Description of the attraction
The Cathedral of Saint Mauritius (Saint-Maurice) counts its history from 1023, when a new church was built on the site of the burnt church by order of two bishops at once - Norman de Dua and Guillaume de Beaumont.
Today, Saint Maurice Cathedral is one of the main attractions of Angers, a National Historic Landmark, and the center of the Diocese of Angers. In the Middle Ages, the Cathedral of St. Mauritius even claimed to keep within its walls one of the most significant Christian shrines - the head of John the Baptist, but ceded it to the Cathedral in Amiens.
Currently, Saint-Maurice Cathedral is recognized as an outstanding architectural structure, in the appearance of which you can see features inherent in different styles - Romanesque, Gothic, in particular, its rare variety, known as "Angevin Gothic", which originated in Angers and is common in western France in the XII-XIII centuries. The cathedral is built in the shape of a cross. Its façade is protected on both sides by two towers, which in the 16th century were decorated with sculptures of knights who accompanied St. Mauritius. During his lifetime, Mauritius was a Roman legionnaire, but he and his companions in the Middle Ages were sometimes depicted in knightly vestments. These sculptural elements have already been executed in the Renaissance style by the architect Jean Delespin.
The cathedral is also decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from the life of St. Mauritius, a 13th century stained glass window, recognized as a masterpiece of glass craft, other stained glass paintings and an altar created in the middle of the 18th century in the Rococo style. In the 19th century, the restoration of the cathedral was carried out. Previously, the cathedral contained tapestries by Nicolas Bataille, who lived in the 14th century and was recognized as the best master of Paris at that time. Now these tapestries are on display at the Angersky Castle. The cathedral is located next to the castle, in the historic center of the city.
