The Primatial Cathedral Of Saint Andrew Of Bordeaux, France. Cathédrale-Primatiale Saint-André de Bordeaux, France.

English: Bordeaux Cathedral.

Français: Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux.

Photo: 5 June 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: Orikrin1998

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

Bordeaux Cathedral, officially known as the Primatial Cathedral of Saint Andrew of Bordeaux (French: Cathédrale-Primatiale Saint-André de Bordeaux), is a Roman Catholic Church Dedicated to Saint Andrew and located in Bordeaux, France. It is the Seat of The Archbishop of Bordeaux.

In 1998, UNESCO designated the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France as a World Heritage site, including the three main Churches of Bordeaux: The Basilica of Saint Severinus; The Basilica of Saint Michael; and the Cathedral of Saint Andrew.

A Church of Saint-André was first mentioned in Bordeaux in documents dating from 814 A.D., in the Carolingian period.

Bordeaux Cathedral.
Photo: 10 September 2018.
Source: Own work.
Author: Chabe01

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Church was probably part of group of Churches, including the Basilica of Saint Severinus of Bordeaux and Notre-Dame-de-la-Place, located in the old “Castrum”, or Roman fortified Town. It appears more officially in 1096 in a document from the Chancellery of Duke William IX of Aquitaine. In that year it was formally Consecrated by Pope Urban II.[1]

In the 11th- and 12th-Centuries, the Romanesque Church was engaged in long competition with its neighbouring Church, Saint Severinus of Bordeaux, to attract Pilgrims taking part in the Pilgrimage to Saint-Jacques de Compostelle.

Saint Severinus had what Bordeaux Cathedral did not, the remains of the companions of Saint Jacques (Saint James), as well as the “Olifant”, or Hunting Horn, of Roland, a Relic placed there by Charlemagne.

Bordeaux Cathedral.

English: Tympanum and Voussoirs.

The Royal Portal (1200–1250).

Français: Les voussures contiennent des anges , les deux registres horizontaux représentent le jugement dernier après la résurrection générale des morts.

Photo: 16 April 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Argentinensis

(Wikimedia Commons)

However, Saint André gradually gained influence and became the leading Church of Aquitaine. Until this time, it was under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Bourges Cathedral, but, under Pope Clement IV, Saint-André began reporting directly to Rome. It also took jurisdiction over Churches in Agen, Périgueux, Angoulême and Saintes.[1]

In 1137, the 13-year-old Eleanor of Aquitaine married the future Louis VII of France, in the Cathedral. A few months later, the King’s father died, and Eleanor became Queen of France. She later divorced and, in 1152, she married Henry II, and became Queen of England, and mother of King Richard the Lionheart and King John of England.

The Romanesque Church began construction before 1170, atop masonry from the earlier Carolingian Church. Its Nave seems to have had three rectangular Traverses, and an asymmetric Transept, with a plan of adding several Cupolas, similar to the Church of Saint Maurice in Angers.

Bordeaux Cathedral.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

At the beginning of the 13th-Century, it was decided to continue building the Cathedral following the new Gothic Style that had appeared at the end of the 12th-Century in the Ile-de-France. The old Sanctuary was demolished. Of the Romanesque Church, only a wall in the Nave remains.[1]

The transformation from Romanesque to French Gothic architecture took place during a long period when Aquitaine and Bordeaux were under the control of the English.[2]

It was assisted by the support of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Goth, who, from 1305 until 1314, reigned over the Catholic Church as Pope Clement IV, and directed numerous donations and concessions to the new Cathedral.[1]

English: Bordeaux Cathedral.

The Chevet with its radiating Chapels.

Français: La cathédrale St-André de Bordeaux, France.

Photo: 31 July 2016.

Source: Own work.

Author: Albert Bergonzo

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Choir of the new Cathedral was still under construction in 1320, when Bertrand Deschamps became the Master Builder. Construction of the Nave was greatly delayed by the outbreak of The Hundred Years’ War in 1337 between England and the Valois Kings of France.

