Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Moûtiers

Moûtiers

Between 517 and 525, the Archbishop of Vienne, Saint Avitus, came to dedicate the new church of Darantasia, present-day Moûtiers; the homily he delivered there has been preserved: it names “the basilica of Saint Peter which Bishop Sanctus founded” and states that it replaces a church that had become too small. Nothing of this first building can be seen any longer. The archbishops, made counts of Tarentaise by Rudolph III in 996, rebuilt the cathedral in the 11th century, after it had been damaged by Saracen incursions: around 1020, Lombard masons raised the choir and the apse, whose blind arcading still adorns the chevet. Archbishop Pierre II, between 1141 and 1175, covered the nave with stone vaults; in the 15th century, Cardinal Jean d'Arces, archbishop from 1438 to 1454, undertook a Gothic rebuilding, and a plaque dated 1461, to the left of the portal, names the master mason François Cirgat, author of the façade overlooking the square. In the 17th century, Mgr Milliet de Challes had the crypt removed, the choir lowered and a dome with a lantern set over the crossing. The Revolution was more brutal: turned into a Temple of Reason, the cathedral lost its bell towers, which the representative on mission Albitte had razed in 1793 because they offended against the principle of equality; the roof timbers, shaken by these careless demolitions, gave way, and the Romanesque and Gothic vaults collapsed on 24 December 1794. Only after the bishopric was re-established, in 1825, was the nave rebuilt; Casimir Vicario painted the dome in 1829. People come here for the Romanesque apse, and for a 16th-century Entombment in polychrome wood, with life-size figures.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Moûtiers ↗

Getting there : Place Saint-Pierre, 73600 Moûtiers, in the town centre. Open every day from 9 am to 6 pm, free entry, according to Guide Tourisme France and the Courchevel tourist office (opening times to be checked on site). Access by train via Moûtiers station (to be checked). The polychrome wooden Entombment is inside.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound