Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth d'Orange

Orange

Orange has had its bishops since the early Middle Ages, and a first church was consecrated here in 528. The present building came into being at the beginning of the 12th century, launched by Bishop Aimar Bérenger between 1107 and 1127; it was consecrated to Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth on 26 October 1208, in the presence of Guillaume des Baux, Prince of Orange. The cathedral then also served as the hall for the general assemblies of the principality. Its south portal, in Provençal Romanesque, borrows from the town's Antiquity its fluted columns, its acanthus-leaf capitals and its friezes of rosettes. Drama came with the Wars of Religion, in 1561 or 1562 according to the sources. The Calvinists first tried to seize the church, and the canons walled up its doors; then the Huguenots got in, burnt altarpieces, statues, altars and paintings, and plundered the treasury and the organ. It took the return of the Catholics, in 1584: Prince Philip William of Orange had the church restored at his own expense, and it was consecrated again on 7 September 1608. A new organ arrived in 1637; at the end of the 18th century the last Bishop of Orange, Mgr du Tillet, restored the building once more and enriched its furnishings. The Revolution swept it away: in 1792 the choir became a hayloft and the nave a temple of Reason, then of the Supreme Being. Catholic worship returned in 1795, but the diocese disappeared with the Concordat of 1801, and the former cathedral has since been no more than a parish church.

Wikipédia — Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth d'Orange ↗

Getting there : Rue Notre-Dame, in the old town of Orange. Free entry (tourist office); times to be checked. The nave and four chapels were restored from May 2022 to early 2024.

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

Ambient sound