The story of this place
Built between roughly 1080 and 1180 in the rose-pink brick that gives Toulouse its nickname 'la Ville Rose', the Basilica of Saint-Sernin is the largest surviving Romanesque church in Europe. It rose to shelter the relics of Saint Saturninus, the city's first bishop, martyred around 250 AD by being dragged to death behind a bull, and to receive the flood of pilgrims on the Way of Saint James to Santiago de Compostela. Its soaring five-tiered octagonal bell tower and vast double aisles could handle enormous crowds. Charlemagne is said to have donated relics to it. The basilica's ambulatory holds one of the richest collections of relics in France.