Cathédrale Saint-Louis de La Rochelle

La Rochelle

Two churches and a fire preceded this cathedral, and a single tower links them. The first, Saint-Barthélemy, rose from 1152 near the old castle harbour (Place de Verdun); having become a parish in 1217, it received a Gothic bell tower in the 14th and 15th centuries. When La Rochelle went over to the Reformation, the churches were demolished, in February 1568, for want of stone for the fortifications; only the bell tower was kept, as a watchtower and gun platform. During the siege of 1628, a cannonball fired from its top is said to have landed, on 14 October, on a conference between Richelieu and Lord Lindsay. Once the town was taken, Louis XIII wished to make it an episcopal see; his wish was fulfilled in 1648, when a bull of Innocent X transferred the bishopric of Maillezais there: the Protestants' Grand Temple, completed in 1603 on Place du Château, became the cathedral, until 9 February 1687, when a bonfire lit on the square for the recovery of Louis XIV set it ablaze. Jacques Gabriel, First Architect to the King, provided the plans in 1741 and died in April 1742, two months before the foundation stone was laid, on 18 June; his son Ange-Jacques took over the building work. Money ran short from 1750; Bishop de Crussol d'Uzès relaunched the work in 1773 and consecrated the building on 27 June 1784, while a wall still separated it from the parish church of Saint-Barthélemy, rebuilt between 1668 and 1678. The classical façade, with Tuscan and Doric columns beneath a pediment, never received the two planned towers: it is the medieval bell tower that rings for it. Beneath the dome, William Bouguereau painted an Assumption dated 1875.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Louis de La Rochelle ↗

Getting there : 17 Rue Chaudrier, at the south-east corner of Place de Verdun, in the town centre. Opening times and visiting conditions to be checked with the tourist office (2 Quai Georges-Simenon); no opening times or prices confirmed. The Saint-Barthélemy bell tower is closed to the public.

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

Ambient sound