Cathedral of the Holy Saviour: A Roman Catholic Cathedral in Aix-en-Provence
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Classical, Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- County of Provence, French, Holy Roman Empire, Ostrogothic, Roman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page21 sections
History
The Cathedral of the Holy Saviour is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Aix-en-Provence, France, and the seat of the Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence and Arles. Developed over the site of the first-century Roman forum beside the Via Aurelia, the major Roman road linking Italy with southern Gaul, the cathedral took shape through successive Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Neo-Gothic campaigns.
Roman and early Christian foundations
A fragment of a Roman wall and reused Roman columns in the baptistery led to a tradition that the cathedral had been built over a temple of Apollo. The seventeenth-century historian Scholastique Pitton connected a statue fragment found at the site with a solar deity. This interpretation belongs to local legend rather than established history.
Christian tradition attributes the first church on the site to Saint Maximinus, a saint traditionally associated with the early evangelization of Provence. He was said to have travelled from Bethany with Mary Magdalene on a boat belonging to Lazarus and to have built a small chapel dedicated to the Holy Saviour. The chapel was destroyed during Saracen invasions in the eighth and ninth centuries.
By around AD 500, Bishop Basilius had established an episcopal complex over the former Roman forum. An episcopal complex was the group of buildings used by a bishop and his clergy. The Aix complex included a chapel, a baptistery, and several other rooms, creating the institutional foundation for the later cathedral.
Romanesque cathedral and chapter
A new Romanesque church began to rise around the turn of the twelfth century. The work is associated with Archbishop Rostan de Fos and Benoît, provost of the chapter. A dedication dated 1103 survives in the southern nave, later known as the Corpus Domini nave. This first nave served as a parish church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, or Notre-Dame de la Sède.
A second nave dedicated to Saint Maximinus was built approximately between 1165 and 1177 for the canons, the clergy attached to the cathedral chapter. It stood between the earlier nave and the baptistery, and its choir connected by a doorway to the Sainte-Chapelle, a surviving part of the original sixth-century episcopal complex.
The Sainte-Chapelle was rebuilt during the twelfth century. When the Gothic nave was added, it became the Oratory of the Saviour. The oratory survived until its destruction in 1808.
The cloister and the canons’ communal buildings developed from the late twelfth century, when the canons were encouraged to follow a more austere shared religious life. The cloister supported the priests who assisted the bishop and administered church property.
Gothic expansion and interruption
Aix became the capital of Provence during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. The city’s growing population and political importance encouraged further work at the cathedral, while the arrival of the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Augustinians expanded religious construction across the city.
Two Gothic transept wings, the cross-arms of the church, were begun approximately between 1285 and 1290 and completed in 1316. The older Romanesque church was progressively reshaped into a Gothic cathedral. Construction was then interrupted by the Black Death, the devastating plague pandemic of the fourteenth century, and by the Hundred Years’ War, the prolonged conflict between the English and French crowns.
Work resumed in 1472 after an interruption of about 130 years, beginning with the final western bay. On 11 December 1471, Archbishop Georges-Olivier de Pannard, with the chapter’s approval, had authorized its construction. A contract followed with the Arles stonecutter Hélion l’Auvergnat in 1472, together with an agreement on financing between the archbishop and chapter.
Completion of the western front
Hélion l’Auvergnat was instructed to begin the facade in 1477. By Archbishop Pannard’s death in 1484, the work had reached only the level of the statue bases. Jacotin Paproche carved apostle statues, while Pierre Souquet directed the architectural and ornamental work according to earlier plans. Disputes between Archbishop Philippe Herbert and the chapter delayed progress until 1499. Souquet signed a new contract in 1500 and continued directing the work until his death around October 1505.
Jean Joye contracted to make the facade’s stained glass in 1505. In 1507, Jean Lagrime and Pierre Guief were commissioned to produce the sculpture of Saint Michael at the top of the facade. The sculptures were completed in 1513 with funding from Louis Rostan. Their style is associated with Jean Mone of Metz, while the central Saint Michael is also attributed in the cathedral’s art-historical tradition to Jean Paumier of Burgundy.
Later religious and institutional history
The cathedral’s history includes episodes of ecclesiastical conflict. In 1318, Archbishop Robert de Mauvoisin resigned after accusations of serious abuses, including the sale of benefices and sacraments, misuse of ecclesiastical interdicts, mistreatment of members of his chapter, and harmful episcopal visitations.
