Narbonne Tourist Attractions
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The old town of Narbonne (pop. 46,506), once an important port, now lies 16km/10mi inland as a result of the deposit of silt along the coast. The Canal de la Robine, which links the town with the river Aude and with the Mediterranean, was opened in 1789.The Roman town of Narbo Martius, founded in 118 B.C., was an entrepôt in the trade between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and until the fall of the Roman Empire was the seat of the Proconsul of the province of Gallia Narbonnensis. From 413 to 720 it was held by the Visigoths and thereafter by the Saracens, who were defeated by Pépin the Short in 759. In 817 it became the capital of the duchy of Septimania or Gothia; in 843 it passed to Charles the Bald; later it belonged to the Counts of Auvergne and then the Counts of Toulouse; and finally in 1507 it was united with France. Evidence of these vicissitudes is provided by numerous inscriptions, architectural elements and fragments of sculpture.
Town Hall
The central feature of Narbonne is the rectangular Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, with the former Archbishop's Palace (13th-14th C.), between whose three massive towers Viollet-le-Duc inserted the neo-Gothic Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) in 1845-1850. Within the Town Hall are the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (paintings of the 19th and 20th C., enamels, furniture, ceramics) and the Musée Archéologique (prehistoric, classical and medieval antiquities). The Passage de l'Ancre, a street running between the Tour St-Martial and the Tour de la Madeleine, links the Vieux Palais (12th C.) with the Palais Neuf (14th C.). The Cour de la Madeleine, in the Vieux Palais, is particularly fine.
Cathedral of St Just
In Narbonne, on the north side of the Town Hall is the imposing Cathedral of St-Just, with a magnificent choir (at 41 m/135ft one of the highest and largest in France) built between 1272 and 1332 in a bold North French Gothic style; the rest of the building remained unfinished. It has beautiful stained glass (14th C.) and a rich treasury (tapestries, goldsmith's work).In the southwest of the town is the Early Gothic church of St-Paul-Serge (12th-13th C.), with a fine choir and furnishings. In the Crypte Archéologique are the excavated remains of an Early Christian necropolis (fourth C.). A little way east is the Maison des Trois Nourrices (House of the Three Nurses), a 16th C. house in Renaissance style in which Cinq-Mars, one of the conspirators in a plot against Richelieu, was arrested. Farther east is the old Eglise de Lamourgier (13th- 14th C.), with a battlemented choir. It now contains a Musée Lapidaire with ancient and medieval remains.
Surroundings
Abbaye de Fontfroide
The Cistercian abbey of Fontfroide, situated in a romantic upland valley southwest of Narbonne, has preserved a simple Romanesque church (13th C), the finest cloister in southern France, the chapterhouse and the monks' refectories and dormitories.
Narbonne-Plage
16km/10mi southeast of Narbonne is Narbonne-Plage, a modern seaside resort with a large sandy beach.
Carcassonne - Scenic Rail Trip
There are beautiful views of farms on this scenic rail trip.
