Cathédrale Saint-Vincent de Viviers

Viviers

Viviers owes its bishop to a move. The capital of the Helvii was Alba; around 475, the episcopal see moved to Viviers, on the right bank of the Rhône, and it was Bishop Promotus, according to the historian Yves Esquieu, who was the first to settle there. In the 6th century, Venantius, related to the Burgundian kings, is said to have raised the walls again and restored the cathedral, if the account of his Acts is to be believed. When Léodegaire, or Léger, was elected in 1096, he found the church in ruins and rebuilt it; on 27 February 1119, Pope Callixtus II consecrated it, even before it was completed. From this period remains the Tour Saint-Michel, which served as the gate to the canons' quarter: at its base, a baptistery now walled up; above, a chapel dedicated to the archangel; higher still, an octagonal storey added in the 14th century. The great moment came with Claude de Tournon, bishop from 1498 to 1542: between 1516 and 1521, he had a Flamboyant Gothic choir built, with a remarkable vault, whose sculpted crowning of the chevet ranks among the great achievements of the genre in France. One therefore enters through a small Romanesque nave of three bays, without a transept, to emerge into a choir far wider and more ornate than it. The Wars of Religion devastated the building in 1562 and 1567; the precentor François Monnier undertook to raise it again, and the chapter recovered its choir in 1606. In the 18th century, Jean-Baptiste Franque, from Avignon, threw a stone vault over the nave, from 1757 to 1759, and the choir received its high altar in polychrome marble marquetry. Six Gobelins tapestries, scenes from the New Testament, were hung there in 1858.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Vincent de Viviers ↗

Getting there : Place Saint-Jean, in the upper town of Viviers. Open every day from 9 am to 6 pm (7 pm in summer), free entry, self-guided or guided visit, according to the Ardèche tourist guide (ardeche-guide.com): to be checked before visiting.

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

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