Albi Episcopal City

Albi Episcopal City

Albi is a UNESCO-listed city in southern France known as the Red City for its sea of terracotta brick, dominated by the Sainte-Cecile Cathedral, the largest brick cathedral in the world, and the birthplace of the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

History

Albi rose to prominence in the 13th century as the centre of the Cathar heresy and the subsequent Albigensian Crusade launched by Pope Innocent III in 1209. Following the crusade, the local bishops built the imposing Sainte-Cecile Cathedral (begun 1282) as a symbol of the restored Catholic authority. Construction lasted over 200 years. The adjacent Palais de la Berbie, one of the oldest surviving episcopal fortresses in France, was completed in the same era. The entire episcopal district was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.

What to See

Sainte-Cecile Cathedral overwhelms with its fortress-like single nave, the largest in France, encrusted with a polychrome rood screen and ceiling frescoes of the Last Judgement. The Palais de la Berbie houses the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, the most comprehensive collection of the artist’s work in the world, tracing his posters, paintings, and drawings. The Pont Vieux, an 11th-century pedestrian bridge over the Tarn, frames the cathedral’s extraordinary mass from the river bank.

Getting There

Albi is in the Tarn department, 76 km northeast of Toulouse. Direct trains from Toulouse Matabiau run in about an hour. By car, take the A68 motorway. Toulouse-Blagnac airport is the nearest international hub.

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