Religious sites in France
Bec Abbey
Bec Abbey (Abbaye Notre-Dame du Bec) was once the most influential abbey in the Anglo-Norman kingdom. The abbey was founded in 1034 by Herluin, a Norman knight who in about 1031 left the court of Gilbert, Count of Brionne, to devote himself to a life of religion: the commune of Le Bec Hellouin preserves his name. 136 monks made their profession while Herluin was in charge. With the arrival of Lanfranc of Pavia, Bec becam ...
Founded: 1034 |
Location:
Le Bec-Hellouin, France
Sées Cathedral
Sées Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Sées) dates from the 13th and 14th century and occupies the site of three earlier churches. The west front, which is disfigured by the buttresses projecting beyond it, has two stately spires of open work 230 ft. high. The nave was built towards the end of the 13th century. The choir, built soon afterwards, is remarkable for the lightness of its construction. In ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Sées, France
Saint-Papoul Abbey Church
Situated on the eastern side of the Pays Lauragais, the ancient fortified city of Saint Papoul has conserved its medieval style with its lanes of half-timbered houses. The abbey is to one side of the village, at its southern entrance. Founded during the 8th century, the Benedictine Abbey is closely linked to the figure of Saint Papoul. This evangelist of the Lauragais, a disciple of Saint Sernin, Toulouse"s first bi ...
Founded: 8th century |
Location:
Saint-Papoul, France
Bernay Abbey Church
Bernay Abbey (Notre-Dame de Bernay) was established in the first decade of the 11th century by Judith of Brittany who devoted part of the marriage settlement from her husband, Richard II, Duke of Normandy, to its construction. The latter entrusted the completion of the abbey to the Italian, William of Volpiano (died 1028), who reformed the monastery of Fécamp to which he had been called in 1001. After a period of d ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Bernay, France
Lodève Cathedral
Originally Lodève Cathedral was dedicated to Saint Genesius of Arles, who was a martyr of the Diocletian persecution, and was beheaded in 303 (his martyrdom is represented on the keystone of the vault of the apse). Since 1410 the cathedral has been dedicated to Saint Fulcran, who as bishop of Lodève restored the cathedral in the 10th century. Some traces of previous buildings are preserved in the crypt. The first cathe ...
Founded: c. 1265 |
Location:
Lodève, France
Agen Cathedral
Agen Cathedral's (Cathédrale Saint-Caprais d'Agen) visible structure dates back to the 12th century. It was built as a collegiate church of canons dedicated to Saint Caprasius, on the foundations of a basilica sacked by the Normans in 853 but thereafter restored. Sacked again in December 1561 during the Wars of Religion, by two years after the countrywide coup d'état that took place in 1789, the cathedral had come to s ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Agen, France
Notre-Dame de Nantilly
Notre-Dame de Nantilly is the oldest church in Saumur. It was town’s principal place of worship for centuries. The church has a collection of 16th-17th century tapestries, as well as carved capitals and an epitaph composed by the poet-king René I.
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Saumur, France
Aire Cathedral
Aire Cathedral, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, is located in the town of Aire-sur-l"Adour. It was the seat of the Bishops of Aire until the diocese was abolished in 1801 and again from 1822 when the diocese was restored; in 1857 it was renamed the Diocese of Aire and Dax. In 1933 the bishop moved to Dax, making Dax Cathedral his seat, when the cathedral at Aire became a co-cathedral. The cathedral is s ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Aire-sur-l'Adour, France
Pontoise Cathedral
Pontoise Cathedral, raised to the status of cathedral in 1966 when the Diocese of Pontoise was created, is dedicated to Saint Maclovius (Maclou). Construction began in the 12th century on the site of an ancient chapel of Saint Eustace and the building was enlarged and completed in the 15th and 16th centuries. Thus the central and eastern parts of the cathedral are 12th century, while the tower and the central portal are i ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Pontoise, France
St. Saviour’s Church
The church of Saint Saviour (L'église de Saint-Sauveur) was originally built around 1040 by monks. The present Neo-Gothic style date from the reconstruction made in 1857 to the grounds of medieval church.
