Cathedrals in France
Tours Cathedral
Saint Gatien's Cathedral was built between 1170 and 1547. The first cathedral of Saint-Maurice was built by Litorius (Lidoire), bishop of Tours from 337 to 371 (preceding St Martin). Burnt in 561, it was restored by Gregory of Tours and rededicated in 590. Its location, at the south-west angle of the castrum, as well as its eastern orientation, resulted in the original access being through the late-Roman surrounding wall ...
Founded: 1170-1547 |
Location:
Tours, France
Quimper Cathedral
From 1239, Raynaud, the Bishop of Quimper, decided on the building of a new chancel destined to replace that of the Romanesque era. He therefore started, in the far west, the construction of a great Gothic cathedral which would inspire cathedral reconstructions in the Ile de France and would in turn become a place of experimentation from where would later appear ideas adopted by the whole of lower Brittany. The date of 12 ...
Founded: 1239 |
Location:
Quimper, France
Vannes Cathedral
The first Vannes Cathedral was erected around 1020 in Romanesque style. The tower is only structure left from it and accommodates the four bells of the church. The present Gothic building was erected on the site of the former cathedral. Its construction extends from the 15th to the 19th centuries, or if the length of the existence of the 13th century Romanesque bell tower is included, a total of seven centuries of constru ...
Founded: c. 1020 |
Location:
Vannes, France
Toulouse Cathedral
The exact date of the original Toulouse Cathedral is unknown; the first mention of a church building on that site is found in a charter of 844. In 1073 the bishop of Toulouse commenced work on a more elaborate structure, followed by additional construction in the 13th century. The irregular west front exists because the cathedral consists of two incomplete churches, the first dating from the early 13th century, which inc ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Toulouse, France
Beauvais Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Peter of Beauvais is, in some respects, the most daring achievement of Gothic architecture, and consists only of a transept (16th-century) and choir, with apse and seven polygonal apsidal chapels (13th-century), which are reached by an ambulatory. A small Romanesque church dating back to the 10th-century, known as the Basse Œuvre, still occupies the site destined for the nave of the Beauvais ...
Founded: 1225 |
Location:
Beauvais, France
Montpellier Cathedral
Montpellier Cathedral was originally attached to the monastery of Saint-Benoît, which was founded in 1364. The building was elevated to the status of cathedral in 1536, when the see of Maguelonne was transferred to Montpellier. After the building suffered extensive damage during the Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants in the 16th century, it was rebuilt in the 17th century.
Founded: 1364 |
Location:
Montpellier, France
Angers Cathedral
Angers Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d'Angers) was constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries on the orders of bishops Normand de Doué and Guillaume de Beaumont after the original building burnt down in 1032. The original Romanesque church was rebuilt with Gothic details in the mid 12th century. The single-aisle plan was vaulted with pointed arches resting on a re-clad interior elevation. The nave cons ...
Founded: 12th-13th centuries |
Location:
Angers, France
Rennes Cathedral
The site of current Rennes Cathedral has been used for a cathedral more or less from the beginnings of the see in the 6th century. The earliest building was completely replaced by a Gothic cathedral in the 12th century, of which in 1490 the tower and the entire west front collapsed. The existing façade with its neoclassical granite towers in four stages was constructed over the next two centuries or so, with long g ...
Founded: 17th century |
Location:
Rennes, France
Bayonne Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of Bayonne is the seat of the former Bishops of Bayonne, now the Bishops of Bayonne, Lescar, and Oloron. The cathedral is in the Gothic architectural tradition. The site was previously occupied by a Romanesque cathedral that was destroyed by two fires in 1258 and 1310. Construction of the present cathedral began in the 13th century and was completed at the beginning of the 17th, exce ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Bayonne, France
Poitiers Cathedral
Poiters Cathedral construction began in 1162 by Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine on the ruins of a Roman basilica, and work was well advanced by the end of the 12th century. It is the largest medieval monument in the city of Poitiers. It is built in the Romanesque and Early Gothic styles, the latter predominating. It consists of three naves almost equal in height and width, all three of which decrease towards ...
