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Albi

The Brick Cathedral
Sacred CitiesHeritage Gems
Portrait

After the Albigensian Crusade destroyed the Cathar movement, the Church built Sainte-Cécile from 1282 in brick with walls forty metres high and no external buttresses — a cathedral shaped like a keep, deliberately intimidating to a region that had been heretical. Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi, and the largest collection of his work is in the bishop's palace beside it.

Nearby in the atlas
Carcassonne — The Double WallsRocamadour — The Vertical PilgrimageSarlat — The Périgord TableNîmes — The French Rome
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