Inthe city of Albi, capital of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region, southern France.

 "When a figure painter executes a landscape he treats it as if it were a face; Degas' landscapes are unparalleled because they are visionary landscapes."

-- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
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(in southern France) The city of Albi, capital of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region, lies along the Tarn River where it leaves the Massif Central for the Garonne Plain, to the northeast of Toulouse. Albi was the capital of the Gallo-Roman Albigenses and later of the viscounty of Albigeois, which was a fief of the counts of Toulouse. An active center of Catharism, the town gave its name to the Albigensian heresy, which led to the Albigensian Crusade in 1209, and later to the development of the Inquisition. The city was captured in 1215, and the bishops subsequently lost their estates to the crown. By a convention (in 1264), temporal power was granted to the bishops (until the French Revolution).

+ The city’s most important architectural site is the Gothic Sainte-Cécile Cathedral (1277–1512), which was constructed in brick, without flying buttresses. Located between the cathedral and the river, is the red-brick Berbie Palace, a 13th-century archbishop’s palace that is now a museum where the works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a native of Albi, are displayed. Below the palace is the 9th-century Old Bridge. The center of the city is medieval. The church of Saint-Salvi has a splendid cloister. The seat of the Archbishop of Albi, this episcopal city was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2010 for its unique architecture. (The site includes the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, dedicated to the artist who was born in Albi.)
+ Albi is also known for its elite Lycée Lapérouse, a high school with 500 students situated inside an old monastery. It has several advanced literature classes. Furthermore, it is one of the few holding a full-scale music section, with special high-tech rooms for this purpose. The Pacific explorer Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse,is commemorated in the museum.

+Albi was built around the original cathedral and episcopal group of buildings covering 63 hectares (~156 acres). (Along with Toulouse and Montauban, Albi is one of the main cities built in Languedoc-style red brick.)

+ Depicted here is the Sainte Cécile Cathedral, a masterpiece of the Southern Gothic style, which is characterized by a strong contrast between its austere, defensive exterior and its sumptuous interior decoration. Built as a statement of the Christian faith after the upheavals of the Cathar heresy, this gigantic brick structure was embellished over the centuries, with the Dominique de Florence Doorway, the 78 meter-high bell tower, and the Baldaquin over the entrance. The rood screen is a filigree work in stone in the Flamboyant Gothic style. It is decorated with a magnificent group of polychrome statuary carved by artists from the Burgundian workshops of Cluny and comprising more than 200 statues.