Saint-Lizier Historic Village

Nestled in Ariège, Saint-Lizier offers a dive into the past with its preserved medieval heritage. Ranked among the most beautiful villages in France, it seduces with its cathedral and its frescoes. Formerly an episcopal seat and a stopover on the way to Santiago de Compostela, this quiet village has perfectly preserved its older buildings and is worth a detour.

Saint-Lizier (in Gascon: Sent Líser) is a French commune located in the northwest of the Ariège department, in the Occitanie region. Historically and culturally, the town is part of Couserans, a country with Gascon roots structured by the course of the Salat.

Exposed to an altered oceanic climate, it is drained by the Salat, the Baup, an arm of the Salat, the Marcazeau, the merdançon stream and various other small rivers. Included in the Ariège Pyrenees regional natural park, the town has a remarkable natural heritage: a Natura 2000 site (“Garonne, Ariège, Hers, Salat, Pique and Neste”) and six natural areas of ecological, fauna and flora interest.

Saint-Lizier is an urban commune which has 1,367 inhabitants in 2020. It belongs to the urban unit of Saint-Girons and is part of the Saint-Girons catchment area. Its inhabitants are called the Licerois or Licéroises.

The architectural heritage of the commune includes ten buildings protected as historic monuments: the Notre-Dame-de-la-Sède cathedral, listed in 1994, the Saint-Lizier cathedral and the cloister, listed in 1886, the Notre-Dame chapel du Marsan, listed in 1973, the Hôtel-Dieu, listed in 2005, the canonical house, listed in 1989 then listed in 1991, the Loubières house, listed in 1929, the birthplace of Aristide Bergès and the Prat du stationery. Ritou, listed in 2007, the Gallo-Roman walls, listed in 1912, the episcopal palace, listed in 1993, and the Pont de Saint-Lizier, listed in 1927.