Cathédrale Saint-Pierre d'Annecy

Annecy

In the years 1535-1538, when Geneva went over to the Reformation, the bishop and the canons of its cathedral of Saint-Pierre took the road into exile and found refuge in Annecy. They settled in the brand-new church of the Cordeliers' friary, born of the vow of a churchman, Pierre Lambert; his family, who lived just opposite and had financed the building work, left its arms above the portal. The church had been entrusted to Jacques Rossel, a master builder on the site of the cathedral of Saint-Pierre in Geneva: the Gothic rose of the façade echoes the one he had begun in 1511 for the south tower of Saint-Pierre in Geneva, while the rest of this façade, punctuated by pilasters and topped by a pediment, already looks towards the Italian Renaissance. Behind it, the interior remains in a severe Gothic, with three aisles. Having become the “borrowed cathedral” of the bishops of Geneva, it saw the most famous of them pass through, Francis de Sales, ordained priest in 1593 and consecrated bishop in 1602, who officiated here until his death in 1622; it was in Annecy that he founded in 1610, with Jeanne de Chantal, the Order of the Visitation. The cathedral's stained-glass windows tell his life. The Revolution made the church a Temple of Reason and pulled down part of the bell tower in 1794; it was not until 1822 that the diocese of Annecy was created and the former church of the Cordeliers became a cathedral in its own right. The choir had been refitted around 1775 by the Turin architect Giovanni Piacenza.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Pierre d'Annecy ↗

Getting there : 8 Rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, in the pedestrianised old town, a stone's throw from the Vieilles Prisons. Open all year round, free entry (Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc Tourisme); opening times to be checked. Hemmed in between the houses, the façade is best seen by walking round the building to the right, towards a small square.

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

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