Toulouse - Cathedral of St Etienne

In Toulouse, near the east end of the Rue de Metz, in a spacious square, is the Cathedral of St Etienne, dominated by its massive tower. Its irregular plan is the result of the long period over which it was constructed (11th-17th C.). The 13th C. rose window in the west front is similar to the one in Notre- Dame in Paris. When it was built at the end of the 12th C. the three-aisled nave, in northern French Gothic style, was the widest vaulted structure of the kind in Europe, with a span of 19 m/62ft. The windows date from the 14th-17th centuries, the choir-stalls from 1611, the numerous tapestries from the 16th-18th centuries.