Cathédrale Saint-Antonin de Pamiers

Pamiers

Pamiers, before it was a bishopric, was the abbey of Saint-Antonin, held in paréage by the count of Foix. In 1207 one of the great public disputations that preceded the crusade was held there: on one side the bishop of Osma and Dominic de Guzmán, on the other good men and Waldensians, before Count Raymond-Roger of Foix, whose sister Esclarmonde, a good woman since 1204, spoke up — "Go, madam, and spin your distaff", a monk answered her, according to Guillaume de Puylaurens. A century later, the bishopric created in 1295 received in 1317 a Cistercian, Jacques Fournier, who from 1318 to 1325 ran his own inquisition tribunal against the last believers of the county of Foix. His clerks noted everything: the ninety-eight depositions, among them those of the inhabitants of Montaillou, have come down through the centuries in a register in the Vatican, because Fournier, having become pope under the name of Benedict XII, took it with him to Avignon. The present cathedral, rebuilt after the Wars of Religion, keeps from the medieval building a Romanesque doorway and the great brick bell-tower with arcading that marks out, even in the pays de Foix, the Toulouse school.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Antonin ↗

Getting there : In the town, place du Mercadal. Open during the day, free entry. Pamiers railway station (Toulouse-Foix line) ten minutes' walk away. The bell-tower and the Romanesque doorway can be seen from the square; the neighbouring bishop's palace is private.

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

Ambient sound