Cambrai Cathedral

The Cathedral of Cambrai ( Cathédrale Notre- Dame de Grâce de Cambrai ) is the bishop's church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai in Cambrai, northern France. The former Benedictine abbey church built 1695-1703 in the style of the classical Baroque style, was after the destruction of the old cathedral of Cambrai in 1804, the seat of the diocese. In 1896 she was awarded the rank of a minor basilica.

History and Architecture

Benedictine Abbey of the Holy grave

Foundation

At the site of the present Episcopal Church, at that time outside the fortified town, founded Bishop Leutbert 1064 the Benedictine monastery to the Holy grave ( Saint Sepulchre ). The abbey church he designed with maximum topographical and architectural similarity as a realization of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which he had not achieved his failed pilgrimage 1054. He endowed his foundation with numerous relics and rich land, which his successors still increased.

The pre-Romanesque church was enlarged several times in the following centuries and modernized style.

Baroque building of the abbey church

In the Peace of Nijmegen 1678/79 the Bishopric of Cambrai fell to the Kingdom of France. When François Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai in 1695, was one of his first measures was the complete renovation of the abbey church in the style of Louis Quatorze -. She was completed in 1703 and is essentially the current construction: a three-aisled basilica on cross floor plan with an elongated choir and representative western facade.

Revolution

In the turmoil of the French Revolution, 22 monastery churches, 10 parish churches and the Gothic cathedral, destroyed and removed " wonders of the Netherlands" ( la merveille des Pays -Bas ) in Cambrai. Only the two abbey churches of Saint Sepulchre and Saint -Aubert (now the parish church of Saint- Gery ) escaped this fate. 1792 dilapidated bell tower of Saint Sepulchre was demolished. On the pulpit of the Church Joseph Le Bon proclaimed 1794 the cult of reason.

Cathedral Notre- Dame de Grâce

With the Concordat of 1801, the reorganization of the Catholic Church in France began. The monasteries and abbeys with their lands were secularized. In Cambrai, the new Bishop Louis Belmas raised the Church of the Holy repealed grave Abbey of the new cathedral. From the defunct Old Cathedral, among other things altverehrte icon Notre -Dame de Grâce were - transfer as well as the remains of bishops and archbishops buried there here - since named after the church. Among the tombs for the newly created is of 1823-26 for the writer, Bishop and builder of the church Fénelon the most important.

1859, the cathedral was affected by a major fire. It was especially renowned Eugène Viollet -le- Duc, who reached that it was not replaced by a new historicist, but restored in the Baroque style, which was regarded as exemplary for their era. The façade was thereby enriched by various saints statues and ornaments; the chapels were added in the choir; for the interiors created elaborate neo-baroque creations; but especially the new high bell tower was built with its characteristic crown and the golden statue of Mary on the top now. On May 12, 1894, the solemn consecration of the restored church took place.

Towards the end of the First World War, the cathedral was severely damaged by grenades strikes. In 1931 it was reopened.

Organ

The organ was built in 1897 by the organ workshop Pierre Schyven ( Ixelles ). The instrument had 38 registers on three manuals and pedal, and was later extended to 49 registers ( 3,670 pipes ) expanded. The organ case dates from the mid 18th century and was created by the artist Aimé Joseph Carlier. The tracker action are electric.