The Église Saint-Paul is a Roman Catholic church located in Lyon, France. It is situated in the Vieux Lyon, in the Saint-Paul quarter, in the

5th arrondissement of Lyon The 5th arrondissement of Lyon is one of the nine arrondissements of the City of Lyon. History The 5th arrondissement was created on 24 March 1852 (date of creation of the first five arrondissements). It is the historic center of Lyon. It is at ...

. The cathedral is in the Romanesque and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

architectural styles. The tower-lantern was classified as ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' in 1920, and the whole church was classified in 1996. In 2002, the church was completely renovated. It is around 45 m long and 16.5 m high under the arch.

History

Built around 549 by the Lyon bishop Saint Sacerdos, the church was damaged in 732, then restored in the early 9th century by

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Leidrade Leidrad (or Leidrat, as he spelled it) was the bishop of Lyon from 797 and its first archbishop from 804 until 814. He was a courtier of Charlemagne before he was a bishop. As bishop, he helped resolve the adoptionist controversy. He also began a ...

. In the 10th century, it became a

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

with three cemeteries. Archbishop Hugh of Die requested its reconstruction, which was accomplished during the 11th and 12th centuries (the

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

in 1440). The church was damaged during the siege of the city by the Baron of Adrets, then during the revolution in 1793, after which it was transformed into a saltpetre store and became a parish church in 1801. Many changes were made to the church during the 19th century, including the removal of saltpetre soil and the paving, along with numerous additions: the lantern of the top of the octagonal tower in 1835, the Gothic portal in 1877, paintings by

Paul Borel André Marie Paul Borel (12 February 1828, Lyon - 26 January 1913, Lyon) was a French painter and engraver; specializing in historical and religious scenes. Biography He was born to a family of merchants. His father died when he was ten, so ...

added to the choir in 1899, the eleven bells of the bell tower, and so forth.

Architecture

The Gothic style appeared in the bell tower-porch and in the side chapels. The nave is composed of four

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

s with four carved capitals pillars. The current 24-meter stone spire which tops the tower disappeared in 1818, was replaced by another one in wood in 1875, and was finally rebuilt in 1982. A gallery in

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

s, a

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

and

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

s compose 19th century western facade. The smallest bell, called Eleanor and was made in 1626. The lower bell weighs over four tons was cast in Lyon by Gédéon Morel and is the most decorated one in the world. There are 16 small chapels along the aisles of the church. The first one of them appeared after 1470. The most notorious is that of the baptismal fronts, from the 16th century, by Jean Palmier.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eglise Saint-Paul Paul 5th arrondissement of Lyon 549 establishments 6th-century churches 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France Monuments historiques of Lyon Romanesque architecture in France Gothic architecture in France