Narbonne

Description

Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies 849 km from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, and a major city in Roman times, it is now located about 15 kmfrom the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is marginally the largest commune in Aude, although the prefecture is the slightly smaller commune of Carcassonne. The town`s original name is very ancient. The earliest known record of its original name is by the Greek Hecataeus of Miletus in the fifth century BC. Narbonne itself fell into a slow decline in the 14th century, for a variety of reasons. One was due to a change in the course of the Aude River, which caused increased silting of the navigational access. Yet the choir, side chapels, sacristy, and courtyard remain intact, and the cathedral, although no longer the seat of a bishop or archbishop, remains the primary place of worship for the Roman Catholic population of the city, and is a major tourist attraction.