Lavaur: The Cathedral of Saint-Alain and Its Jacquemart
Occitanie, France
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Lavaur: The Cathedral of Saint-Alain and Its Jacquemart
200 + 100 XP
The cathedral of Saint-Alain at Lavaur, whose building charter was drawn up on 15 May 1255 and which was finished around 1300, is southern Gothic at its purest: a single nave 23 m high and close to 14 m wide, 73 m end to end, under a western bell tower of three terraces 42 m tall whose spire was destroyed in 1540. From the small Romanesque south tower kept from the earlier church, a jacquemart strikes the hours. Beside it, the bishops' former formal gardens were remade in the 19th century in the English style, and the Pont Saint-Roch over the Agout was built from 1773 to 1791 for the States of Languedoc to a design by Joseph-Marie de Saget.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Wait on the hour below the clock tower on the cathedral's south flank and watch the jacquemart strike — the bell and mechanism date from 1523, the figure swinging the hammer is the third of its line, and local legend has it that the first was made of wood by a prisoner who had to ring every hour and built a machine to do it while he escaped
2
of 4
In the Jardins de l'Évêché, laid out formally by the bishops and remade in the English style in the 19th century, find the monumental statue of the comte Emmanuel de Las Cases — the Lauragais man who followed Napoleon to Saint Helena — and the remarkable cedars planted around it
3
of 4
Cross the Pont Saint-Roch and look back up at the Plô from mid-span: the stone bridge the States of Languedoc had built over the Agout between 1773 and 1791 is the only place the cathedral, the gardens and the river terrace line up in one view
4
of 4
Inside, find the Romanesque altar table, cut by a sculptor from Moissac at the time Bernard Gilduin was carving the one for the canons of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, and the monumental Cavaillé-Coll organ in its polychrome 16th-century case
Wait on the hour below the clock tower on the cathedral's south flank and watch the jacquemart strike — the bell and mechanism date from 1523, the figure swinging the hammer is the third of its line, and local legend has it that the first was made of wood by a prisoner who had to ring every hour and built a machine to do it while he escaped
In the Jardins de l'Évêché, laid out formally by the bishops and remade in the English style in the 19th century, find the monumental statue of the comte Emmanuel de Las Cases — the Lauragais man who followed Napoleon to Saint Helena — and the remarkable cedars planted around it
Cross the Pont Saint-Roch and look back up at the Plô from mid-span: the stone bridge the States of Languedoc had built over the Agout between 1773 and 1791 is the only place the cathedral, the gardens and the river terrace line up in one view
Inside, find the Romanesque altar table, cut by a sculptor from Moissac at the time Bernard Gilduin was carving the one for the canons of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, and the monumental Cavaillé-Coll organ in its polychrome 16th-century case
Before you go
The jacquemart strikes on the hour from the small south tower, so arrive a few minutes before one. Free Thursday concerts fill the Jardins de l'Évêché through July.
The jacquemart only moves on the hour, so time your arrival. Give yourself a few minutes either side rather than arriving at five past.
The cathedral is a working church: avoid the hour of mass and the feast of Saint Alain on 25 November if you want to look round quietly.
Free concerts run in the Jardins de l'Évêché every Thursday in July, which is the one time the gardens are busy.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
200 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
300 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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