Toulon Cathedral - Toulon, France
Posted by: denben
N 43° 07.284 E 005° 56.041
31T E 738682 N 4778475
Toulon Cathedral, also known as Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Seds de Toulon or Sainte-Marie-Majeure, is a Roman Catholic cathedral and a national monument of France located in Toulon, in the Var department of France.
Waymark Code: WMTGM9
Location: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Date Posted: 11/22/2016
Views: 8
The first cathedral at Toulon existed in the 5th century, but no trace of it remains. The present building was begun in 1096 and finished in the 18th century.
In the winter of 1543–1544 the cathedral, the largest building in the city, was temporarily transformed into a mosque for the 30,000 crew members of the ships of the Ottoman-Barbary admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. The residents of Toulon were temporarily expelled from the city to make room for the Turkish sailors. At the end of the winter, King Francis paid a large bribe to the Turkish admiral to persuade him and his fleet to leave.
The Classical façade was created in 1696–1701, in the reign of Louis XIV. Angels on the tympanum of the massive porch, supported on Corinthian columns, hold the arms of Toulon. The façade was badly damaged in the French Revolution, but was restored to its original appearance in 1816.
The most notable work of art in the cathedral is the eighteenth century Baroque retable made to hold the Holy Sacrament, located in the Corpus Domini Chapel.
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