Elne, the old capital of Roussillon.

High up on its oppidum, occupied for almost three thousand years, Elne dominates the plain of Roussillon of which Elne is the oldest town.  The city has existed continually for 26 centuries and was the episcopal seat from the 6th to the 17th century.  It has retained marks of this long period and the successive civilisations that have inhabited it:  Roman remains, a majestuous Romanesque cathedrale from the 10th century, a while marble cloister and medieval remparts.

One of the most impressive monuments in the Pyrenees-Orientales.
The cloister presents a history of Roussillon medieval sculpture and is an invitation to discover two epochs, two styles, deux tendancies:  Roman and Gothic.

Eight hundred years old, it is one of the rarest cloisters in Roussillon to have remained intact.  It is one of the most impressive and historically rich monuments in our region.
The cloister, an appendage to the cathedrale on which leans, is an irregular four sided building.  It links the two capitulary rooms, the sacristy, the refectory and the vestiary.
Protected from the outside world, the canons meditated.  The galleries were used for walking and the daylight from their garden allowed them to carry out different writing tasks.