Cathar Castles
Albi - Episcopal City (Palace and Cathedral)
Well preserved Medieval Episcopal Castle in France

Albi is an ancient city in the south of France. It preserves several distinct sites of walled cités from the Cathar period in the centre of the modern city. Although Albi was not besieged during the Cathar Crusade, it did give its name to adherents of Catharism - Albigeois or Albigensians, as the Caholic Church wrongly imagined it to be the cetre of Catharism in the Languedoc.

Albi is located on the River Tarn, in the Tarn departement, Midi-Pyrénées region, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. It was the seat of the Bishop (later Archbishop) of Albi and is the seat of the Diocese of Albi. The episcopal cité around the cathedral (in the center of the modern city), was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2010.

Along with Toulouse and Montauban, Albi is one of the main cities built in Languedoc-style red brick. The bishop's city, a walled area encompassing the bishop's palace and the cathedral) claims to be the largest surviving brick-built complex on earth.

Unesco World Heritage Site

Unesco name of World Heritage site: Episcopal City of Albi (added in 2010)

Justification for Inscription:

On the banks of the Tarn river in south-west France, the old city of Albi reflects the culmination of a medieval architectural and urban ensemble. Today the Old Bridge (Pont-Vieux), the Saint-Salvi quarter and its church are testimony to its initial development (10th -11th centuries). Following the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics (13th century) it became a powerful episcopal city. Built in a unique southern French Gothic style from local brick in characteristic red and orange colours, the lofty fortified Cathedral (late 13th century) dominates the city, demonstrating the power regained by the Roman Catholic clergy. Alongside the Cathedral is the vast bishop’s Palais de la Berbie, overlooking the river and surrounded by residential quarters that date back to the Middle Ages. The Episcopal City of Albi forms a coherent and homogeneous ensemble of monuments and quarters that has remained largely unchanged over the centuries.