History

Origin

The cathedral Saint-Pierre of Montpellier was in the beginning the vault of the monastery Benedictine of Saint-Beno4it cheese, founded in 1364, by the pope Urbain V. This church was set up in cathedral in 1536, when the episcopal see is transferred from Maguelone in Montpellier. The historian montpelliéraine Louise Guiraud precisely describes the architecture of the building as well as the composition of the various vaults.

After 1536

Four turns rise with the angles of the nave, of which one will be cut down at the time of the movements iconoclasts of 1567. The building is provided with important defenses, which in fact a fortress. At the end of the 16th century one calls it besides the " strong Saint-Pierre". One of the frontages was crowned by overcome Mâchicoulis crenels, derrières which was to run a covered way in the thickness of the wall. The entry is preceded by a massive porch, composed of two cylindrical pillars and a vault connecting the pillars to the frontage of the church.

They are practically the only elements of the medieval architecture of the cathedral which one can still observe today. The church was made up of a single vessel, of five side spans delimiting the Chapelle S fourteen. They are dedicated to Germain saint, Notre Dame, Saint Victor, Sainte Cecile, Sainte Ursule and the eleven thousand virgins, holy Martin, holy Catherine, with the Holy Cross, holy Pierre, holy Marie Madeleine, holy Blaise, holy Lazare and holy Michel. The ornamentation of the church was very rich. The major furnace bridge was surrounded by a retable of vermeil. At the ground floor, the small sacristy was common with the church. There was inside the cupboards with several locks, of which one or one had as a practice to preserve relics (money arm of Benoît saint, Germain saint and Blaise saint) as well as books and linen in trunks. This sacristy was known as minor in opposition to the major sacristy which contained the treasure (reliquaries, sacred vessels, invaluable ornaments)

Wars of religion

During the wars of religion, the cathedral was the target of the Protestant attacks. October 20th 1561, after a seat during the night, crowd penetrates by a breach in the cathedral where some catholic dignitaries accompanied by a troop of soldiers had taken refuge. The extent of the massacre varies between 8 and 50 dead according to the chroniclers. Theodore de Bèze in the ecclesiastical History , for example on the spot counts deaths and those which die a few days later of their wounds. Jacques de Montaigne in the Histoire of Europe advances the number of 17 dead, which appears more probable. At all events, the murder preceded plundering and the ruin. In 6 or 7 hours the church was completely stripped. However, the consuls all of the city (Protesting S) succeeded in preserving the treasure by establishing an inventory. The plundering of the cathedral was followed plundering of the convents and monasteries of the city. In 1562, the cathedral loses its bell S and its iron grids which are molten to make ammunition vis-a-vis the seat of the city by the catholics.

In 1567, the cathedral undergoes the attacks of the Protestants who this time will attack the building. A tower crumbles under the blows of the calvinists involving with it the whole of the building. The Chanoine S of the cathedral took refuge with Villeneuve-the-Maguelone and in Frontignan or they remained until the end of the head office of Louis XIII in 1622.

The king made at once rebuild the cathedral. The Vault, the pavement of the nave and the frontage are remade. After refitbeing refitted according to a project of Jean-Antoine Giral at the 18th century, Saint-Pierre is victim of the will to transform it into a more ambitious building.

Enlargings of the 19th century

The work directed by Revoil of 1855 with 1875 leads to a rebuilding of the turn-bell-tower and the addition of radiating chapels. Auguste Baussan remakes the carved decoration of the tower and the tympanum in the taste of the 13th century; the canopies of the transept and the chorus, carried out by Edouard Didron and Paul Nicod, are posed between 1870 and 1872. In the right-hand man, a table of Sebastien Bourdon represents the fall of Simon the Magician (1657), episode apocryphal book of the life of Pierre saint.

In 1795, the episcopal see, (the old monastery Saint-Beno4it cheese), becomes the seat of the Medical school.

The Saint-Pierre cathedral is set up in metropolitan archdiocese on December 8th 2002 per decree of the Congregation for the bishops. The ecclesiastical Province of Montpellier includes/understands now the suffragan dioceses of Mende and Perpignan-Elne (before suffragan of Albi), of Nimes (before suffragan of Avignon) and of Carcassonne (before suffragan of Toulouse).

Large organ

In 1775, the bishop of Montpellier, monseigneur de Malide, ordered to cut down the old chorus built at the 14th century by Urbain V, became too exiguous. The police chiefs called upon the greatest factor of Orgue of the time: Jean-François the Spine. For installing the instrument, it was necessary to remake the platform to support the building and to make that trepidations do not désaccordent the organ. Since its creation in 1776, the organ was regularly maintained the supplies to the new blowers while passing by the addition new blowers or pipes. In 1923, it was equipped with an electric blower. In 1943, the repair of a roof was disastrous for the organ; indeed, the Dust and the rubbles fell on the instrument and stopped the pipes and paralyzed the registers and the keyboard S. a restoration was undertaken and one benefitted from it to add news sonorities.

At the time of the millenium of Montpellier, in 1985, the lighting of the cathedral was entirely remade by the regional Conservation of the Historic buildings, with the assistance of the town of Montpellier. Projectors thus left the organ its half light.

A little later, a new restoration seen the day because the pipes of the central turret of which the feet of subsided under the weight was repaired. The intertwined musical instruments and the consoles were gilded with the sheet. 16&thinsp was needed; 000 sheets of Gold to 22 carats to furnish the organ.

Internal bonds

External bonds

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