On 24 December 1566, Archbishop Jean de Saint-Chamond publicly rejected the pope and the Catholic Church in the cathedral and adopted Calvinism. He later withdrew to Geneva, where he married.
Guillaume Poitevin served as master of the cathedral choirboys and professional choirmaster from 1667 to 1706. The cathedral was also associated with Jeanne Perraud, a visionary who lived in Aix from 1655 until her death there in 1676. A doll representing one of her visions of the Child Jesus was made shortly afterward and remains displayed in the cathedral.
In 1656, the chapter acquired seventeen tapestries depicting the life of Christ through a bequest from Archbishop Michel Mazarin. They had originally belonged to a larger group woven in 1511 for Canterbury Cathedral, were removed during the English Civil War, transferred to Paris, and then acquired for Aix. Stolen during the French Revolution, they were later repurchased by the Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence and Arles. In 1977, the first nine were stolen again and have not been recovered.
Modern alteration and protection
The cathedral received painted and sculpted Neo-Gothic decoration in the nave between 1857 and 1862 under Revoil, architect of the diocese. The cathedral was listed as a French historic monument in 1840 and the cloister in 1875. Its continuing use as an active Roman Catholic place of worship preserves the connection between the building, its chapels, baptistery, chapter institutions, and devotional furnishings.
Remains
The cathedral measures approximately 70 metres in length and 46 metres in width, with an interior elevation of about 20 metres beneath the vault keystone. Its surviving fabric brings together Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Neo-Gothic work. The complex occupies the former Roman square, and its principal remains include the western facade, the early Christian baptistery, the cloister, the chapels, and the furnished interior.
Roman forum and early Christian complex
Baptistery
The octagonal baptistery, a building intended for the Christian rite of baptism, was built at the beginning of the sixth century and may date as early as the fifth century. It is among the oldest surviving baptisteries in France. Only the lower wall courses and the baptismal basin belong to its earliest phase; the basin may be Merovingian, from the early medieval period associated with the Merovingian dynasty.
Eight reused Roman columns surround the baptistery. Slots in the masonry preserve the arrangement for rods that suspended curtains screening catechumens from view. The building was oriented toward the rising sun despite later changes. From its foundation, hot water reached it from the Roman baths. Baptism took place by complete immersion, with water supplied from the east through a substantial annex outside the cathedral.
The remaining walls and dome were rebuilt or altered during the Renaissance. The dome was completed or decorated in the sixteenth century, and Canon Jean de Léone crowned the structure in 1579. Beneath the floor are vaults containing the remains of canons and archbishops. An opening in the floor reveals the bases of the Roman forum’s porticoes, while a sixth-century mosaic and fragments of a fourteenth-century fresco survive elsewhere in the cathedral. The fresco fragments include the bull of Saint Luke and scenes from the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Clare.
Seven nineteenth-century paintings representing the seven sacraments decorate the baptistery. The series was commissioned by the fine-arts administration at the archbishop’s request and painted by Alphonse Angelin, Antoine Coutel, Baptistin Martin, Joseph Richaud, François Latil, Léontine Tacussel, and Joseph Marc Gibert.
Cloister
The cloister was built over the first-century Roman square. Its galleries have timber roofs rather than vaults, allowing the arcades to rest on slender paired columns. The four corner columns carry carvings of the Evangelists’ symbols: an angel for Matthew, a lion for Mark, a bull for Luke, and an eagle for John. Capitals on the west and north sides show scenes from the Old and New Testaments and include a statue of Saint Peter.
A worn marble slab in the west gallery may mark the tomb of Basilius, the bishop associated with the episcopal complex established around AD 500.
Western facade and entrance
Facade sculpture
The west facade preserves three major construction stages. These are the plain front of the Romanesque nave, a later wall built from ancient bossed blocks set with tight joints over layers of bast fibers, and the sixteenth-century portal that closes the Gothic nave. The original Romanesque facade of the Marian nave was destroyed in the fifteenth century and replaced by a Gothic facade and bell tower.
The facade originally carried twelve apostle statues and six statues in the tympana, the decorative fields above the portals. These were destroyed during the French Revolution. Four surviving statues by Jean Mone, made in 1512 and 1513, represent Saint Mitre carrying his head, Mary Magdalene with a perfume flask, Saint Louis of Toulouse, and Louis IX of France. Jacotin Paproche produced ten small prophets and twenty cherubim in 1484, while Pierre Souquet made two upper-level statues traditionally identified as Maximinus and Sidonius, the first bishops of Aix.
