Saint-Papoul Cathedral

The Abbey Church of Saint - Papoul is located in the eponymous French town of Saint - Papoul in the Aude department ( Languedoc-Roussillon region ), 40 km north- west of Carcassonne.

The Benedictine abbey was at the Council of Aachen ( 816-819 ) was first mentioned. Your name refers to a saint of the same name, a disciple of Saturnin, in the 3rd century first bishop of Toulouse. According to legend, the Holy Papoul died near the Abbey as a martyr; at this location was a spring.

In 1317 founded the resided in Avignon Pope John XXII. the Diocese of Saint Papoul; the abbey church became the cathedral. Until the French Revolution, 34 bishops had their headquarters, the church was ransacked several times here: as in 1361 during the Hundred Years War in 1595 or in the Huguenot wars.

In the 17th and 18th centuries involved extensive restorations, in the French Revolution, however, the diocese was dissolved and downgraded the Cathedral mere parish church of the village.

The abbey church is built in the Romanesque, the associated cloister dating from the early 14th century in the Gothic style.

Some capitals on the outer wall of the apse are from the Master of Cabestany, an anonymous artist of the 12th century.