Religious sites in France
Royaumont Abbey
Royaumont Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey built between 1228 and 1235 with the support of Louis IX. Several members of the French Royal family were buried here (instead of Saint Denis Basilica), for example, three children and two grandchildren of Louis IX. The abbey was dissolved in 1791 during the French Revolution and the stones were partly used to build a factory. However, the sacristy, cloister, and refectory rem ...
Founded: 1228-1235 |
Location:
Asnières-sur-Oise, France
St. Paul's Church
The St. Paul"s Church is a major Gothic Revival architecture building and one of the landmarks of Strasbourg. Built between 1892 and 1897 during the time of the Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen (1870–1918), the church was designed for the Lutheran members of the Imperial German garrison stationed in Strasbourg. In 1919, after the return of Alsace to France, the church was handed over to the Protestant Reformed Chur ...
Founded: 1892-1897 |
Location:
Strasbourg, France
Templars' Chapel
The first date known of the settlement of Templars in Metz is 1133. Between 1180 and 1220 the Templars built an octagonal chapel in Roman style outside. The inside presented a ribbed vault and the nave opens on a square choir and on a little apse. In 1312, as happened for the large majority of Templar places, the preceptory of Metz fell to the hands of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem. In 1556, the chapel was converted ...
Founded: 1180-1220 |
Location:
Metz, France
Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges Cathedral
Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges Cathedral was originally built in the 12th century in Romanesque style. Over the northern and southern walls there are still Romanesque arches, the floor is made of marble and includes some tombs and sepulchurs. The cloister is also clearly Romanesque and offers an impressive view over the entire valley. The Gothic part is built in the Meridional Gothic style. There is a single nave that is ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, France
St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral
The St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral is the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Western Europe. The cathedral was opened in 1912, thanks to the generosity of Russia"s Tsar Nicholas II. Beginning in the mid-19th century, Russian nobility visited Nice and the French Riviera, following the fashion established decades earlier by the English upper class and nobility. In 1864, immediately after the railway reached N ...
Founded: 1903-1912 |
Location:
Nice, France
Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Bastia Church
The Church of Saint John the Baptist (1636) is one of the most emblematic monuments of the city of Bastia. Overlooking the Old Port, it was built from 1583 but experienced many additional worksjobs through the ages. It features a high classical façade, largely hidden by neighbouring buildings and a baroque interior from the 18th century.
Founded: 1636 |
Location:
Bastia, France
Cunault Abbey Church
The Abbey of Cunault was founded in 847 by monks of Noirmoutiers (an island near Nantes) who had fled the Norman invasions. In 862 further incursions forced the Benedictine monks to flee to Tournus in Burgundy where they hid the relics of their patron Saint-Philibert. They returned during the 11th century and built a prosperous priory that remained under the control of Tournus. The impressive Romanesque belfry, enlarged ...
Founded: 847 |
Location:
Chênehutte-Trèves-Cunault, France
Nancy Cathedral
Nancy Cathedral was built at the beginning of the 18th century by architects Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Germain Boffrand. Several paintings by local artists from the 17th and 18th century are exhibited. The great organ of the cathedral of Nancy has been built from 1756 by Nicolas Dupont. One century later (1861), Aristide Cavaillé-Coll signed here its biggest work in France outside of Paris.
Founded: 1703 |
Location:
Nancy, France
St. Aignan Church
Saint Aignan Church was originally built around year 400, in the era of pre-Romanesque, by the bishop of Chartres - later his name has given as the name of the church. The church is considered as the most ancient parishes in Chartres. In its history, the church has suffered from several times fire in 12th, 13th and in the early 16th century. Most of the church was rebuilt after the latest misfortune in the 16th century. ...
Founded: 16th century |
Location:
Chartres, France
St. Peter's Church
Saint Peter’s (Saint-Pierre) church was formerly an abbey church of the Benedictines. The abbey church was founded in the 7th century with the help of Queen Bathilde, the wife of Clovis II. The most important vestige of the church is a convent buildings located on the south side, later rebuilt in early 18th century, and nowadays served as a school named Lycee Marceau. The church was destroyed several times by Norma ...
