The Collegiate Church of Saint-André, Grenoble (french: Collégiale Saint-André de Grenoble) is a parish church, formerly a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

, dedicated to

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

, in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, France.

History

The church is located on the Place Saint-André, Grenoble, in front of the former Palace of the Parliament of the Dauphiné.Gilles-Marie Moreau, ''Le Saint-Denis des Dauphins: histoire de la collégiale Saint-André de Grenoble'' (L'Harmattan, 2010), p.293 It is the former private chapel of the Dauphins of the Viennois, founded in 1228 to house their tombs. Its construction was paid for by the income of the silver mines of Brandes-en-

Oisans L'Oisans () is a region in the French Alps, located in the départements of l'Isère and Hautes-Alpes, and corresponding to the drainage basin of the River Romanche and its tributaries (Eau d'Olle, Lignarre, Sarenne, Vénéon and Ferrand). Betw ...

near

Alpe d'Huez L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Western Alps, in the commune of Huez, which is part of the department of Isère in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is part of th ...

. André Dauphin de Bourgogne (also known as Guigues VI), Count of Albon, Dauphin of the Viennois, had the church built on high ground as a dynastic place of burial after the Flood of Grenoble in 1219. From 1349 on it was a royal chapel of the French kings. On 20 June 1468 King

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...

gave the canons the right to appoint to all vacant canonries. In 1562 it was largely destroyed by the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

troops of the

Baron des Adrets Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

during the

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 ...

. The college was disbanded in 1790, during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, and the building became a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in 1822. The building has been classified as a ''

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 ...

'' since 27 August 2013. Previously, some parts had been classified individually (steeple in 1908, west gable and tympanum in 1936, western portal in 1956).

Bell tower

The bell tower is a feature of the city's skyline and a symbol of the town. 56 meters tall, it was completed in the late 13th century and contains a

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

of three bells. The drone was cast in 1693 and bears the arms of the provost Flodoard Moret Bourchenu. The other two bells date from the 19th century.

The organ

The first mention of an organ was in 1439. The present instrument was built between 1701 and 1704 on a platform of 1686. The instrument was installed (12 stops, one keyboard) and designed by the Lyon manufacturer François du Fayet. In 1748 Samson Scherrer increased the number of stops to 24. The current composition of the organ dates from 1946. Many great artists have played the instrument including

Marcel Dupré Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré () (3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Biography Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré was titular o ...

and

Gaston Litaize Gaston Gilbert Litaize (11 August 1909 - 5 August 1991) was a French organist and composer. Considered one of the 20th century masters of the French organ, he toured, recorded, worked at churches, and taught students in and around Paris. Blind ...

. For more than thirty years the organist and composer was Félicien Wolff.

Clock

The clock is the oldest public clock in

References

{{reflist Roman Catholic churches in Grenoble Churches used by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter