Nice Cathedral (french: Basilique-Cathédrale Sainte-Marie et Sainte-Réparate de Nice) is a

Catholic 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 ...

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 ...

located in the city 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 southern

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 ...

. The cathedral is the seat of the

Diocese of Nice The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nice (Latin: ''Dioecesis Nicensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Nice'') is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the Départment of Alpes-Maritimes. The diocese is ...

. The construction of the main part of the current cathedral's body started in 1650 and finished in 1685. Further construction continued after its consecration in 1699, with new structures and decorative elements added to the cathedral until 1949. The cathedral is dedicated to the

Assumption of the Virgin 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 ...

and

Saint Reparata Reparata ( it, Santa Reparata, french: Sainte Réparate) was a Catholic virgin and martyr of the 3rd century AD, of Caesarea, Roman Province of Palestine. Sources record her age as being from 11 to 20 years old, though Sainte-Réparate Cathedr ...

. It has been classified as a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

since 9 August 1906.

History

The original cathedral on the site, called St Mary of the Castle, was consecrated in 1049. In 1060, relics belonging to

(for whom the current cathedral is named) arrived in Nice. By 1075, a chapel dedicated to St Reparata was constructed at the foot of the castle. During the latter half of the 12th century, the chapel became a priory of the Abbey of Saint-Pons. 1246 marked the official establishment of the priory as a parish church. The first church on the site was built in the early 13th century on land belonging to the Abbey of St Pons and became a parish church in 1246. Population growth led to extensions being built onto the church between 1455 and 1468. During the first half of the 16th century, a series of acts gradually effected the transfer of the seat of the bishops of Nice from Cimiez Cathedral, which sits on the hill of the castle overlooking the city, to the church of St Reparata in 1590. After an official ceremony presided over by the bishop Luigi Pallavicini, and in the presence of

Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy Charles Emmanuel I ( it, Carlo Emanuele di Savoia; 12 January 1562 – 26 July 1630), known as the Great, was the Duke of Savoy from 1580 to 1630. He was nicknamed (, in context "the Hot-Headed") for his rashness and military aggression. Being ...

, the church was recognized as a ''chiesa-cattedrale''.Luc Thevenon, op. cit., p. 110 In 1649, judging the building to be too small, Bishop Didier Palletis commissioned the architect Jean-André Guibert to produce a structure more in keeping with the importance of the city. The construction of a new cathedral (the current main building) took place between 1650 and 1865. In 1699, the new cathedral was officially consecrated while additional construction continued. The prominent bell tower was built next to it between 1731 and 1757. The year 1900 marked the most recent addition to the cathedral, with the construction of new side chapels that replaced the former heavy baroque ornamentation. The cathedral was declared a

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

on 27 May 1949. Nice Cathedral Bell Tower

Description

Exterior

Originally rectangular and oriented to the North, the cathedral was rebuilt on the model of

Santa Susanna The Church of Saint Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian ( it, Chiesa di Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano) is a Roman Catholic parish church located on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, Italy. There has been a titular church associated to its site ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, i.e. on a

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

ground plan oriented to the east, with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

, clad in coloured tiles varnished in the Genoese style, over the crossing. The building is in the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

architectural tradition. A number of alterations have taken place since the initial construction. A

campanile 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 ...

, which partially obscures the cupola, was built between 1731 and 1757. Between 1825 and 1830, a Baroque revival facade replaced the original west front. Between 1900 and 1903, an

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

was added on either side of the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

Interior

The interior, also Baroque, includes ten chapels. The chapels are dedicated to

Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows ( la, Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows ( la, Mater Dolorosa, link=no), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names ...

, the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

Saint Rose of Lima Rose of Lima (born Isabel Flores de Oliva; 20 April 1586 24 August 1617) was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Lima, Peru, who became known for both her life of severe penance and her care of the poverty stricken of the city thro ...

, Saints Alexander and Bartholomew, the

Holy Sacrament There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those ...

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...

and the Virgin,

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

, Saint Reparata, the

Four Crowned Martyrs The Four Crowned Martyrs or Four Holy Crowned Ones (Latin, ''Sancti Quatuor Coronati'') were nine individuals who are venerated as martyrs and saints of Early Christianity. The nine saints are divided into two groups: # Severus (or Secundius), S ...

, and

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

. Until the end of the 17th century, each of the chapels was connected to a different guild, each of which bore the responsibility and expense of maintaining them. The high altar is surmounted by a picture of the ''Glory of Saint Reparata'', the virgin martyr to whom the cathedral is dedicated and whose relics have been enshrined here since 1690.

Organs

The cathedral contains three organs: one is on a tribune above the

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

, another is in the north arm of the transept, and the third is in the choir rehearsal room.

References

Sources and external links

Ministry of Culture website: Nice Cathedral

Monum.fr: Nice Cathedral

Structurae.de: Nice Cathedral

Nice Cathedral official website

La Cathedrale Sainte-Reparate
{{Authority control Roman Catholic churches completed in 1699 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France Roman Catholic cathedrals in France

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 ...

Basilica churches in France Baroque buildings in France Tourist attractions in Nice 1699 establishments in France Church buildings with domes