Albi is known for the religious movement of the Albigenses and a wonderful collection of paintings by the painter Touluse-Lautrec, born in this city. The powerful, fortress-like Gothic cathedral of Ste-Cecile was built after the defeat of the Cathars at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries and was intended to dazzle with its splendor the townspeople who supported the heretics. The idea was certainly a success, as the cathedral was included on the Unesco list.