Pamiers Cathedral: A Southern French Gothic Cathedral in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page10 sections
History
Pamiers Cathedral, also known as Saint-Antonin Cathedral, is an active Roman Catholic cathedral in Pamiers, France, built in the tradition of southern French Gothic architecture. Its origins lie in a twelfth-century church, while the present nave belongs largely to the rebuilding that followed the Wars of Religion.
Medieval Church and Episcopal Foundation
The original church was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. From 1384 it was known as Sainte-Marie du Mercadal, a name meaning “Saint Mary of the Market.” The Diocese of Pamiers was established in 1275, and the church was raised to cathedral rank in 1499. It is now dedicated to Saint Antoninus of Pamiers, a Christian saint associated with the city.
The fourteenth century brought major Gothic additions, including the bell tower and the later portion of the entrance portal. The cathedral’s medieval fabric was then severely affected by the Wars of Religion, the sixteenth-century conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in France. Extensive damage in Pamiers left only the bell tower standing. Its substantial form also allowed it to serve as a watchtower.
Rebuilding and Later Episcopal History
The nave was reconstructed after the destruction, and the work was not fully completed until 1689. Tradition attributes the plan to François Mansart, a major French architect of the seventeenth century. The restrained character of the building makes that attribution plausible, although Jules Hardouin-Mansart, François Mansart’s nephew and a later prominent architect who worked under his direction, has also been credited.
The French Revolution brought another decisive change. The cathedral’s original furnishings were largely lost, and the building became state property. The Diocese of Pamiers, Couserans and Mirepoix was abolished by the Concordat of 1801, the agreement that reorganized relations between the French state and the Catholic Church, and was re-established in 1822. The cathedral has been protected as a French historic monument since 9 August 1906.
Several bishops were buried in the cathedral. They include Bertrand de Barrau, whose remains were scattered in 1621 during the troubled period of the Wars of Religion, and François de Caulet, who served from 1644 to 1680. Caulet requested burial beside the holy-water stoup so that worshippers would walk over his grave. Other bishops buried beneath the choir include Jean-Baptiste de Verthamon, Henri-Gaston de Lévis-Léran, Charles-François de Latour-Landorthe, Gervais-Joseph Ortric, Jean-François-Augustin Galtier, Jean-Antoine Belaval, Pierre-Eugène Rougerie, and Henri Lugagne-Delpon.
Care, Bells, and Musical Renewal
In 1863 the cathedral acquired a carillon, a set of tuned bells arranged for musical performance. It combined an older bourdon, or large low-pitched bell, cast in 1849 from a 1683 bell, with three Louison bells made in 1841, 1842, and 1845, as well as additional bells cast in 1863. Twelve bells from the Bollée foundry in Orléans were added in 1899, bringing the ensemble to twenty-two bells.
A new twenty-six-bell carillon made by Paccard was installed in 1989, while several older bells were transferred to Notre-Dame du Camp Church. Twenty-three further Paccard bells arrived in 1995. The resulting forty-nine-bell carillon weighs 4,150 kilograms and is noted for its size and tonal accuracy. The Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs manages the state-owned cathedral, and the architect serving France’s historic buildings service acts as its conservator.
Remains
Brick Church and Medieval Entrance
Pamiers Cathedral is constructed from Toulouse brick, a characteristic regional material. Its single nave is divided into four bays, with chapels set between the buttresses. The entrance combines medieval phases. Only part of the twelfth-century portal survives, but this Romanesque section, whose rounded-arch vocabulary belongs to medieval Romanesque architecture, retains damaged historiated capitals. These carved capitals present narrative scenes or identifiable figures associated with the martyrdoms of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Daniel in the lions’ den, and Samson fighting the lion.
A twelfth-century carved stone beneath the portal cross represents the martyrdom of Saint John. The rest of the entrance is Gothic and dates from the fourteenth century, when the later work was placed over the earlier entrance. Its keystone shows the boat of Saint Antoninus sailing from Pamiers to Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val.
Bell Tower
The fourteenth-century bell tower is a massive octagonal structure in brick, built in the Gothic Toulouse tradition and strongly influenced by the Jacobins’ church in Toulouse. Paired windows occupy each level and end in mitre arches. Crenellations and loopholes preserve the tower’s defensive character and recall its former use as a watchtower.
A gallery was added to the tower in the nineteenth century, modeled on the gallery of the Jacobins. Ferdinand De Coma, the diocesan architect, designed the addition. Its lighter appearance contrasts with the massive brick structure below.
Chapels and Entrance Furnishings
The entrance area contains a statue of the Virgin Mary dated 1861, a statue of Saint Joseph, and a black marble holy-water stoup made from Pyrenean marble. The tomb of François de Caulet is also located here. Its decoration represents the former castle of Pamiers, which has since been demolished.
The chapels contain Baduel’s The Holy Family and The Death of Joseph, both from 1886, together with Lazerges’s Ecce Homo from 1833. Other works include an eighteenth-century gilded and polychrome wooden relief of the martyrdom of Saint Andrew, paintings of the betrothal of Mary and Joseph and the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter, and depictions of the martyrdoms of Saint Sebastian and Saint Antoninus. The chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and three frescoes by Bénézet on the life of Mary add further decoration. A small sixteenth-century polychrome wooden statue represents Saint Mary Magdalene, or possibly the Virgin Mary.
Transept and Choir
The transept retains woodwork dated 1753. On its left side are Marzocchi’s 1851 painting of Saint Lizier and two early-eighteenth-century works by André Jean, known as Brother André: The Adoration of the Magi and Jesus Driving the Merchants from the Temple. The former is under restoration. Wrought-iron screens dated 1835 complete this side of the transept.
The right side contains Lazerges’s 1847 painting of Saint Antoninus, with Pamiers shown in the background, and two paintings by Brother André from the early eighteenth century, The Nativity of Jesus and Saint Louis Receiving Christ’s Crown of Thorns.
The choir ends in a pentagonal apse. Its principal furnishings include a marble high altar from 1844, five canvases by Bénézet mounted on a support and depicting the life of Saint Antoninus, and a marble pavement laid in 1857. Historiated stained-glass windows from 1862 present recognizable religious scenes in addition to their colored glass.
Organ and Carillon
The cathedral’s organ retains an eighteenth-century case that came from the Basilica of La Daurade in Toulouse in 1776. Robert Chauvin and Claude Armand built the present instrumental section in the spirit of an eighteenth-century French instrument, while adapting it for the performance of German composers from the same period. Inaugurated on 22 November 1992, it has thirty-eight stops, four manual keyboards, and a pedalboard with mechanical action. Two paintings by Raynold beneath the organ refer to the First World War.
The carillon occupies the cathedral’s bell-tower tradition in a later musical form. Its forty-nine bells, assembled through the Paccard installations of 1989 and 1995, form one of the building’s notable surviving working features.
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