Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Condom

Condom

Before being a cathedral, Saint-Pierre was the church of a Benedictine monastery, and it was this abbey church that Pope John XXII raised to the rank of cathedral in 1317, when he created new dioceses in the Midi. Demolished in 1368, the church was rebuilt by Bishop Bernard Alamand, who completed the work around 1400; but at the beginning of the 16th century the bell tower collapsed, and Bishop Jean Marre, the former prior of Eauze, started everything again in 1506–1507. His successor completed in 1531 a broad single vessel in southern Gothic, with Flamboyant windows and narrative keystones, which has kept a 14th-century Lady Chapel; a cloister with wide arcades rose shortly afterwards along its side, and its carved doors open both onto the church and onto the bishops' palace. Less than forty years later the cathedral nearly disappeared: in 1569 the bands of the Protestant and iconoclast leader Montgomery would surely have razed it had the inhabitants not clubbed together to save it, for 30,000 livres. A century passed, and in 1669 Bossuet was appointed Bishop of Condom; he did not reside there and soon resigned, unable to respect the obligation of residence that he himself imposed on his clergy. The Revolution suppressed the bishopric; sold as national property in 1796, the church was not bought back by the town until 1861, and the cloister, which had served as a store for stills and barrels of armagnac, the year before. Beneath the single nave, the organ built in 1605 still resounds.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Condom ↗

Getting there : Place Saint-Pierre, 32100 Condom, less than ten minutes' walk from the bus station. Open every day except during ceremonies and local events, free unguided visits (Guide Tourisme France; to be checked). The neighbouring cloister is a public place. Guided tours: Condom tourist office (05 62 28 00 80).

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

Ambient sound