The Church of Saint-Pierre (french: Église Saint-Pierre) 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 ...

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 * Chris ...

located on the Place Saint-Pierre in the centre of

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, northern

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 dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...

. Known as ''Saint-Pierre of Darnetal'', ''Saint-Pierre-sous-Caen, Saint-Pierre-du-Châtel, Saint-Pierre-en-Rive'', this church, often mistakenly called by the tourists "the

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the raised throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

l", as it was the largest religious building of

Bourg-le-Roi Bourg-le-Roi () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France. See also *Communes of the Sarthe department *Parc naturel régional Normandie-Maine Normandie-Maine Regional Natural Park ( Fr.: ...

; special care was therefore given to its development. The construction of the present building took place between the early 13th and the 16th centuries. It was in this church that during the Middle Ages the main public ceremonies took place. For example, when

Henri IV Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

abjured the Protestant religion, putting an end to religious wars, it was in St Peter's Church that the ''Te Deum'' was sung in the presence of the civil and religious representatives of the whole city. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

of the church was destroyed on 9 July 1944 by a British Royal Navy shell fired at German forces from HMS ''Rodney'', and has since been rebuilt. The eastern apse of the church was built by

Hector Sohier Hector Sohier was a 16th-century Normand architect. He is the author of many buildings in Caen. He died around 1560. . - (1838-1894), director of the . Works * Apse of the Church of Saint-Pierre, Caen (1518-1545) * Apse of the (1546) * Châte ...

between 1518 and 1545. The interior choir and the exterior apse display an architecture that embodies the transition from Gothic to Renaissance. It ceased to be a

church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...

on November 20, 1793 and became a

Temple of Reason A Temple of Reason (French: ''Temple de la Raison'') was, during the French Revolution, a temple for a new belief system created to replace Christianity: the Cult of Reason, which was based on the ideals of reason, virtue, and liberty. This "relig ...

, and was from 1793 to 1795 used as a venue for the 'Culte de l'Être supreme', after which it was used for Catholic worship from June 4, 1795, to 1933. Until around the mid-19th century, the eastern end of the church faced onto a canal that was then covered and replaced by a road. Various artists and engravers recorded this relation of the church to the canal; for instance, the Scottish painter

David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...

made several very similar views, one of which (dated to c. 1830) is in Musée des Beaux-Arts in the

Château de Caen The Château de Caen is a castle in the Norman city of Caen in the Calvados ''département'' (Normandy). It has been officially classed as a ''Monument historique'' since 1997. History The castle was built c. 1060 by William the Conqueror (Willi ...

(Caen Castle). This

church Building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...

is the subject of a classification as historical monuments by the list of 1840.Notice no PA00111139 rchive base Mérimée, ministère français de la Culture. File:St. Pierre, Caen, France, 1903. (2787319111).jpg File:Caen eglise saintpierre 1903 orgue.jpg File:St. Pierre, Caen, France, 1903. (2788173236).jpg File:St. Pierre, Caen, France, 1903. (2788176854).jpg File:Caen eglise saintpierre 1903 bascote.jpg

References

External links

Histoire de l'Église Saint-Pierre
(history of the church)
Église Saint-Pierre
photo {{coord, 49, 11, 3, N, 0, 21, 39, W, type:landmark_region:FR, display=title Roman Catholic churches in Caen