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Cathédrale Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais de Lectoure

Lectoure

Dimensions
On the highest part of the Lectoure plateau, to the east of the town, where it formed part of the fortifications; place du Général-de-Gaulle; keep-like bell tower 45 metres high (‘nearly 50’ according to the tourist office), nave nearly 21 metres wide, under vaults of the same height according to Wikipedia (bays 25 metres high according to the Mérimée database)
Period
Ancient place of worship (taurobolic altars found in 1540); bishopric mentioned from 506; rebuilding decided by a council of Toulouse in 1118; rib vaults of Bishop Géraud de Monlezun at the end of the 13th century; facade, bell tower and nave largely demolished during the siege of 1473; nave, facade and bell tower rebuilt from 1487–1488 by Mathieu Reguaneau; choir rebuilt from 1540, work interrupted by the Wars of Religion and resumed in 1600; bishopric suppressed at the Revolution, territory attached to Auch by the bull Qui Christi Domini of 29 November 1801; title of Lectoure borne by the Archbishop of Auch since 29 June 1908; listed (classé) by order of 31 October 1912
What stands there
Its spire rose to eighty-eight metres; the keep-like bell tower by a master builder from Touraine still keeps 45 of them

The summit of the Lectoure plateau was a place of worship before the arrival of the Romans, who built temples there: when the choir was rebuilt, in 1540, taurobolic altars were found in the ground. The bishopric, mentioned from 506, made this highest point the heart of the town. But the cathedral is also a piece of the ramparts, and it paid dearly for it. In 1473, at the end of the tragic quarrels of Jean V d'Armagnac with King Louis XI, Lectoure was besieged: the facade, the bell tower and the nave were largely demolished. In 1487 Bishop Pierre d'Abzac called on a master builder from Touraine, Mathieu Reguaneau, who rebuilt the nave and the facade and signed his masterpiece: the keep-like bell tower begun in 1488, five square levels of decreasing width, continued by an octagonal storey and a very sharp spire reaching eighty-eight metres. The spire did not survive the end of the 18th century; the tower keeps forty-five metres. In 1540 Bishop Jean de Barton wanted a new choir and entrusted the work to Arnaud Cazanove, but the Wars of Religion intervened: from 1561 the Protestants set about methodically demolishing religious buildings, and work did not resume until 1600, after the Edict of Nantes. The result is a church nearly twenty-one metres wide, under vaults just as high according to some, twenty-five metres according to the Mérimée database, whose choir, surrounded by an ambulatory, opens onto nine chapels. In 1801 the Concordat attached the diocese to that of Auch; the former cathedral has since been the parish church.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais de Lectoure ↗

Further reading

Getting there : Place du Général-de-Gaulle, in the centre of Lectoure; the ‘Lectoure – Cours Gambetta’ coach stop (Auch–Agen line) is about five minutes' walk away. Opening times, free entry and any access to the bell tower to be checked with the town hall (05 62 68 70 22) or the tourist office.

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-Gervais-Saint-Protais de Lectoure
Rémih · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Gers (34).