The Cathedral of Saint-Michel is the working diocese cathedral of Carcassonne — as opposed to the Basilica of Saints Nazarius inside the Cité, which is technically a basilica rather than a cathedral and serves primarily as a historic monument. Saint-Michel is a Gothic church in the Bastide Saint-Louis, begun in the 13th century and substantially rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries after various sieges and conflicts. The exterior has a fortress-like quality — heavy stone buttresses, few windows — that reflects the military character of Gothic architecture in Languedoc.
The interior is lighter than the fortress exterior suggests, with a high nave and some good 14th-century stained glass in the transept. Saint-Michel is usually less visited than the Basilica in the Cité, which makes it a good place to see Gothic architecture without the crowds. The church faces onto a small square in the Bastide that has a few café terraces.