Bordeaux Cathedral


Bordeaux Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Andrew and located in Bordeaux, France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Bordeaux.
In 1998, UNESCO designated the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France as a World Heritage site, including the three main churches of Bordeaux : the basilica of St. Severinus, the basilica of St Michael and the St. Andrew's cathedral.

History

The cathedral was consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1096. Of the original Romanesque edifice, only a wall in the nave remains. The Royal Gate is from the early 13th century, while the rest of the construction is mostly from the 14th-15th centuries. The building is a national monument of France.
Two royal weddings were celebrated in this church. In 1137 the 13-year-old Eleanor of Aquitaine married the future Louis VII, a few months before she became Queen. And in 1615, the Infanta of Spain Anne of Austria married the king of France and Navarre Louis XIII.

Description

A separate bell tower, the Tour Pey-Berland, stands next to the cathedral.
The site is served by line A and line B of the tramway de Bordeaux at Station Hôtel de Ville.

Architectural Style

Bordeaux Cathedral is built in the Gothic Style, it has an eastern facing choir with large stain glass windows for letting in morning light, it also has flying buttresses and ribbed vaults that were both decorative and for providing structural support which allowed structural weight to be better distributed going outward instead of downward allowing for thinner, taller, and stronger walls and for more windows letting in more light which was of religious significance at the time of building. The doors of Bordeaux Cathedral have decorated tympanum with depictions of didactic religious scenes and gargoyles and other decorative sculpture throughout as well as tall, thin spires typical of gothic style.

Marcadé collection

The cathedral is home to the Marcadé collection, which consists of a group of forty-two illuminations, among other objects. It was given to Bordeaux Cathedral by Canon Marcadé in 1947. Of note, these illuminations, little studied so far, will be exhibited starting in 2015 in the cathedral, in a room specially designed for this collection.

Gallery

The exterior

The interior

The Pey Berland Tower

Citations