Albi Cathedral, 1

The aire in Albi is a large central parking lot just steps from the church. We arrived in the early evening and there already were a couple dozen other campers there. We saw the cathedral--one we'd not heard of before--the next morning and were impressed with a number of its facets.

St. Cecelia's, Albi, from the east; it looks much more like a
fortress on the outside, a huge brick fortress

Sculpture of St. Cecelia herself, in the familiar pose we first
saw in her house--and that of her husband St. Valerian--the
first Christian church in Rome

On the inside, the church is totally Gothic; and here, looking
from the crossing back to the west end, you can see three of
the church's most interesting features: the west (traditional)
entrance now a chapel (you enter from the south or north);
the organ, largest classical organ in France; and the last
judgment fresco, the largest of all Medieval last judgments

A few looks at this monumental last judgment

All that is known of the artist(s) is that they were 15th

century Florentines

Specimen lurid detail

Life-sized too

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this last judgment is
Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit all were removed to make way
for the west chapel and the organ; unthinkable, but true;
above is a rendering of what the last judgment looked like
originally

Beautiful ceiling, rib vaulting

And now, looking from the last judgment
back east to this church's other most
remarkable feature: the only remaining
intact rood screen in France, a beautifully
carved and massive structure; such screens
separated the priests and their mysteries
from the common faithful; they were
generally removed in the Counter
Reformation, but Albi's has survived