Lauzerte (French pronunciation: [lozɛʁt]; Languedocien: Lausèrta) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France.

At the end of the twelfth century, two local noblemen approached Raymond V, Count of Toulouse, to establish a castelnau, a plot of 200 houses, prefiguring the bastide movement which would later predominate in the region.

Henry IV, King of France, described it as “one of four keys of the said Quercy land.” Despite this reputation, it was later occupied by the English and suffered attack in the Wars of Religion.

Thirteenth century: Alphonse of Poitiers and his wife, Jeanne of Toulouse visited the hospice located here, founded in 1222 ( the oldest building in the village, it still serves 110 pensioners.)

The mairie, the town hall, originally housed the Mirepoise Sisters, nuns who founded a school for daughters of the nobility in the eighteenth century.

The leather Christ on the Cross displayed in the Church would have been carried in processions by the brothers on Mardi Gras and Good Friday.

The senechaussee, the administrative center, constructed between 1360 and 1370 has beneath it a vaulted cellar, which includes a tunnel that reputedly leads to Beaucaire, a hamlet 3 kilometers away.

Above these, the pair of long windows serve on to the main living area, whilst the oculus at the top is at the attic level.

In addition to the other holy orders located in Lauzerte, the sisters of St. Clare established a school in 1623 on Rue de la Gendarmerie.

The main square, Place des Cornieres, features an uplifted corner of pavers, a unique and whimsical sculpture created in 1988 by local ceramic artist, Jacques Buchholtz whose work also appears in the Jardin de la Brèche.