Beziers--History

Church of the Madeleine

Off then to the serious sightseeing of the day--the two main churches of the city:  The Madeline Church and the Cathedral.  The first is more Romanesque, and has the saddest history.  The short version--on the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene, July 1209, the Crusader Army of mostly northern nobles slaughtered everyone who had taken refuge inside the Church of Mary Magdalen in Beziers.  It was all part of the butchery of the day in which 20,000 people--men, women and children were massacred by the Crusaders on the orders of the Archbishop, who when asked what they should do about the Catholics who'd been caught in the drag-net, replied, "Kill them all; God will know His own."  I have no words. 

Interior

Lovely blues in this window behind the altar

The church was deserted; Susan and I were the only people in the building except for two others who were behind the altar doing some work.  I noticed brand new pews and seats. Unlike so many churches in the States, the pews and seats here, and even the kneelers, are NOT padded. I guess they don't want people getting too comfortable in the presence of such power and wealth.   Like so many of these old Catholic churches and cathedrals, it was sort of dark.  Windows to admit light are small and high up on the walls.  There was a stained glass window with lovely blues in the wall behind the altar.  The floors are slate--dark and cold and very hard on the knees.  There were a number of paintings of biblical scenes, but it was so dark in there that they were not easy to view.  Every time I go inside one of these edifices, I think about the cost to heat and illuminate them.  It must be prohibitive.

Faded paintings high up on the interior wall

Wonderful artificial iron tree with glass leaves in the Cathedral square

On then, to the Cathedral.  Saint Nazaire is its patron saint, just as in Carcassonne.  It sits high on a butte, like the Acropolis does in Athens.  It overlooks the Orb River and the farmland stretching out to the south and west.  I would go to Beziers just for this view.  It was smoky on this particular afternoon.  I will bet that on a clear day, the snow-caps of the Pyrenees are visible.  Again, I was struck by how few people were there.  We went inside and I was overwhelmed by the marble and the carvings behind the altar.  The rose window above the organ looked to have orange panes, but when I zoomed in for a closer look, I found it to be much more complex.  The architecture looks to be a mix of Gothic and Roman and there feels like some Saracen influences, too.  I am sure that the Cathedral is worthy of an entire day of study, and that may be in the cards this spring.  

Cathedral looking from the river-side

Bell announces the hour

A train in the middle ground--the valley beyond the Orb River

A smoky afternoon overlooking the river

I freely admit that my experience with cities in southern France is limited, but Bezierd felt Spanish to me in a way that neither Carcassonne nor Montpellier feel.  It reminded me for all the world like the old quarter in Barcelona.  I saw several shops catering to Russian goods--I will have to do some research to see the reasons for that.  On the way back to the train station we passed through an obvious Muslim neighborhood--a market on one corner was definitely run by Muslim men and the clients were mostly all women wearing the hijab.  And they had the most amazing produce; I wish I had bought some of those light green-white zucchini!

This appears like a solid yellow pane from the floor below

The center pane of the rose window above the organ

We walked through clumps of teenage boys gathered on the street corners--some things are universal.  These boys were polite and chatty and readily engaged in conversation.  We obviously were tourists, one of whom was carrying an armful of daffodils.  Our heads were uncovered, so we were obviously not Muslim women...they had nothing to lose by trying to engage us in conversation.  And I never object to those kids, anyhow, even when they ask for money  (these kids did not)  I worked in a middle school--street corner boys don't scare me!

The train ride home seemed short, even with a train change in---Narbonne.  Susan informed me that we'd logged 10,000 steps.  My stomach was still full from lunch.  It was a good day, indeed.

Saint Denis, carrying his head