Marseille Cathedral
The Cathedral of Marseille ( Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille , usually Cathédrale de la Major ) is the episcopal church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Marseille in the French city of Marseille . The monumental neo-Romanesque - Byzantine church, built from 1852 onwards, stands on the western edge of the old town above the Quai de la Joliette . It was designed by Léon Vaudoyer and Henri-Jacques Espérandieu . When it was completed in 1896, it was given the title of minor basilica .
Vieille Major
One already was at the turn of the 4th to the 5th century cathedral - at the site of the present - north-facing geostete Episcopal church with a baptistery . The foundations of the plant were excavated during the construction of the Nouvelle Major . The church originally bore the patronage of St. Lazarus , but has only been mentioned as St. Mary's Church since the time of Charlemagne . It was destroyed in three Saracen incursions , the last in 923, and then restored. Nevertheless, it was so dilapidated at the time of Bishop Pons II that he started a completely new building in the year of his death in 1073.
This 11th century Romanesque cathedral was a three-aisled basilica on a rectangular floor plan, in which a main and two side apses were included. She had originally five nave - yokes . The two western ones with the main portal were demolished in the High Middle Ages to make way for a new city fortification, possibly because the sea surf had broken off part of the shore. The portal was moved to the south side of the nave. Several chapels and a sacristy were added. The choir was flanked by two square towers, of which the southern one, called tour de l'Évêché , has been preserved in the shape of the 19th century.
During the French Revolution , the Diocese of Marseille was abolished, the cathedral was degraded to a parish church and later temporarily closed. The bells were melted down, the sculptures destroyed, the historic furnishings sold. The building suffered severe damage, some of which was exacerbated by maintenance measures in the early 19th century. In 1823 the poorly restored Vieille Major became a bishop's church again. In 1852 Napoleon III visited Marseille. Initiated by Bishop Charles Joseph Eugène de Mazenod , he symbolically laid the foundation stone for the new building. In order to gain space for this space, two further western bays of the Romanesque church and part of the extensions were removed and the rest secured. A large terrace with arched substructures for the foundation was created on the sea side. Subsequently, the new cathedral was built and equipped over four decades, the costs of which far exceeded the original plans and the mosaic decoration was never completed.
Nouvelle Major
Exterior construction
Today Marie Cathedral of Marseille is a three-nave gallery basilica of 141 m in length with a 50 m wide cross-house and a Vierungs - dome of 60 m height. The transept arms and the elongated ambulatory choir also have domes. Above all, they create the overall Byzantine impression. The apse is surrounded by a chapel wreath. The Lady Chapel with the grave of Bishop Mazenod, who was canonized in 1995, is added to the apse apse; it also has a dome. The choir is flanked by the Sacred Heart and Lazarus Chapel. The west building - geographically in the south - is designed as a portal bar with a high central arch, two attached bell towers crowned with a domed hood and rich sculptural decoration. The defining design elements of the overall building are the strip-wise alternation of light and dark stone as well as the combination of round arches with triangular gable roofs.
Furnishing
The interior also gets its effect from the Byzantine domes and arches and the change in color of the stone layers. Galleries are drawn into the three main arches of the nave, supported by massive pillars, each supported by two slender columns. The choir and crossing area are equipped with figural and ornamental mosaics. The rest of the architectural jewelry is rather sparse; he fell short of plans. The main line of sight is the large neo-Romanesque altar ciborium with the original high altar. In front of it is the post-conciliar altar island in the choir arch . The effectively placed sculptures in the main room and in the chapels are high quality works from the late 19th century.
organ
The organ was built in 1931 by the organ builders Michel-Merklin and Kuhn, and was last extensively revised in 2001 by the organ builder Lestrez. The instrument has 61 stops on three manuals and a pedal . The actions are electric.
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Couple:
- Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Sub-octave coupling: I / I, II / I, II / II, III / I, III / II, III / III
- Super octave coupling: I / I, II / I, II / II, III / I, III / II, III / III, I / P, II / P, III / P
Web links
- History and description (cathedrale.marseille.free.fr, French)
- History and description (marseille.tv, French)
- Marseille Cathedral. In: Structurae
Individual evidence
- ↑ this paragraph after the thorough description of La première cathédrale de la Major
- ↑ this paragraph after La reconstruction de la Major
- ↑ La révolution française et la major
- ^ La construction de la nouvelle major
- ↑ marseilleforum.com
- ↑ Information on the organ under the heading Marseille
Coordinates: 43 ° 17 ′ 59.7 " N , 5 ° 21 ′ 53.5" E