Cocathédrale Saint-Michel de Sospel

Sospel

In 1378, at the beginning of the Great Western Schism, Sospel took the side of the Avignon pope. The diocese of Ventimiglia, on which it depended, split in two: Ventimiglia remained in the Roman obedience, and an Avignon bishopric was created for Sospel, whose church of Saint-Michel became the cathedral. Three bishops succeeded one another there, whom Rome regards as antibishops, before the town returned at the beginning of the 15th century, in 1411 or 1412 according to the sources, to the Roman obedience and the authority of Ventimiglia. Of the medieval church there remains the Romanesque bell tower in the Lombard style, whose high base goes back to the late 12th century and its pyramidal spire to the early 13th. All the rest was rebuilt from 1641 onwards, to plans by Jean-André Guiberto: a vast Baroque church, one of the largest in the Alpes-Maritimes, with a nave flanked by two side aisles, where false loggias shelter large paintings of saints. The facade, retouched in 1762, presents in two niches the town's protectors, Saint Hippolytus and Saint Absende; to the left of the choir, a cathedra recalls the episcopal episode. In the neighbouring chapel are two altarpieces: that of the Immaculate Virgin, dressed in a gown of gold brocade, the work of François Bréa, of the family of Niçois painters (c. 1550 according to the tourist office; Wikipedia dates a Bréa altarpiece kept here to 1520), and a 15th-century Provençal Pietà. In front of the church, place Saint-Michel, paved with black and white pebbles and lined by the chapels of the Penitents, forms one of the finest ensembles in the County of Nice.

Wikipédia — Cocathédrale Saint-Michel de Sospel ↗

Getting there : Place Saint-Michel, 06380 Sospel. Open every day from 8.30 am to 6 pm, free access, according to the Côte d'Azur France tourist office (to be checked); not wheelchair accessible according to the same source.

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

Ambient sound