Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Cathédrale Notre-Dame

This was the center of the former diocese, founded by the legendary Saint Restitut, who had travelled to France with the "Three Marys". Two of his successors were Saint Torquatus and Saint Paul, after whom the town later was named. A church was erected over their tombs. A cathedral dedicated to the Virgin and Saint Paul that existed mid 9th century (and sometimes connected to Charlemagne) got destroyed when the Saracen and in the 920s Hungarian troops raided the area.

Today´s cathedral was erected from 1120 on. Around 1180 the nave was completed, it was consecrated in the early 13th century. Severely damaged during the Wars of Religions it lost the importance, when after the Concordat of 1801 the long history of the "Diocese of Tricastin" ended. Since then the cathedral serves the parish.

Jean-Maurice Rouquette ("Provence Romane") describes this cathedral as the "perfect example" for the "art roman provençal", the specific style of Romanesque architecture that developed in this region.

Around the apse are many masons' marks - and weathered remnants of a frieze. The frieze in nearby Saint Restitut is in a much better condition.