Ancienne abbaye Notre-Dame

The former abbey church of Notre-Dame in Alet-les-Bains, in the Aude département of Occitanie, survives today as an open-air ruin built across two distinct medieval phases — the late 11th and second half of the 12th century. Originally the church of a Benedictine monastery, it was later elevated to cathedral status for the Diocese of Alet, which Napoleon abolished in the 1801 Concordat. It was among the earliest structures listed as a Monument historique in France, receiving protection in 1862. Visitors today walk through a roofless choir where Romanesque arches and Gothic vaulting springers overlap, giving a rare side-by-side illustration of two medieval architectural traditions.