Saint-Salvi Cloister

The Saint-Salvi collegiate church is located in the Albi on a hill in the old town. Dedicated to the city's first bishop, it was built on the site of his tomb from the 11th century. The material used is then white stone and the Romanesque style. In the thirteenth century, when the college is remodeled and enlarged, red brick is used and the style is Gothic.This uniqueness in construction and this mix of styles is found at the level of the bell tower, whose base is Romanesque, with bands called "Lombard" and the floor in brick and Gothic. A watchtower with the city's coat of arms dominates the whole.Inside are six paintings offered by the city's consuls in 1725, commemorating St. Salvi and the history of the place. At the end of the building, beneath a remarkable 18th-century organ rebuilt in the 20th century, was an impressive collection of human sculptures with very elaborate colors and details reminiscent of the "Christ with Connections".A magnificent 13th-century cloister adjoins the building on the south side. The cannon cells used to be in the arcades, whose capitals were decorated with figures and animals. In the center of the cloister is a garden where aromatic and medicinal plants are grown.The whole (college and cloister) is located a hundred meters from the Sainte-Cécile Cathedral and is part of the perimeter of the Episcopal City, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.