Cathédrale Saint-Siffrein de Carpentras

Carpentras

Siffrein, a monk of Lérins, became Bishop of Carpentras in 555, and tradition attributes to him the first cathedral, a single nave dedicated to Saint Anthony the Hermit. Three churches succeeded one another on the same spot. The Romanesque one, built around 1180 under Bishop Geoffroy de Garosse, has left remains to the north of the choir: its vault fell in 1399 and the whole building came down between September 1399 and March 1400. It was the Avignon pope Benedict XIII who ordered, on 5 May 1404, the building of a new one, in the southern Gothic style. The building work lasted more than a century, under several master builders, and the church was not consecrated until 1531. On its south side opens the Porte Notre-Dame, built between 1498 and 1508 by Blaise Lécuyer, in a Flamboyant Gothic bristling with pinnacles; it is called the ‘Porte Juive’, because newly converted Jews entered the nave through it. Above it, the ‘boule aux rats’ represents, according to some, the world gnawed by sin and heresies, according to others time gnawing at the world. The treasury keeps the relic that gave the town its arms, the Saint Mors. Tradition has it that Saint Helena had a bit forged from a nail of the Passion for the horse of her son Constantine; kept in Constantinople until the early 13th century, it appeared in Carpentras after the sack of the city by the crusaders in 1204, became the emblem of the bishops, then, in 1260, that of the town. Inside, the gilded statues of Jacques Bernus and paintings by Mignard and Parrocel complete the decoration.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Saint-Siffrein de Carpentras ↗

Getting there : Place Saint-Siffrein, 84200 Carpentras, in the centre of the old town. Free entry; generally open from 8 am to 12 noon and from 2 pm to 5.30 pm, depending on the presence of the warden (tourist office; to be checked). Visiting conditions for the treasury are to be checked.

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

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