Saint-Pierre Cathedral
Encyclopedia
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
situated on the Place Saint Pierre in the center of Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
The construction of the present building took place between the early 13th and the 16th centuries. The spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
was destroyed in 1944, and has since been rebuilt.
The eastern apse of the church was built by Hector Sohier between 1518 and 1545 . The interior choir and the exterior apse display an architecture that embodies the transition from Gothic to Renaissance.
Until around the mid 19th century, the eastern end of the church faced onto a canal that was then covered and replaced by a road. Various artists and engravers recorded this relation of the church to the canal; for instance, the Scottish painter David Roberts
David Roberts
-Politics:* David Roberts , mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S. American Entrepreneur-Sports:* Dave Roberts , college football coach in the United States...
made several very similar views, one of which (dated to c.1830) is in Musée des Beaux-Arts in the Château de Caen
Château de Caen
The Château de Caen is a castle in the French town of Caen in the Calvados département . It has been officially classed as a Monument historique since 1886.-History:...
or Caen Castle
External links
- Histoire de l'Église Saint-Pierre (history of the church)
- Église Saint-Pierre photo
