Tourist attractions Albi

The Cathédrale Ste-Cécile is a veritable fortress of brick, a striking building opening through a canopy porch. The chancel is enclosed by a rood Screen made of lace-like stonework and decorated with magnificent statues; the fresco of the Last Jud..

Paintings, drawings, lithographs and a series of posters illustrating Toulouse-Lautrec’s life are on display in the superb setting of the Berbie Palace. Over 1,000 works given by the artist’s parents have been preserved here. The collection has been ..

Starting from the Albi Tourist Office, follow the circuit Azur (blue loop) to explore the banks of the Tarn River which offer superb views of the city and its old fortifications. On the right bank of the Tarn there are some nicely restored old br..

The Entombment (1490) is a remarkably elegant ensemble on three levels representing the final episodes of the Passion. The figures were sculpted in local limestone by an artist who is unknown to this day. The centre of the scene is occupied by the ..

The Hotel de Reynes, a Renaissance home belonging to rich mechants, contains a courtyard decorated with two superimposed galleries adjoining a 14C corner tower. Don’t miss the two busts of François I and Eleanor of Austria, as well as the female figu..

This is typical of the 16C Albi style with its intercrossed bricks and timber. Renaissance décor on the façade.

The 15C Hôtel de Reynès (n° 14 rue Timbal) boasts a fine Renaissance courtyard. Further on, the Maison Enjalbert (16C), alternating brick and half-timbering, now houses a pharmacy.

It was the Cathars who were responsible for the delays in constructing this church which was started in 11C and resumed in 13C. In the meantime, Romanesque had been replaced by Gothic. The change is manifest in the Romanesque stone tower with its Lom..

This (15C-18C) home belonged to a family made rich by the woad business in the pays de cocagne (land of plenty).

A vestige of the town’s prosperity in the woad business, the Hôtel Decazes (n° 10 rue Toulouse-Lautrec) illustrates the change from Renaissance to Classical; its impressive stone staircase is splendid. The street also contains the Hôtel Lapérouse and..

The Old Alby House (Maison du Vieil Alby), a medieval home made of brick and wood, is used nowadays for crafts exhibitions.

This fortified palace (Palais de la Berbie) was undertaken in 1265 by Bernard de Combret. Bernard de Castanet made it into a fortress, equipped with a massive keep, which can be seen from the river. The fortress was gradually given a more human look ..

A magnificent French garden stretches beneath the fortified foundations of Berbie Palace . A wall-walk shaded by vines provides a lovely view of this striking setting, including the garden and the opposite bank of the Tarn.

The old bridge offers a fine perspective over Upper Albi, dominated by the cathedral- forteress and Berbie Palace . The combination of red brick and the surrounding green vegetation, as well as the boats moored along the Tarn, create a charming pic..

This pleasant park contains the fontaine du Griffoul , a huge lead (13C) vat decorated with bas-reliefs and a central motif in bronze.

Nowadays these former brick mills on the right bank of the Tarn River house a hotel, the Laperouse Museum and the regional tourism office. Lining Botany Bay Square, they offer a breathtaking view of the Tarn, the Old Bridge and old town dominated b..

The Musee Laperouse honours Jean-François de Galaup de Lapérouse (1741-1788), who set out on a scientific expedition on the frigates La Boussole and the Astrolabe in 1785, and died in a shipwreck. The navigational instruments, maps and ship mod..

Cap'Découverte is a huge leisure park dedicated to sport, shows and culture. It occupies a 650-hectare site surrounding St Marie's mine, a former open-cast mine that was closed in 1997. It offers sports such as dry-slope skiing, water-skiing, cycli..

A native of Castres, Jean Jaurès (1859-1914) took the side of the workers in the struggle pitting them against the Carmaux mine owners, and was elected deputy for the district in 1892. The statue shows the Socialist orator surrounded by figures rep..

The Château de la Verrerie, destroyed in a fire in 1895, was built by the Solages family who owned the Carmaux mines from 1752 to 1946 when they were nationalised. A building known as the ‘‘Orangerie’’, the first glass bottle works in Carmaux, now ho..