- La Brèche de Roland
Infobox Mountain Pass
Name = La Brèche de Roland
Photo = La breche de roland 2.jpg
Caption = La Brèche de Roland, seen from the French side. Notice the person standing in the lower left corner of the Brèche.
Elevation = m to ft|num=2804|abbr=no|spell=Commonwealth|precision=0|wiki=yes
Location = FRA / ESP
Range =Pyrenees
Coordinates =
Topographic
Traversed by =
La Brèche de Roland (Aragonese Breca Roldán, Spanish Brecha de Rolando) is an impressive natural gap, 40 m across and 100 m high, at an altitude of 2804 m in the steep cliffs of the
Cirque de Gavarnie in thePyrenees . It forms part of the border betweenFrance andSpain .According to legend the Brèche was cut by Count
Roland (a nephew ofCharlemagne ) with his swordDurendal in an attempt to destroy that sword, after being defeated by aSaracen army during theBattle of Roncevaux Pass . Roland's battle with the Saracens is celebrated in "The Song of Roland ", a twelfth-centurychanson de geste ; Roland thrice unsuccessfully tries to destroy Durendal so it won't fall into pagan hands (ll. 2300ff).That Roland fought the Saracens is a later adaptation of the historical facts which places Christian Roland and Charlemagne against a Muslim army--in reality, Count Roland was killed in a rear-guard battle with a band of (equally Christian) Basques who had their eyes on Charlemagne's baggage train.
The Brèche can be reached from the "
Refuge des Sarradets ", a nearby mountain shelter, in about an hour's climb.External links
* [http://www.cegeptr.qc.ca/cordelle/breche.html Pictures of the Brèche and its surroundings]
* [http://www.panoramiques.net/panos.php?nom=breche.jpg&numero=392 Panoramic view]
* [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/bernard.bohn/html_montagne/breche_roland.htm Access description] (in French)
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