Albi (Tarn), Sainte-Cécile, nave.
Photograph courtesy of Alinari/Art
Resources.
The cathedral of Sainte-Cécile at Albi stands as a monumental symbol of the crusade
against the Albigensian heresy in southern France. It was begun in 1282 in the wake of
extirpation of the heresy by Bernard de Castanet, bishop of Albi and inquisitor of
Languedoc, to be a fortress as well as a cathedral. Although it was built primarily in the
14th century from 1282 to 1347, its massive military appearance remains its major
characteristic.
The cathedral is a single-nave structure of red brick whose compact mass is broken
only by a tall tower rising from a square base at the west end. The exterior presents a
regular alternation of the rounded buttresses that rise from splayed feet up the 130-foot
height of the cathedral, with wall surfaces broken by narrow windows. The main entrance
is on the south side through the Porch of Dominic of Florence, bishop of Albi from 1397
to 1410. This portal represents the artistic contrasts found in Albi cathedral, since it
connects a sturdy crenellated tower that was once part of the surrounding fortification
wall with the ornate 15th-century openwork carving of the four arches above the entrance
portal.
The vast space of the single nave without aisles or transepts dominates the interior. It
is 320 feet long, 63 feet wide, and the vaults reach to 100 feet high. Wall partitions that
correspond to the external buttresses create twelve bays with side chapels surmounted by
galleries. The ribs of the vaults, which are continued down the partitions by colonnettes,
The Encyclopedia 39