Founded: ca. 1000 AD |
Location:
Chartres, France
Uzès Cathedral
Uzès Cathedral is a former Roman Catholic cathedral, now a parish church, dedicated to Saint Theodoritus. It was formerly the seat of the Bishops of Uzès, until the diocese was abolished under the Concordat of 1801 and its territory passed to the Diocese of Avignon. In 1877 the territory of the former diocese of Uzès was removed from that of Avignon and added to the Diocese of Nîmes, now the Dio ...
Founded: 1642-1663 |
Location:
Uzès, France
Vienne Cathedral
Vienne Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Maurice, was the epicopal see of the primate of the ancient Septem Provinciae and of the Archdiocese of Vienne until its abolition confirmed by the Concordat of 1801. It today serves as co-cathedral of the Diocese of Grenoble-Vienne. The present-day building was erected from 1130 onwards. Mentioned as the burial place of the Burgundian king Boso of Provence in 887, no t ...
Founded: 1130 |
Location:
Vienne, France
St. Jacques Church
Built between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Saint-Jacques church bears evidence to various epochs. A first church was constructed on the remains of the small chapel of Sainte-Catherine, which itself was destroyed in 1195. The church that we see today, dedicated to Saint-Jacques was built around 1283. The church on the sea route of pilgrimage to Saint-Jacques of Compostella, was of vast proportions. The building was how ...
Founded: 1283 |
Location:
Dieppe, France
Abbey of Saint-Georges
Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made ...
Founded: 1113 |
Location:
Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville, France
St. Jean des Vignes Abbey
The Abbey of St. Jean des Vignes was a monastery of Augustinian Canons situated in the south western hills of Soissons. Only ruins remain, of which the west front is still one of the most spectacular pieces of architecture in the town. The abbey was founded on St. John"s hill in 1076 by Hughes Le Blanc. Initially built in Romanesque style, the first buildings were replaced at the end of the 12th century by those vis ...
Founded: 1076 |
Location:
Soissons, France
Basilica of St. Thérèse
The Basilica of St. Thérèse of Lisieux can accommodate 4,000 people, and, with more than two million visitors a year, is the second largest pilgrimage site in France, after Lourdes. Pope John Paul II visited the Basilica on 2 June 1980. St. Therese of Lisieux was beatified in 1923 and canonised in 1925. It was decided to build a large basilica dedicated to her in the city where she lived and died. Constructi ...
Founded: 1929-1954 |
Location:
Lisieux, France
St. Rémy Church
The first Saint-Rémy church, of which only the tower remains today, was built in the 13th century. It was built at the foot of the hill on which stands the castle. The church gradually fell to ruins and the new Saint Rémy church was built in the heart of the town. It was Thomas Bouchard, deputy mayor and treasurer of the parish who laid the first stone in 1522. The gothic centre, surrounded by an ambulatory and radiatin ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Dieppe, France
Saint-Lizier Cathedrals
Saint-Lizier Cathedral can refer to either of the two former co-cathedrals of the town of Saint-Lizier, Notre-Dame Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Sède de Saint-Lizier) and St. Lizier"s Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Lizier de Saint-Lizier), dedicated to Saint Lycerius. Saint-Lizier falls into two quite separate parts, each with its own cathedral. The lower part contains the old village arou ...
Founded: 1117 |
Location:
Saint-Lizier, France
Condom Cathedral
Condom Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Peter. The cathedral dominates the town, which sits on a hill above the Baïse River. It was designed at the end of the 15th century and erected from 1506 to 1531, making it one of the last major buildings in the Gers region to be constructed in the Gothic style of south-west France. The church has buttresses all around and there is a 40-metre square tower over the west fr ...
Founded: 1506-1531 |
Location:
Condom, France
Collegiate Church Notre-Dame
The Notre Dame Church Collegiate is considered one of the most beautiful examples of medieval architecture in France. Built between the 11th and 16th century, the collegiate contains different architectural styles. Where the altar and the transept are Romanesque style, the rest of the building was rebuilt in three different Gothic (namely Early, Flamboyant and Perpendicular Gothic) styles. The organs date back to the begi ...
Founded: 1072 |
Location:
Vernon, France