Périgueux Cathedral is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

located in the city of

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is also the seat of ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. A

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

since 1669, it is dedicated to ( French: ''Cathédrale Saint-Front de Périgueux''). The cathedral's predecessor, still in operation as a church, is dedicated to

Saint Stephen Stephen (; ) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity."St ...

( French: ''Cathédrale Saint-Étienne-de-la-Cité de Périgueux''). The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Périgueux and Sarlat, as the diocese has been known since 1854. It is part of the

World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France UNESCO designated the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France as a World Heritage Site in December 1998. The routes pass through the following regions of France: Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Ile- ...

Saint Front

The cathedral owes its name to Saint Front, the first bishop of Périgueux. According to the "Vie de Saint Front", he lived in the fourth century, was ordained in Rome, and came to evangelize the Perigord. He was buried near his hermitage, just outside the Roman city of Vesunna.:The Cathedral", Grand Périgueux Tourist Office
/ref>

History

A chapel was first built on the site in the 4th or 5th century. In 976 the Bishop Frotaire had the Abbey of Saint-Front constructed on the site of the church. The abbey was consecrated in 1047. Its vaulted choir housed the tomb of Saint Front, which was sculpted in 1077 by Guimaunond, a monk of the

Abbey of La Chaise-Dieu The Abbey of La Chaise-Dieu, in Auvergne (''La Chasa-Dieu'' in Occitan language, Occitan), is a former Benedictines, Benedictine abbey, headquarters of the Casadean order, located in the commune of La Chaise-Dieu in the Departments of France, depa ...

. This tomb was decorated with numerous precious stones and sculptures, notably an angel with a halo made of pieces of glass and is now kept in the Périgord Museum. The abbey burned in 1120. Only part of the church and part of the Romanesque cloister on the south side remain. The buildings are located in the centre of Périgueux and Saint Front Cathedral has been classed as a French Historical Monument (

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 collection of buildings, ...

) since 1840. The Saint Front Cathedral was rebuilt by architect Paul Abadie from 1852 to 1895. Only the bell tower and the crypts, both from the 12th century, were left from the previous structures. The cathedral is part of the

since 1998.

Architecture

The Saint Front Cathedral was designed on the model of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. The layout of the cathedral is in the form of a Greek cross."Cathédrale St-Front", Frommer's
/ref> Its five domes with turrets show a direct architectural relationship with oriental religious buildings, which served as inspiration for the architects of Saint-Front Cathedral. The domes of Saint-Front Cathedral were once different in size, but were redesigned by architect Paul Abadie to have one size, and to be symmetrical. The pillars carrying the load of the superstructure are 6 meters wide. The domes are inaccessible to the public.

Gallery

Périgueux - Cathédrale Saint-Front - 02.jpg, Main façade. Périgueux,_Cathedral_of_Périgueux,_Saint_Front_Cathedral_by_Paul_Abadie,_Domes_with_Turrets.jpeg, Domes and Turrets added on the Saint Front Cathedral by Paul Abadie in the mid-19th Century. Périgueux - Cathédrale Saint-Front - 10.jpg, Bell tower. Périgueux - Cathédrale Saint-Front - 11.jpg, Bell tower. Périgueux - Cathédrale Saint-Front - 09 HDR.jpg, General view of the interior. Périgueux - Cathédrale Saint-Front - 06.jpg, 17th-century pulpit. Périgueux - Cathédrale Saint-Front - 08.jpg, Central chandelier. Périgueux - Cathédrale Saint-Front - 05.jpg, Remains of a 16th-century wall painting in a chapel of the south transept. Périgueux 24 Cathédrale Vitrail Daniel&Suzanne 2014.jpg, ''Susanna and the elders'', stained-glass window (1881), by Edouard Didron, on the south wall of the cathedral.

References

Sources