The circus of Gavarnie classified Unesco
The only French site to be classified on natural and cultural criteria. Pyrenean giant, the circus of Gavarnie belongs to the group "Pyrenees - Mount Perdu" registered in the world inheritance by UNESCO in 1997. A set of all beauty, exceptional, which merges with the National Park of the Pyrenees.
At a height of 3,355 meters, Mount Perdu orchestrates the immense swirls of its massif that straddles the Franco-Spanish border. On one side, it dominates the canyons of Ordesa, Pineta and Anisclo, deep and burning.
On the other, it controls the amplitude, refreshed with cascades and forests, majestic circuses of Gavarnie, Troumouse and Estaubé.
It is this magnificent Pyrenean territory of more than 30,000 hectares that UNESCO inscribed in 1997 as World Heritage under the name Pyrenees - Mount Perdu. Extreme fact: it is consecrated on the basis of natural and cultural criteria. Only a handful of sites in the world enjoy this dual distinction, such as Mount Taishan in China and the Machu Picchu Sanctuary in Peru.
The monuments jacquaires
In the list of monuments classified Unesco, we find the "admirals" that are the abbey Sainte-Foy Conques, the Basilica of Saint-Sernin of Toulouse or the abbey Saint-Pierre de Moissac, major steps illuminating the spirit of crowds on the move.
We also discover, for example, the Valentré bridge in Cahors, the Artigues bridge in the Gers or the Gavarnie church. Humble or prestigious, these links are representative of the symbolism of the passage in the pilgrimage, when the search for a pass in the Pyrenees or the crossing of a river was confused with a spiritual trial.
Parallel to the religious heritage, the UNESCO list retains civil monuments such as the Saint-Jacques Hospital in Figeac, a witness to this hospitality network created to heal, comfort or restore pilgrims.
The episcopal city of Albi
Albi has an exceptional heritage: UNESCO recognized it in July 2010 by inscribing its episcopal city as World Heritage. Firstly for its historical character, but also for its authenticity and its remarkable architectural unity.
The episcopal city was structured in the 13th century around the cathedral Sainte-Cécile and its episcopal palace, the Palais de la Berbie. Their architecture, worthy of the greatest fortresses, meant the power of the Church, the victorious exit of the long crusade against the Cathars (also known as the crusade against the Albigenses).
The bishops of Albi struck hard as Sainte-Cécile is the largest brick cathedral in the world. Its walls form a massive envelope. Thick at the base of 2,5 m, they rise to 40 m of Height. 114 m long, the building is surmounted by the prodigious slenderness of the bell tower-donjon culminating at 78 m, 10 m more than the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral.