, effectively exterminated in the 14th century by the Catholic Church during the Albigensian Crusades. Each image frames the ruined monuments and elevated structures of 12th century France occupied by members of the once vibrant Cathar movement. “Ruined Castles and Phantom Memories” is a pictorial edition featuring the remnants and remains of several Middle Age castles in southern France and particularly within the Languedoc region.