Photos

Carcassonne, Saint-Michel cathedral.

Located in the Bastide Saint-Louis (the lower-town, the present centre of town), it was built since 1247 in the gothic of Languedoc style.

In spite of heavy damages, it has survived to the attack of the Black Prince (of England) on the lower-town in 1355.
In 1803, the episcopal seat was transfered from the Saint-Nazaire cathedral (in the Cité, the hupper-town) to Saint-Michel which became the new cathedral.
It was restorated by the famous architect Viollet-le-Duc in 1856, while he was working on the Cité.
Then in 1886, Saint-Michel was classified as ancient monument.

On the square in front of the façade sets the Joan-of-Arc statue. The square was a cemetery in old times.