The story of this place
After the Albigensian Crusade crushed the Cathars of the Languedoc, the Catholic Church built the Cathedral of Sainte-Cécile in Albi—the very region that had spawned the heresy—as a towering statement of triumphant orthodoxy. Begun in 1282 and largely finished by 1480, it is the largest brick building in the world, its sheer, windowless red-brick walls rising like a fortress rather than a church, a 78-metre bell tower looming over the town. Inside, the austerity gives way to breathtaking excess: every surface is painted, including a vast late-medieval Last Judgment fresco meant to terrify the faithful into obedience. Albi, birthplace of the painter Toulouse-Lautrec, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.