ST. ALAN DE LAVAUR CATHEDRAL
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Cathédrale Saint-Alain de Lavaur, with its bell tower-porch and high altar, is the second most visited monument in the département
Built on the ruins of a church and convent destroyed by Simon de Montfort's crusaders in 1211, this church was erected as a cathedral by Pope John XXI when he created the bishopric of Lavaur in 1317. This Southern Gothic monument, often referred to as the "little sister of Sainte-Cécile Cathedral", boasts the unique feature of a solid oak Jacquemart, the only one of its kind in the South-West of France, topped by a Phrygian bonnet and counting the hours from the top of a side tower. With the town's promotion to the rank of bishopric in 1318, the building underwent a series of embellishments: an apse on the east side in 1332, north and south chapels between the 14th and 16th centuries, a bell-tower and monumental west portal in the 15th century. The interior features a polychrome high altar by the Moissac school, and a superb Cavaillé-Coll organ with polychrome case, a masterpiece of the Midi Renaissance. Its bell tower-porch - whose sculpted tympanum depicts the Virgin and Child surrounded by Saint Joseph and the Three Wise Men - contributes to making Saint-Alain a jewel of the local heritage. In February 2019, an arson attempt burned down one of the cathedral's chapels, which has since been restored.
Saint-Alain Cathedral underwent a complete restoration between 2013 and 2018 at a cost of around 2 million euros. It is currently the second most-visited monument in the département, after Albi's Sainte-Cécile cathedral.
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