Founded: 1162 |
Location:
Poitiers, France
Arras Cathedral
The original cathedral of Arras, constructed between 1030 and 1396, was one of the most beautiful Gothic structures in northern France, until it was destroyed in the French Revolution. The cathedral was the resting place of Louis de Bourbon, Légitimé de France, illegitimate son of Louis XIV and Louise de La Vallière. In 1833 the church of the former St. Vaast"s Abbey was rebuilt in classical sty ...
Founded: 1833 |
Location:
Arras, France
Auxerre Cathedral
Auxerre Cathedral is known for its expansive stained glass windows. Most of the Burgundian Gothic cathedral was built between 1215 and 1233 above an 11th-century crypt. Construction continued until the 1540s when the cupola, in Renaissance style that takes the place of one pinnacle on the completed tower, was completed. The first building campaign erected the chevet at the liturgical east end, followed later in the centur ...
Founded: 1215-1233 |
Location:
Auxerre, France
Vence Cathedral
The Cathedral Notre Dame de la Nativité, built in the 4th century took its final shape in the 12th century. The Tower Saint Lambert, vestige of the Bishop"s Palace of France dates from the same period. Inside, the size of the building can be surprising, but one is very quickly charmed by all the marvels which it contains: a fragment of a sarcophagus with low Gallo-Roman reliefs, pieces of Carolingian sculptures an ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Vence, France
Nîmes Cathedral
Nîmes Cathedral is believed to stand on the site of the former Roman temple of Augustus. It is partly Romanesque and partly Gothic in style. The first cathedral was consecrated in 1096. The current appearance dates mainly from the 17th century. In 1822 the original Romanesque portal was demolished. The organ dates from 1643.
Founded: 1096 |
Location:
Nîmes, France
Ajaccio Cathedral
The present Ajaccio cathedral was built between 1577 and 1593 and is attributed to Italian architect Giacomo della Porta. It was built to replace the former Cathedral of Saint-Croix, destroyed in 1553 in order to make room for developments in the city"s defenses, as stated in the permit required by the Council of Ancients in 1559 to the Senate of Genoa and Pope Gregory XIII in order to build a new cathedral. ...
Founded: 1577-1593 |
Location:
Ajaccio, France
Elne Cathedral
The Romanesque style Elne Cathedral was consecrated in 1069. In 1285, during the Aragonese Crusade, French troops sacked the town and massacred the townspeople who had taken refuge in the cathedral. Work began on rebuilding the cathedral in the 14th century but was never finished, which explains the irregular appearance of the main facade - the tower on the right was built at this time but not the tower on the left, so a ...
Founded: 1069 |
Location:
Elne, France
Saint-Brieuc Cathedral
Saint-Brieuc Cathedral was the seat of the Bishopric of Saint-Brieuc, one of the nine ancient dioceses of Brittany, and continues to be the seat of the enlarged Bishopric of Saint-Brieuc-Tréguier, as it has been known since 1852. Some of the relics of Saint Brieuc himself, the 6th-century founder, are still kept in the cathedral. The present building however was built in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Saint-Brieuc, France
Rodez Cathedral
Rodez Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rodez) is a national monument and is the seat of the Bishopric of Rodez. The closed west front once formed part of the city wall of Rodez. Rodez was Christianized in the 4th-5th century AD, and the first mention of a cathedral dates from around 516. This structure was rebuilt c. 1000; almost nothing remains of it after the decision to rebuild it from scratch in 1276. The wo ...
Founded: 1276 |
Location:
Rodez, France
Mirepoix Cathedral
Mirepoix Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Maurice de Mirepoix) foundation stone was laid by Jean de Lévis on the 6th May 1298. Construction continued, with interruptions, over the next six centuries. The cathedral was restored in 1858 and 1859. The cathedral has the second widest Gothic arch in Europe (after Girona in Catalonia, Spain). Inside the cathedral vandalism and demolitions has destroyed many treasures ...
Founded: 1298 |
Location:
Mirepoix, France
Béziers Cathedral
St.Nazaire cathedral is te main sight in Béziers. This grandiose Romanesque cathedral dates from the 13th century. It was erected on the site of an earlier building which was destroyed during the Massacre at Béziers in the Albigensian Crusade. It occupies one of the best sites in town: from the concourse in front of the cathedral there are beautiful views out over the surrounding vineyards and towards the fo ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Béziers, France