While it is not exactly undiscovered, Albi is one of those French provincial cities that has only recently come into its own as a tourist destination. The change in the city's fate came in 2009 when its episcopal area-comprising the cathedral and the Palais de la Berbie, the bishop's palace-was classed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Albi, the capital of the Tarn department, is arguably the most interesting small city in the Midi-Pyrenees region. St. Cecilia's cathedral has always been a remarkable and unique monument, being both fortified and built of brick. On the outside, it looks like some gargantuan array of medieval grain silos; inside, it is all delicate gothic tracery in stone and wood, one of the finest late gothic buildings in France. Of particular interest are the massive murals of the Last Judgment, that decorate the whole of the cathedral's western wall.
