Albi

When Stephen O'Shea started his book "The Perfect Heresy" he began in Albi and he started with a description of the Cathedral built like a grim fortress to ward off the heretics.

Let us look at what Angela Murrills has to say in her wonderful book about the Languedoc and cooking

"They say that the city is called Albi le rouge because of the tint of its bricks,but sometimes we wondered if the name didn't stem from its blood-drenched history.Straddling the river Tarn and dominated by the massive block of its cathedral, the city is central to the epic story of the cathars.Albi gave its name  to the Albigensian crusade,a religious army sent by pope Innocent III in 1209 to wipe out the increasingly popular,and therefore dangerous,Cathar sect.By 1244,the movement was virtually destroyed, but the church of Rome decided it needed a powerful symbol of its clout to show any lingering doubters who was in charge.Begun in 1282 and built over the next 200 years, the cathedral of Saint Cecile would provide it"

" A building with all the menace of a school yard bully"

"This place did not house a benign God but an awesome presence ready to smite anyone who stood against him"

This picture by Ella goes a little way towards conveying how grim and strong the building is and was

This picture from Thomas Reynard shows the City in a favourable aspect