Touren · Montpellier · Cathedral
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre
Montpellier's towering 14th century cathedral, so heavily fortified that locals once called it Fort Saint-Pierre, famous for a massive porch carried on two giant round pillars.
Über diesen Ort
The Cathédrale Saint-Pierre began life in 1364 as the chapel of a Benedictine monastery college founded by Pope Urban V, who had studied and taught in Montpellier before his election. It was promoted to cathedral in 1536, when the bishop's seat was transferred from the island of Maguelone. Its most striking feature is the fortress like west front, where two enormous cylindrical pillars, each about four and a half metres across, support a stone canopy over the main door. Ravaged during the Wars of Religion in 1561 and stripped of one of its four corner towers by iconoclasts in 1567, it remains the largest church in the region and sits directly beside the oldest working faculty of medicine in the Western world.
Wissenswertes
- 1364 year — Founded as a monastery chapel by Pope Urban V
- 1536 year — Promoted to cathedral when the bishop's seat moved from Maguelone
- 4.55 metres — Diameter of each of the two giant pillars holding up the entrance porch
📍 Rue du Cardinal de Cabrières, 34062, Montpellier