NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL

On the site of the present building stood a 10th century Romanesque cathedral, of which nothing will remain after 1276. Bishop Raymond de Calmont d'Olt called upon a famous architect, Jean Deschamps, who designed a grandiose building in the Gothic style then in vogue in northern France. This ambitious project gave shape to a building of surprising dimensions: 107 m long and 36 m wide. The ribbed vault dominates at 30 m! But also, three centuries and 18 bishops passed before completing the work whose wooden and leaded bell tower, a real stone lace, was ravaged by a fire in 1510. It was rebuilt, entirely in stone this time, by the Rouergat Antoine Salvanh in 13 years, from 1513 to 1526. 87 m high, the bell tower ends with a campanile overhung by a statue of the Virgin. Its gigantic proportions allow the cathedral to be seen from very far away, more than 30 leagues away it was said in the past! The towers located on either side of the austere western façade, part of the ramparts, were not completed: work stopped in 1562. The interior surprises by its grandeur and by the simplicity of its slender forms which contrast with the rich decoration of the 27 radiating chapels. At night, 500 spotlights illuminate the building, revealing the most hidden architectural treasures. A grandiose spectacle! The bell tower can be visited every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the summer in good company, with the guides of the tourist office.