Avignon is among the rare French cities to have preserved the entirety of its ramparts. Fourteen thousand one hundred and seven feet (4,300 m) long, flanked by thirty-nine towers and pierced by sixteen gates, they surround the old part of the city. The current ramparts were erected in the 14th and 15th centuries to protect the papal city from the highwaymen and free companies that descended the Rhône Valley and shelter it from the floods of the river. They succeeded the various fortifications of Avignon erected since late Antiquity.