Cathédrale Saint-Pons de Saint-Pons-de-Thomières

Saint-Pons-de-Thomières

In November 936 Raymond Pons, Count of Toulouse, and his wife Garsinde founded a Benedictine abbey here in honour of Pons, martyr of Cimiez, and brought monks from Saint-Géraud d'Aurillac; the church was dedicated on 15 August 937, and the saint's relics arrived shortly afterwards from Nice. Under Abbot Frotard, one of the most famous of his time, a young monk named Ramiro took the habit there in 1093: he would leave the cloister to become King of Aragon in 1134. Destroyed in 1170 by Roger II Trencavel, Viscount of Béziers, the abbey church was rebuilt at the end of the 12th century and then fortified: its Romanesque nave has walls 2.45 metres thick, and two crenellated towers of the 13th-century enclosure still frame the north front, where the ‘Door of the Dead’ opens. In 1318 Pope John XXII made the abbey the seat of a bishopric. Then came disaster: in 1567 the Huguenots ruined the cloister and the cathedral, which remained partly abandoned for a long time. When it was raised again, in 1711, the new neoclassical facade was built on the site of the destroyed choir, so that the church henceforth turns its back on the traditional orientation. The 18th century then adorned it with marbles from Caunes-Minervois and Italy (1768), wrought-iron and gilded grilles (1771) and an organ by the Micots, father and son (1772), one of the two instruments by these builders to have come down to us close to their original state. On the old west front, Romanesque bas-reliefs still tell of the Last Supper, the Washing of the Feet, the Crucifixion and the Ascension.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Pons de Saint-Pons-de-Thomières ↗

Getting there : Place des Tilleuls, 34220 Saint-Pons-de-Thomières. In July and August the Amis de l'orgue association offers guided tours on Wednesday and Saturday from 2 pm to 5 pm (Minervois au Caroux tourist office); opening times outside these tours and free entry to be checked. An audio-sensory trail is offered to visually impaired visitors.

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

Ambient sound