The Fuzier Home is a beautiful dwelling dating from the end of the 19th century, bought in the 1980s by the town of Mazamet, to make it into a cultural and tourism centre open to the public.
In 2000, to safeguard the communal heritage, a planning project was launched to transform the Fuzier Home into the Remembrance House, central point for tourism promotion and the enhancement of the historic heritage of the town.
The centre houses :
• on the ground floor, the Tourism Office as well as two rooms which have been refurbished in the 19th century style, in order to recreate the ambience of this grand Bourgeois home and to situate it in its context of the local history of the fellmongering activity.
• And on the 1st floor, since 15 May 2005, the permanent exhibition « Occitan Catharism, in Remembrance »
Why an exhibition of Occitan Catharism in Mazamet ?
Catharism, dissident religion of the Christian faith, considered to be a heresy by the all-powerful Catholic Church, was condemned, and its adepts were persecuted. The Cathars were obliged to flee into remote areas and found refuge in the Montagne Noire : at the edge of the Aude Cathar Country. The Tarn side of this mountainous massif constituted a place of refuge and resistance for this religion. Hautpoul, the historic birthplace of Mazamet, ancient castrum (fortified village) perched on a rocky outcrop, served as a retreat during the period of the Inquisition. It was also one of the places of residence of the Cathar Archbishop of the diocese of Albi in the 13th century. This Medieval village is one of the rare vestiges of the Cathar time to be situated on the Tarn side of the Montagne Noire…
This exhibition therefore stands out in France and Languedoc : region where Catharism put down its roots thanks to a favourable geopolitical context and to an Occitan society which was much more liberal and open-minded than the rest of France
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