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Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste d'Alès

Alès

Dimensions
Place Saint-Jean, in the old centre of Alès, not far from the quays of the Gardon, on the site of a Gallo-Roman temple and a Carolingian church; rib vaults of the nave 20 m high
Period
Carolingian church built on a Gallo-Roman temple; porch tower retaining elements of the 12th and 15th centuries; ruined by the Wars of Religion (1560s, 1621–1622) and during the siege of 1629; first rebuilding from 1633 to 1656; cathedral of the diocese of Alès, created on 16 May 1694 by a bull of Innocent XII; neoclassical building work begun in 1771 (architects Giral and Donnat); wrought-iron campanile of 1776; diocese suppressed in 1790, abolished by the Pope in 1801; listed historic monument (classé) by order of 9 May 1914; reopened on 7 March 2020 after restoration
What stands there
Made a cathedral in 1694 to bring the Protestant Cévennes back to Catholicism, it had only seven bishops

In 1629 Louis XIII laid siege to Alès, a stronghold of Protestant resistance in the Cévennes; the town capitulated after nine days, and the Peace of Alès, concluded on 27 June with the Duke of Rohan and proclaimed the next day, stripped the Reformed of their political privileges. Of the old church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, built on a Gallo-Roman temple and then a Carolingian church, there then remained only the bell tower and a few walls: the iconoclasm of the 1560s and the fighting of 1621–1622 had already ruined it. The canons rebuilt it from 1633 to 1656, in the spirit of southern Gothic. The collegiate church's destiny changed in 1694. To combat the Reformed religion after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Louis XIV obtained from Pope Innocent XII, by a bull of 16 May, the creation of a diocese detached from that of Nîmes; Saint-Jean-Baptiste became its cathedral, and its chapter brought together canons of Alès and those of the abbey of Aigues-Mortes. The first bishop, François Chevalier de Saulx, appointed as early as 1687, had been unable to take up his see because of tensions between Rome and France. In the 18th century the church was modernised: an altar in the Roman manner in 1742, then, from 1771, a sober neoclassical rebuilding designed by Giral and Donnat, beneath rib vaults rising to twenty metres; a wrought-iron campanile crowned the tower in 1776. The organ, built in 1727–1729 by Charles Boisselin, was rebuilt in 1782 by Jean-François L'Épine. The diocese did not survive the Revolution: only seven bishops succeeded one another there, and their coats of arms still adorn the vault of the nave.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste d'Alès ↗

Further reading

Getting there : Place Saint-Jean, 30100 Alès. Opening times differ between sources (weekday mornings according to Tourisme Gard; Monday to Friday, morning and afternoon, according to Objectif Sud): to be checked. Free entry except for guided tours (€5 in summer according to Objectif Sud, to be checked).

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-Jean-Baptiste d'Alès
Vpe · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Gard (15).