The small town of Mirepoix in the Ariège department originally extended on the left bank of the Hers river west of the current city. Around the year 1000, the first version of Mirepoix was destroyed by the Goths, and the town was rebuilt on the right bank at the foot of a fortified castle. Saint-Maurice Cathedral, the town's original church, was inaugurated in 1289. It later underwent several renovations until the last one, orchestrated by Viollet-le-Duc and Prospère Mérimée in 1860.