St Vincent Cathedral, St Malo
Visited on the 28th of July 2022
We had seen the spire of the cathedral from all angles as we had walked around the old town walls of St Malo. We now approach it from the east and follow an alley up around the north side of the church.
We enter through a little side door on the west side of the north transept. It is lovely and cool inside, and it takes a minute or so for eyes to adjust to the dimmer light inside the building.
We head around the inside in a clockwise direction, heading around the choir and sacristy and getting glimpses of the magnificent windows behind to the east.
There are signs on either side of the sacristy on the steps up to it telling people not to enter that area. Something we observe, but others not so much, with staff having to lead one person out of the area.
Around the back of the sacristy are several shrines and statues.
From the south of the sacristy, we can see into the choir and the large organ.
The windows at the east end of the church are patterned, but simple and in muted pastel colours.
The south transept is arranged as a chapel.
Next to it is another larger chapel with gates to prevent entry. This chapel is gorgeous and has much more intricate stained-glass windows in it.
The glass to the west of the building is older, has the more traditional stories in them, and use much more vivid colours, and have some wonderful examples.
Above the west door is another set of organ pipes.
I turn and look down the nave, through the choir and sacristy and to the windows in the east end. The area in front of the choir is behind barriers and is set up with seats and music stands ready for concerts.
This angle is the only one from which I (or most people) can get a proper view of the quite frankly amazing rose window.
To the north is an alcove with three marble shrines in it.
Passing there we come to more wonderful stained-glass windows
And find ourselves back in the north transept, and we exit through the door we came in. Outside we head up to the west of the cathedral and a large square beyond gives us a great view of the whole church.
What is fascinating is the church looks as if it would have done centuries before. But a lot has been rebuilt as the spire had been damaged and collapsed on to part of the cathedral. The only sign (to me anyway) was the more modern and plain stained glass in the east end of the building.
History
The cathedral is dedicated to St Vincent of Saragossa and is a French national monument. It is built in a mix of Roman and Gothic Styles, and the current church was built between 1146 and 1163.
There had been an ancient church on the site as early as the seventh century. The tower was started when the building of the main church was started in the twelfth century, but it wasn’t completed until the fourteenth century. The south of the cathedral and the three chapels around the choir were added during the fifteenth century.
The north side of the cathedral was reconstructed, and the transept enlarged in the late sixteenth / early seventeenth centuries. The large south chapel was added in the eighteenth century, and the façade was reconstructed between 1772 and 1773.
An organ was built in 1893, but it was destroyed when the cathedral suffered damage during World War II and the steeple fell into the Sacred Heart Chapel.
The restoration of the church was completed in 1972 (and the celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary are currently ongoing).
A new organ was built in 1977 by Koenig and inaugurated in 1980. The bronze high altar was consecrated in 1991.
For other posts on travels this year have a look at my list.
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