Nantes – The Cathedral

The building of the cathedral of Nantes, named the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes, started in the 15th century, and like most cathedrals, work lasted for hundreds of years. In this case, the cathedral was officially complete 457 years after it was started.

However, this is the 3rd cathedral to be built on this spot. The cathedral was built on grounds that were religious way before it became a cathedral. First it were sacred grounds for a druidic temple dedicated to the Janus god.

Then, in the 3rd century, the first bishop of Nantes erected a chapel to honor a nail which came from the cross of Saint-Peter. He dedicated the chapel to Saint-Peter and Saint-Paul.

Then, two cathedrals were built here (one in the 6th century, the second in the 11th century). The 3rd, and last, cathedral was built on the ruins of the former buildings.

Outside

You can see that the cathedral was built very close to the former city walls and houses (or more likely, the houses encroached the cathedral). Even one of the city gates was built almost against the cathedral over time.

The height of the cathedral is 63 meters, compared to the Paris Notre-Dame which has 69 meters.

Inside

The inside is not elaborate as the above mentioned Notre-Dame, and certainly not as grandiose as Spanish or Italian cathedrals, but it’s still worth the visit.

The ceilings are enormous and wherever you turn, there are statues. Nothing unusual but more than in most cathedrals.

There are several smaller chapels alongside the walls, too many to show. Here are a few of them:

Tombs

There are several tombs inside the cathedral:

The tomb was commissioned by Anne of Brittany, the Queen of France and daughter of Francis II and Margaret (who was Francis’s second wife).

A very elaborate monument to be found inside the cathedral is this one:

De Lamoriciere had a colorful military past, rising fast through the ranks to become general, gouvernor, head of the papal army and even war minister for France. He also opposed Louis Napoleon III which saw him exiled. Click here to read more about De Lamoriciere (source Wiki).

Stained Glass

The cathedral has a lot of stained glass windows, but most of them are recent (1978). In the 70’s they rebuilt about 500m2 of windows, so don’t expect depictions of biblical scenes, nowadays it simple and not very colorful.

As you can see, not much design, just mono-colors. Not what you’d expect in such an old cathedral.

Organ

There are two organs in the church, the most imposing one is the “big organ”.

Originally in the 15th century there was an organ, but this one was started in the year 1619. During the French revolution, the organ suffered but was not dismantled and sold. WWII did see it suffer, but after a lot of repairs, it’s back in business.

Conclusion

The Nantes cathedral is a nice church, not grandiose in the Italian/Spanish way, nor like the Paris based Notre-Dame, but it’s close enough to make it a nice visit.

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