The Cathedral of Notre Dame of Lausanne is a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
located in the city of
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
, in the canton of
Vaud
Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...
in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. It belongs to the
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Vaud The Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Vaud (or in French the ''Église évangélique réformée du canton de Vaud'') is a Reformed cantonal state church in Vaud.
History
The church was founded by Guillaume Farel and Pierre Viret. In ...
.
History
Construction of the cathedral began as early as 1170 by an original unknown master mason, for the use of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. Twenty years later, another master mason restarted construction until 1215. Finally a third engineer,
Jean Cotereel, completed the majority of the existing cathedral including a porch, and two towers, one of which is the current day belfry. The other tower was never completed. The cathedral was consecrated and dedicated to Our Lady in 1275 by Pope
Gregory X
Pope Gregory X ( la, Gregorius X; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was ...
,
Rudolph of Habsburg
Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death.
Rudolf's election marked the end of the Great Interregnum which h ...
, and the bishop of Lausanne at the time, Guillaume of Champvent. The medieval architect
Villard de Honnecourt
Villard de Honnecourt (''Wilars dehonecort'', ''Vilars de Honecourt'') was a 13th-century artist from Picardy in northern France. He is known to history only through a surviving portfolio or "sketchbook" containing about 250 drawings and designs ...
drew the rose window of the south transept in his sketchbook in 1270.
The
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
, in particular the variant which came from nearby
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, significantly affected the cathedral, with it eventually being turned over to a Protestant denomination. In 1536, a new liturgical area was added to the nave and the colourful decorations inside the cathedral were covered over. Other major restorations occurred later in the 18th and 19th century which were directed by the great French architect,
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (; 27 January 181417 September 1879) was a French architect and author who restored many prominent medieval landmarks in France, including those which had been damaged or abandoned during the French Revolution. H ...
. During the 20th century major restorations occurred to restore the painted interior decorations as well as to restore a painted portal on the South side of the cathedral. New organs were installed in 2003.
File:Cathédrale, Lausanne.jpg, The cathedral, from Le Flon
Le Flon is a municipality in the district of Veveyse in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It was created in 2004 through the merger of Bouloz, Pont (Veveyse) and Porsel.[pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...]
of the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Lausanne was inaugurated in December 2003. It is a unique instrument in the world. It took ten years to design it and it is composed of 7000 pipes, two consoles, five manuals, and one pedalboard. It is the first organ in the world to be designed by a designer. It is the first organ to contain all four of the principal organ styles (classical, French symphony, baroque, German romantique). It is also the first organ manufactured by an American company (Fisk) for a European cathedral. It cost a total of 6 million Swiss francs, took 150,000 man-hours to build and weighs 40 tons. It was preceded by a Kuhn Organ from 1955 which has since been relocated to the Polish Baltic Philharmonic
Polish Baltic F. Chopin Philharmonic in Gdańsk (full name in Polish: ''Polska Filharmonia Bałtycka im. Fryderyka Chopina w Gdańsku'') is a concert hall located in Ołowianka, Gdańsk.
History
Polish Baltic F. Chopin Philharmonic was founde ...
in Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
, Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. The organist is Jean-Christophe Geiser.
Guided tours of the great organ are available in English, French and German by request.
The bells
The cathedral has a total of seven bells that are suspended on two floors of the belfry. The two biggest bells are located on the lower level while all the other bells are on the top level. The oldest bell dates back to 1493 while the most recent bells date back 1898.
The bells are still in use today to mark the hours.
Tomb of Otto de Grandson
The cathedral has the fourteenth century tomb of the Savoyard knight, Otto de Grandson
Otto de Grandson (c. 1238–1328), sometimes numbered Otto I to distinguish him from later members of his family with the same name, was the most prominent of the Savoyard knights in the service of King Edward I of England, to whom he was the cl ...
(c. 1238–1328),the third cousin, lifelong friend and envoy of King Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...
. Grandson had been the Justiciar of North Wales, Governor of the Channel Islands and leader of the English knights at the Siege of Acre (1291)
The siege of Acre (also called the fall of Acre) took place in 1291 and resulted in the Crusaders losing control of Acre to the Mamluks. It is considered one of the most important battles of the period. Although the crusading movement continu ...
.
Lookout
Since 1405 until the present day without interruption, the city of Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
has maintained a lookout in the cathedral bell tower. The lookout announces the time by yelling the hour from 10 pm to 2 am, 365 days a year. The lookout cries the hour to each cardinal direction « C'est le guet, il a sonné ix» ("It's the lookout, it rang en). The original purpose of the lookout was to provide a warning in case of fire though it has now become a traditional function. Since 2002, the official lookout is Renato Häusler, who beat out 58 other applicants for the job. He intends to retire in 2024 when he turns 65. The first female lookout, Cassandre Berdoz
Cassandre Berdoz is a Swiss event organizer and the first woman to serve as Watchman of Lausanne Cathedral.
Biography
Berdoz was born and raised in Lausanne.
While a student at the University of Neuchâtel, Berdoz wrote letters to Lausanne ci ...
, was selected as deputy in 2021.
Notes and references
See also
* List of cathedrals in Switzerland
This is the list of cathedrals in Switzerland sorted by denomination.
Roman Catholic
Cathedrals of the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland:GCatholic.orgCathedrals Switzerland/ref>
* Cathedral of Sts. Ursus and Victor in Solothurn
* Basili ...
External links
Page on the website of the City of Lausanne
{{Authority control
Cathedrals in Switzerland
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 ...
Reformed church buildings in Switzerland
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 ...
Gothic architecture in Switzerland
Churches in Vaud
13th-century churches in Switzerland