Saint-Papoul, Aude |
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Saint-Papoul, Aude |
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The access to the enclosed village went thtough gateways . The Eastern Gate, quadrangular with loop-holes was erected by Guillaume de Cardaillac, Saint-Papoul's third bishop. It was used as a tower for the guards as wel as the bishopric's jail. On the inner side, in the semi-circular arch, one can admire a wooden virgen from the 14th century. The heart of the village displays narrow streets with half timbered, corbelling houses.
Saint Berenger, a monk well-known for his ascetiscim lived there in the 11th century. Crowds came to the abbey to worship on his grave after miracles had taken place here.
In 1317, Pope John XXII made the village into a See. Up to the Revolution Saint-Papoul had 34 bishops. In 1361 the cathedral was plundered by the "routiers" (companies of looters) and in 1595 by the protestants.
Important restorations took place in the abbey and the bishop's palace was rebuilt in the 17th and the 18th centuries. The Revolutionput an end to the bishopric and the cathedral was turned into a parish church.
A permanent exhibition takes place inside the monks' former refectory. Plaster casts from romanesque sculptures and from works of the Master of Cabestany - an itinerant artist (last part of the 12th century) - are displayed there.
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