Cathédrale Sainte-Marie d'Auch

Auch

One of the last great Gothic cathedrals built in France, its construction stretching over nearly two centuries and blending Flamboyant Gothic with Renaissance influences. Its 113 oak choir stalls, carved with more than 1,500 figures, were said by local craft tradition to have been cut from wood left submerged in water for a hundred years to make it more resistant. A network of tunnels leading from the cathedral once allowed the clergy to flee with the treasury in case of attack — passages that, so the story goes, the children of Auch long used as an improvised playground.

Getting there : Free admission

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound