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Cathédrale Saint-Louis de Versailles

Versailles

Dimensions
In the heart of the Saint-Louis quarter, on Place Saint-Louis, not far from the Potager du Roi; the nave extends 93 m in length and 23 m in height
Period
Temporary chapel of 1725, made the parish of Saint-Louis in 1730; church by Jacques Hardouin-Mansart de Sagonne, foundations in 1742, foundation stone on 12 June 1743, blessing in August 1754 (the 24th or the 25th depending on the passages of Wikipedia); chapel by Louis-François Trouard in 1764; Temple of Abundance during the Revolution; cathedral on the re-establishment of the bishopric (1802 according to Wikipedia, 1801 according to the tourist office; the Mérimée entry gives 1789); consecrated in 1843; listed on 30 October 1906
What stands there
The church of the Saint-Louis quarter where, on 22 June 1789, the deputies of the Estates General renewed the Tennis Court Oath

When the court returned to Versailles in 1722, the quarter stretching towards the Potager du Roi filled with people, and its inhabitants, far from their parish of Notre-Dame, made do with a temporary chapel built in 1725, made the parish of Saint-Louis in 1730. In May 1742, Louis XV chose Jacques Hardouin-Mansart de Sagonne, grandson of Louis XIV's architect, to build them a proper church, to the great vexation of Ange-Jacques Gabriel; on 12 June 1743, the king himself placed a gold medal and four silver ones in the foundation stone. The spongy ground required a vast raft of dressed stone beneath the whole church; the piles sometimes mentioned belong to legend. The building was blessed in August 1754, for the feast of Saint Louis, without the royal family: the Dauphine had just given birth to the future Louis XVI. Two towers capped with bulbs, a dome over the crossing, an interior of bare stone enlivened by the rocaille ornaments of Nicolas Pineau: it is a church of the reign of Louis XV, with the great organ that the Clicquots completed in 1761. This organ played on 4 May 1789, when the procession of the Estates General, setting out from Notre-Dame with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, reached Saint-Louis for the opening mass; it was from its pulpit that the Bishop of Nancy, La Fare, denounced the abuses of the Court. On 22 June, the deputies met there again and renewed the Tennis Court Oath, swearing not to separate before they had given France a Constitution. During the Revolution, the church became a Temple of Abundance, with a ploughman painted on the façade; it became a cathedral only after the Concordat.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Louis de Versailles ↗

Further reading

Getting there : 4 Place Saint-Louis, in the Saint-Louis quarter (Versailles tourist office), a few minutes' walk from the Potager du Roi. Opening times and visiting conditions to be checked; the tourist office offers guided tours of the quarter.

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

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Cathédrale Saint-Louis de Versailles
BenP · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Yvelines (10).