Cathédrale Saint-Apollinaire

The Cathédrale Saint-Apollinaire is the dominant monument of Valence's old town, a solid Romanesque structure built in the 11th century in the style characteristic of the Auvergne — massive, rooted, with the understated power of early medieval ecclesiastical architecture at its best. It was consecrated in 1095 by Pope Urban II, the same pope who, later that year, preached the First Crusade. The exterior is austere; the interior manages to be both austere and weighty, with round arches and simple carvings that reward close inspection.

The tomb of Pope Pius VI stands in the northern aisle. The pope died in Valence in 1799, a prisoner of the French Republic, after being transported across the Alps on Napoleon's orders. The mausoleum is a significant piece of neo-classical funerary sculpture and an oddly affecting reminder of the collision between Revolutionary France and the old religious order. The cathedral is in active use and can be visited throughout the day; entry is free.

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A story
Pope Pius VI died in Valence on 29 August 1799, a prisoner of the French Republic. He had been arrested on Napoleon's orders and transported across the Alps at the age of 81, in failing health, as a political hostage. He died in the city a month after arriving. His mausoleum stands in the northern aisle of the cathedral — the only monument to a reigning pope on French soil. His heart, however, did not follow his body back to Rome when the remains were finally repatriated. It stayed in Valence, kept in a separate reliquary, a detail that sounds like fiction but is historically verified.