Laon really only has the one attraction, its magnificent Cathédrale Notre-Dame (daily 9am–6.30pm; guided tours from tourist office: July & Aug daily 3pm; Sept–June Sat, Sun & public hols 3pm). Built in the second half of the twelfth century, the cathedral was a trendsetter in its day, elements of its design – the gabled porches, the imposing towers and the gallery of arcades above the west front – being repeated at Chartres, Reims and Notre-Dame in Paris. When wrapped in thick mist, the towers seem other-worldly. The creatures craning from the uppermost ledges look like some reckless mountain goats borrowed from a medieval bestiary but are reputed to have been carved in memory of the valiant horned steers who lugged the cathedral's masonry up from the plains below. Inside, the effects are no less dramatic – the high white nave is lit by the dense ruby, sapphire and emerald tones of the stained glass, which at close range reveals the appealing scratchy, smoky quality of medieval glass.Crowding in the cathedral's lee are a web of quiet, grey, eighteenth-century streets. One – rue Pourier – leads past the post office and onto the thirteenth-century Porte d'Ardon, which looks out over the southern part of the ville basse. A left turn at the post office along rue Ermant leads to the little twelfth-century octagonal Chapelle des Templiers – the Knights Templar – set in a secluded garden next to the Musée de Laon, 32 rue Georges-Ermant (June–Sept Tues–Sun 11am–6pm; Oct–May Tues–Sun 2–6pm; €3.10). The museum contains a pitifully displayed collection of classical antiquities, albeit with some fine Grecian ceramics among them, and a jumble of furniture and paintings, including an acclaimed seventeenth-century work, Le Concert, by local lad Mathieu Le Nain. The rest of the ville haute, which rambles along the ridge to the west of the cathedral into the Le Bourg quarter around the early Gothic church of St-Martin, is enjoyable to wander round, with grand views from the ramparts.
| 