The central group, made in 1507, represents Saint Michael crushing the dragon. Late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century sculpture survives elsewhere on the facade, although only the seven upper portal figures are original. The other portal figures are nineteenth-century copies.
Carved walnut doors
The cathedral chapter commissioned the carved walnut doors in 1505. Raymond and Jean Bolhit of Aix made the carpentry, and Jean Guiramand of Toulon carved the figures in 1508. High-relief panels show Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, together with twelve Sibyls, prophetic female figures whom medieval Christian writers associated with predictions concerning Christ.
Garlands of pomegranates, acorns, and grapes enrich the doors. Lions, dragons, a basilisk, and a cock with a serpent’s tail express the struggle between good and evil. Traces of the doors’ former bright coloring remain visible.
Bell tower
The octagonal bell tower contains three bells. Marie Immaculée, cast by Burdin in 1858, measures 150 centimetres in diameter. Paule, cast by Paccard in 1932, also measures 150 centimetres, while Marie-Madeleine, from the same foundry and year, measures 100 centimetres.
Chapels and interior furnishings
Saints Cosmas and Damian Chapel
The Saints Cosmas and Damian Chapel was built at the end of the sixteenth century and forms the entrance vestibule, or narthex, of the baptistery. It contains architectural fragments, including the sarcophagus traditionally said to have received Saint Mitre’s remains after his martyrdom, two marble lions from the tomb of Hubert de Vins, sculptures by Charles Desbordes, and marble small columns with capitals from the former Oratory of the Saviour.
Organ
A large organ was built between 1743 and 1746 by Jean-Esprit Isnard and installed on the north side of the Gothic choir. Its case is protected as a historic monument. A second, visually similar but non-functional case stands opposite it, producing a symmetrical arrangement in the Italian and Iberian Baroque manner.
The instrument underwent repairs and alterations, including changes to the number of stops and removal of the rear positive division. Alfred Kern restored it between 1974 and 1982, bringing its appearance close to the original form. Earlier instruments included a small organ placed around 1513 in the canons’ choir and a larger organ installed opposite it in 1612.
Altars and paintings
The stone Aygosi altar was originally made for the Carmelite church and transferred to the cathedral in 1823. Its inscription gives 28 January 1470 as the completion date of the associated chapel and records its dedication to Saint Anne. Sculpted by Audinet Stéphani, who worked in Aix and its region between 1446 and 1476, the monument combines an altar, a false tabernacle bearing Urbain Aygosi’s arms, a tabernacle containing a figure of Christ, and a stone retable, an ornamental structure behind an altar.
The retable includes Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus, Saint Maurice in fifteenth-century armor, Saint Margaret emerging from a dragon, and Christ on the Cross. Statues of the Virgin and Saint John that once formed part of the ensemble are now displayed at the Musée Granet.
The cathedral houses Nicolas Froment’s fifteenth-century Burning Bush Triptych, made for the Carmelite convent destroyed during the French Revolution. Its central panel shows the Virgin and Child within the burning bush, with Moses and his flock in the foreground. The side panels depict René of Anjou and Queen Jeanne as donors.
Other works include Jean Daret the Elder’s Christ on the Cross with the Virgin of Sorrows, Saint Peter and Saint Anthony from 1640, Jean Daret the Younger’s Last Supper from 1668, and Louis Finson’s Incredulity of Saint Thomas from 1613. The collection also includes Christophe Veyrier’s Resurrection of Lazarus from the former Carmelite chapel, Jean-Bruno Gassies’s Martyrdom of Saint Appian from 1822, and Gaspard de Crayer’s seventeenth-century Saint Apollonia.
Stained glass and later decoration
The Neo-Gothic decoration of the nave was painted and sculpted between 1857 and 1862. An Empire-style high altar with two gilded wooden angels dates from 1805. The stained glass includes the Triumph of Faith on the west facade from 1858, the apse window and six non-figurative windows of the Gothic nave from 1860 and 1861, the Hope window in the south transept from 1863, and a window showing musical angels and saints of Provence in the Sacred Heart Chapel from 1866. The Didron workshop supplied these works. A stained-glass window by Jean Joye was destroyed during the French Revolution.
Devotional furnishings
A doll representing one of Jeanne Perraud’s visions of the Child Jesus remains displayed in the cathedral. The surviving part of the seventeenth-tapestry cycle depicting Christ’s life also belongs to the cathedral’s furnishings. Nine of the seventeen tapestries were stolen in 1977 and remain unrecovered.
