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Cathedral of Saints Nazarius and Celsius

Cathedral of Saints Nazarius and Celsius

Beziers Cathedral, Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire-et-Saint-Celse de Béziers

France, Beziers

Cathedral of Saints Nazarius and Celsius

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Categories: Story Beziers, Streets, squares, viewpoints Beziers, architecture Beziers, religion Beziers

Rating 9.0

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Cathedral of Saints Nazarius and Celsius

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GPS: 43.3414, 3.20991

Cathedral of Saints Nazarius and Celsius

Beziers Cathedral, Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire-et-Saint-Celse de Béziers

France, Beziers

Former cathedral of the city of Beziers. It was built in the Gothic style in the western part of the old medieval city on the buttresses of the old ramparts of the city. Rising above the plain of the river Orb, the view allows you to see the plain of Languedoc and the surrounding villages to the massifs of the Black Mountain, the Karoo and the Pyrenees. This place is so suitable for buildings of this type that before this cathedral there was a Romanesque church and an ancient Roman temple.
The cathedral was included in the list of French historical monuments in 1840.
For the first time, the construction of the temple is mentioned in documents of the 8th century. The current building was erected in the 13th century on the site of a building that was destroyed in 1209 during the crusade against the Albigensians. The Cathedral of Saints Nazarius and Celsius was the seat of the bishop of the diocese of Béziers, which was abolished in 1801 and merged with the diocese of the city of Montpellier.
The cathedral has a square tower 48 meters high, crowned with a bell tower from the end of the 18th century.
The upper part of the 15th century is decorated with columns, the base of which is a human face. On the bell tower is a 4-ton bell "Mary", the second largest in the region after the bell of the cathedral of Montpellier.
The walls of the cathedral are decorated with numerous gargoyles and metal bars of the XIV century, protecting the stained-glass windows of the choir.
In projection, the cathedral forms a Greek cross.
In the details of the interior and exterior, many elements of previous buildings were used - Romanesque columns and capitals, the remains of a Romanesque cathedral. Most of the columns belong to the Gothic period. The transverse arches supporting the vault date back to the 14th century.
The supports of the galleries, located in the nave, near the choir, are friezes with triglyphs and metopes. These friezes are an imitation of the degenerate Gallo-Roman style dating back to the Romanesque period (12th century).
The choir contains old stained glass windows from the Gothic era.
It was extensively rebuilt in the 18th century in the Baroque style, with a red marble colonnade running along the apse wall and framing the statues of the four evangelists.
The walls are partially covered with old frescoes restored in 1917. These frescoes were severely damaged during the Wars of Religion, then covered with whitewash, which subsequently had to be removed. They date from the 14th and 15th centuries and adorn the walls of many chapels (notably the chapels of the Holy Spirit and the chapels of the Dead).

REVIEWS

All reviews (1)

Mademoisele

Traveled 1 year ago

Rating 9

The highlight of the city and great views

I advise you to start exploring the city from the Cathedral, and then from the observation deck, determine where to go. This is one of the Bezier emblems, visible from afar. The cathedral was built on the ruins of a Romanesque cathedral that burned down during the Crusade against the Cathars (1209). It is located on a hill next to the Orb River. From here you have a wonderful view of the river and the entire valley. It is possible to climb to the roof of the Cathedral on a spiral staircase (113 steps), but for some reason the employee did not let us in, although admission is free.→

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