The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice (french: Basilique Notre-Dame de Nice) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

situated on the Avenue Jean Médecin in the centre of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is built in the Neo-Gothic architectural tradition. The basilica, built between 1864 and 1868, was designed by Louis Lenormand and is the largest church in Nice, but is not the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

of the city. Inspired by Angers Cathedral, it is built in the

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 ...

style. Its construction was motivated by a desire to add French architecture to the city following the acquisition of the County of Nice by

from the Kingdom of Sardinia; at the time Gothic buildings were considered to be characteristically French. Its most prominent features are two square towers 65 m high, which dominate the east front together with a large

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 ...

featuring scenes of the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

. On 29 October 2020, three people were killed at the church in an act of

Islamic terrorism Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism) refers to terrorist acts with religious motivations carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists. Incidents and fatalities f ...

. The suspect was identified as a 21 year old Tunisian

illegal immigrant Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

, who had reportedly shouted " Allahu Akbar" while holding a

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

Gallery

File:Notre-dame (46620452835).jpg, Nave File:Basilique Notre-Dame, 37 avenue Jean-Médecin, Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France - panoramio.jpg, Chancel

References

External links

Les concerts de Notre-Dame: Official website of the Mairie de Nice

Roman Catholic churches in Nice Basilica churches in France Gothic Revival church buildings in France Tourist attractions in Nice Roman Catholic national shrines Roman Catholic shrines in France {{France-church-stub