Fort de France Cathedral
The Cathedral of Fort-de-France ( Cathédrale Saint-Louis de Fort-de-France ) was built in 1895 on the site of several previous buildings according to the plans of the architect Pierre-Henry Picq (1833–1911) in Fort-de-France , the chief lieu of the French overseas region Martinique , built and dedicated to Saint Louis . It has been an episcopal church since 1850 and the seat of the Archdiocese of Saint-Pierre et Fort-de-France of the Roman Catholic Church since 1967 . The church building is to be assigned to historicism . It was restored in 1982 and again in the 1990s and has been a listed building since 1990 .
history
A first, built in 1671 in Fort-de-France modest chapel was already three years after completion of a pillage of the Dutch victims. The second church, built on this site in 1703 and damaged by a tsunami in 1766, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1839. The French architect César Jolly designed the third church, completed in 1850. This was seriously affected by the major fire in Fort-de-France in 1890, and what was left of it was destroyed by a cyclone in 1891.
architecture
Today's cathedral, like the Bibliothèque Schoelcher, also built by Pierre-Henry Picq in Fort-de-France, is a light, fire- and earthquake-proof metal skeleton structure that was erected using prefabricated construction . The individual parts were prefabricated by the industrial company Moinsant-Laurent-Savey in France and shipped to Martinique.
The west facade is a tower facade with a three-storey, upwardly tapering portal tower supported on the sides by buttresses and two side portals.
The three-aisled interior shows arched arcades and a dome on an octagonal floor plan. It belongs to the neo-Byzantine style. The leaded stained glass windows show scenes from the life of Christ and St. Louis as well as local personalities. There are also local plants and traditional costumes from Martinique on display.
Furniture
The large organ case is worth mentioning.
Web links
- Diocèse de Saint-Pierre et Fort-de-France - website of the Archdiocese (French)
- Restauration et mise en valeur de la cathédrale Saint-Louis - Website of the city of Fort-de-France
- N'gola Raymonde: La cathédrale de Fort-de-France ( Memento of August 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) - Web presence Histoire & Patrimoine de la Martinique (French)
Coordinates: 14 ° 36 ′ 13 ″ N , 61 ° 4 ′ 12 ″ W.