Tuesday, February 4 - Day 8 - We visit Albi and see the largest brick building in the world; also art nouveau posters Sunny 52°F (11°C)

Today we were up early to catch the Train to Albi.

This place, aside from having almost the best name ever, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here's why:

UNESCO's World Heritage Centre notes the Old Bridge (Pont-Vieux), the Saint-Salvi quarter, the quarter's church, the fortified cathedral (late 13th century) in unique southern French Gothic style from local brick, the bishop's Palais de la Berbie, and residential quarters, which help the Episcopal City of Albi form a "coherent and homogeneous ensemble of monuments and quarters that has remained largely unchanged over the centuries... a complete built ensemble representative of a type of urban development in Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day."

The Sainte-Cécile cathedral is the largest brick cathedral in the world - maybe even the largest brick building in the world. It is very large. It's absolutely freaking massive. I'm not sure the pictures do it justice.

Jamil capturing a human for scale to help indicate how large this baby is:

Then, because it wasn't fancy enough, an elaborate entry-way was added:

Here's the square across the from the cathedral that is absolutely dwarfing it.

And who is this Saint Cecile who deserves a cathedral this large? Good question. We looked it up. Albi Cathedral is dedicated to Sainte-Cécile, patroness of musicians. The presence of relics of Saint Cecilia dates back to the early Middle Ages. The first brick of the cathedral was laid in 1277 so this baby is OLD.

And also, it is the largest painted cathedral in Europe. 18 m² of frescoes and decorations make it the largest painted cathedral in Europe. It reads like an illustrated Bible. It is imbued with the artistic talent of Renaissance painters and was painted over three years starting in 1509.

Here's the claims of this ediface:

113m long for 35m wide and 30m under the vault
A bell tower 78m high.
1282 to 1493: it took only 200 years to build this brick vessel

After gawping at the cathedral and enjoying the sunshine (and the lack of really any other tourists - okay, there's maybe a half dozen to a dozen other folks here, gawping along with us) we wandered over to the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Museum.

Toulouse-Lautrec, whom you may recognize from his fabulous art-nouveau posters from the late 1800s, was born in Albi. They've created a tribute museum in part of the old Palais de la Berbie. In the second half of the 13th century, the bishops of Albi undertook the construction of the Palais de la Berbie and then the Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile. A true fortress, the building bears testament to the power of the bishops of Albi. Its medieval architecture, with its walls of extraordinary height and thickness, is constructed around a Court of Honour and a keep. It is from this Court of Honour that you access the museum entrance today.

The inside was is spare with its exposed brick and stone:

And we definitely recognized and felt humbled by seeing in person this poster:

After the museum, we enjoyed lunch at L'Esprit de Moulin, a restaurant located in a 12th century building. It was a set menu and along with a bottle of wine, was just what we needed to get us back outside for more wandering about.

After our meal, we ambled about the town, also known as "The Episcopal City of Albi" which is described as being representative of urban development from the Middle Ages. There's a lot preserved and it's pretty cool, although I did wonder if people who live here sometimes get tired of living in a museum.

We also found the obligatory touristy "Abli" sign for Instagram-able selfies, but figured since it was kind of covered in graffiti, we, as the Alvis would do as a stand-in.

Eventually, it was time to head back to the train station to ride back to Toulouse. On the way, we encountered this little beauty:

European cars are small compared to what we North Americans are used to, but this Citroën Ami was seriously the cutest thing on the road. I believe that technically, it's not even a real automobile.

And then it was just a matter of waiting for the train to whisk us back to Toulouse.