Founded: ca. 1040 |
Location:
Île d'Yeu, France
La Romieu Church
Arnaud d"Aux was born in the little village of La Romieu in Gascony in 1265 and later became cardinal in 1312. To honour his birth he ordered the construction of this Collegiale de La Romieu. As a result an abbey with a church, two towers and a court were constructed in gothic style were completed in 1318. One of the towers is an octoganal completely closed structure. The other tower is a much more square-shaped ope ...
Founded: 1318 |
Location:
La Romieu, France
Collobrieres Monastery
La Chartreuse de la Verne, Carthusian monastery in Collobrieres, was built in 1174, however in 1264 and 1271 it was burned down. It wasn"t until the sixteenth century that the present chapel and the great south gate were built. The current Chartreuse is a lovely and imposing set of buildings, completely isolated in a hilly forest of pine, oak and chestnut, overlooking the artificial lake, Lac de la Verne. The driv ...
Founded: 1174 |
Location:
Collobrieres, France
St. Nicholas Church
St. Nicholas Church is a large, cruciform town church set on Place Dalton at the heart of the lower town which clusters below the walls of the citadel. Due to the destruction of the French Revolution, WWI and WWII it is the most significant surviving medieval building in the town. The church is first mentioned in 1208 as a foundation of the Abbey of Notre-Dame within the citadel, a relationship which existed into the 16t ...
Founded: 1208 |
Location:
Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Cambrai Cathedral
Cambrai Cathedral was built between 1696 and 1703 on the site of a former 11th century building, as the church of the Abbey of St-Sulpice. During the French Revolution the old cathedral of Cambrai was destroyed, but the abbey church survived because it was used as a Temple of Reason. When the ecclesiastical status of Cambrai was restored in 1802, albeit as a diocese rather than as an archdiocese, which it had previously b ...
Founded: 1696-1703 |
Location:
Cambrai, France
St. Paul's Church
The 15th century church of St-Paul, south of the Place du Martroi in Orléans, was badly damaged during the Second World War. In the chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Miracles (rebuilt in the 17th century) is a 16th century Black Virgin.
Founded: 15th century |
Location:
Orléans, France
Laval Cathedral
Laval Cathedral (Cathédrale de la Sainte-Trinité de Laval) was founded around 1070, but the current exterior dates mainly from 1855 when it was promoted as a cathedral. The cathedral has been enlarged several times during centuries. There were originally dozen altarpieces, but only one survived from the French Revolution. It was built in the 17th century. The pulpit was made in 1803 and marble font in 1554.
Founded: c. 1070 |
Location:
Laval, France
Église Notre-Dame
Église Notre-Dame ('The Church of Our Lady') dates from the 12th century, and chiefly from the 14th century. It is a sample of Tudor architecture due Calais was part of England for centuries. The church was damaged during the early wars between France and England, especially in 1346-47, after the Battle of Crécy. Many of the kings and queens of France and England prayed here; and John Bourchier, 2n ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Calais, France
Maguelone Cathedral
Maguelone Cathedral stands on an isthmus between the Étang de l'Arnel lake and the Mediterranean Sea in the Gulf of Lion, which was once the site of the original city of Maguelone, opposite the present-day town of Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone. Maguelone Cathedral was once the episcopal seat of the former Bishop of Maguelone until 1563, when the see was transferred to the newly created Bishopric of Montpellier. The cathedr ...
Founded: 1030-1060 |
Location:
Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone, France
Sospel Cathedral
Sospel Cathedral formerly the seat of the schismatic Bishopric of Sospel, created in 1378. Apart from a belltower of either the 11th or the 13th century, from the Lombard period of Sospel"s history, the cathedral was built between 1642 and 1762, and is claimed to be the largest building in the Alpes-Maritimes. The Renaissance façade is from 1642, and contains in two niches the statues of the town"s prote ...
Founded: 1642-1762 |
Location:
Sospel, France
Abbaye de Noirlac
The Cistercian Abbaye de Noirlac, founded in 1136, is a fine example of medieval monastic architecture. The chapter house, where the monks’ daily assemblies were held, and the cellier, where the lay brothers were in charge of the food, wine and grain stores, were built in plain but elegant style. The cloisters, with their graceful arches and decorated capitals, date from the 13th and 14th centuries, which was a less ...
Founded: 1136 |
Location:
Bruère-Allichamps, France