Born in the 9th century around the abbey of Saint-Benoît, in the heart of the Haut Languedoc, the city became a county of Toulouse and a bishopric before being ravaged by the Wars of Religion. It was a stage on the roads to Santiago de Compostela from the 9th century. It is the textile industry which allowed the city to find its prosperity in the 17th century. The old wooden houses with their colored galleries plunging into the Agout river bear witness to this period when drapers, dyers and other tanners used the waters of the river for their work. You have to imagine the Agout at the height of Castres, carrying the colors, the smells and the barges, the holds filled with the gold of Cocagne. A rugby town as it should be in Occitania, Castres stands out with its intelligence and know-how. The sub-prefecture of the Tarn, where Jean Jaurès, a French socialist figure and symbol of workers' struggles, was born, now has a population of about 50,000. Castres has been awarded 3 flowers and has managed to combine heritage, activities (golf, bowling, swimming pool...) and green spaces. The curious are attracted by the museum dedicated to the sculptor and painter Francisco Goya, the city's theater, as well as its architectural, historical and natural wealth. The Cathedral of Saint Benedict, the most important of the city, dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was declared a historical monument in 1953. Finally, nicknamed the little Venice of the South, it has private mansions from the 16th and 17th centuries. The natural heritage is remarkable with two Natura 2000 zones and six zones of ecological interest

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Pictures and images Castres

Maisons au bord de l'Agout - Castres PHOVOIR
Balade sur l'Agout - Castres PHOVOIR
Cadran solaire à Castres PHOVOIR
Maisons castraises au bord de l'Agout PHOVOIR

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