The Plan of the Nave was reduced in scale from three vessels to a single vessel. Work continued principally on the decor. The construction of the Bell Tower, separate from the main building, began in 1440, but was not finished until 1500. Following an earthquake in 1427 that caused the collapse of parts of the City ramparts, Flying Buttresses were added to the outside of the Nave under Master Builder Imbert Boachon.[3]

In the 16th-Century, Renaissance decorative elements were added to the Gothic structure, including an ornamental Jubé, or Rood Screen, between the Choir and the Nave. It was taken down in 1806, but elements of it can now be seen on the Tribune of the Organ.

English: Stained-Glass Window, Bordeaux Cathedral.

The Axis Chapel. “Alpha and Omega”.

Deutsch: Kathedrale Saint-André in Bordeaux (Region Aquitanien, Frankreich), Fünfpassfenster, Darstellung: Gottvater, Alpha und Omega

Photo: 14 January 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: GFreihalter

(Wikimedia Commons)

The 16th-Century saw the reconstruction of the Spires, but few changes in the Interior. Between 1772 and 1784, under Cardinal de Rohan, the Archbishop proposed giving the Archbishop’s Palace a classical façade. A fire in 1787 caused serious damage to the roof of the Choir and Transept.[3]

The Royal Wedding of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, the daughter of King Philip II of Spain and Archduchess of Austria, took place in the Cathedral in 1615, cementing an alliance between Spain, Austria and France. It led in 1638 to the birth of Louis XIV of France.

During The French Revolution, the furniture and much of the decoration of the Cathedral was removed or vandalised. A portion of the Exterior sculpture, on the North Side, was hidden by the neighbouring buildings, and was spared.

English: Bordeaux Cathedral. The Nave with its decorative 16th-Century Lierne Vaults and the Pulpit on the Right.

Français: Bordeaux (France) : Cathédrale Saint-André - le grand orgue Danion-Gonzales.

Nederlands: Bordeaux (Frankrijk): 

kathedraal Saint-André - het Danion-Gonzales orgel.

Photo: 25 April 2016.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jean-Christophe BENOIST

(Wikimedia Commons)

In March 1793, the building was officially nationalised, and transformed into a storage barn for the feed of military horses. The Nave was used in 1797 for political meetings and patriotic assemblies. The Tower was threatened with destruction, and most of the furniture was gone when the building was finally returned to The Catholic Church in 1798.[4]

A long series of renovations and reconstructions began in 1803 and continued throughout the Century. The most ambitious reconstructions were carried out by Paul Abadie, best known as the architect of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur, in Paris, and a student of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The later constructions in front of the North Side of the Nave were removed in 1866, making that part of the Cathedral more visible.

In 1862, Abadie proposed to build new Sacristies to replace the old Cloister, much larger than the original Sacristies. Abadie’s plan was opposed by the Bordeaux archæologist Leo Drouyn, who felt that Abadie’s changes were based more on Abadie’s imagination of the Gothic Style than the historic reality of the original building.

English: Bordeaux Cathedral.

The Vaults of The Transept and Choir.

Français: Intérieur de la cathédrale métropolitaine 

Saint-André de Bordeaux (33). Voûtes de la dernière 

travée de nef, du transept et du chœur.

Photo: 22 October 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: GO69

(Wikimedia Commons)

Drouyn insisted on a more strict recreation of the Mediæval Bordeaux Style. In the end, however, the version of Abadie prevailed.[5]

Restoration and reconstruction continued throughout the 20th-Century. The West Vaults of the Nave were strengthened between 1907 and 1909. The West Spire of the North Transept in 1943, and the East Tower in 1958.

The roofs of the Ambulatory and Chapels were finished in 1990, followed by work on the North-West Chapel, the Sacristy, and Axis Chapel, and the façades of the Transept.

In 1997 – 1998, the North Portal walls were cleaned of Centuries of grime and soot with lasers.[5]