Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Vincent
ChurchHidden Treasure
Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Vincent, located in Saint-Malo (Département 35), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Saint-Malo, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6495, -2.0253
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090798
Built in the heart of Saint-Malo's inner city, Saint-Vincent cathedral blends Romanesque and Gothic styles over nine centuries of history, providing a striking testimony to the resurrection of a city razed to the ground by the 1944 bombings.
History
Standing in the heart of the corsair town, Saint-Vincent Cathedral is the stone soul of Saint-Malo. Its lantern tower, visible from the sea, has long served as a landmark for sailors returning to port - a symbol of a town whose destiny has always been intimately linked to the maritime horizon. Inside, the twelfth-century Romanesque nave meets the thirteenth-century Gothic choir and Renaissance chapels, creating a rare temporal stratification that makes the building a veritable open-air manual of medieval architecture. What makes Saint-Vincent unique is precisely this multiplicity of faces. Here, each era has left its mark without erasing the previous one: the robust Romanesque pillars of the nave stand side by side with the slender ribs of the Gothic choir, while the side chapels are decorated with Renaissance finesse. The cathedral embodies the continuity of a faith and a community through the centuries, from the Merovingian bishops to the privateers of Louis XIV. The visit is full of thrills, starting with the famous contemporary stained glass windows by Jean Le Moal, installed after the Second World War. These large abstract stained glass windows bathe the choir in strikingly modern coloured light, providing a real counterpoint to the ancient stonework. The contrast between the severity of the granite stone and the chromatic brilliance of the stained glass is one of the cathedral's most memorable aesthetic shocks. The cathedral's exterior is no exception: framed by the cobbled streets of the old town and just a stone's throw from the ramparts, it is part of an exceptional urban panorama. The adjacent square, which comes alive in fine weather, is an ideal vantage point from which to appreciate the neoclassical façade, rebuilt in the 18th century and crowned by its post-war spire, which points towards a sky that is often washed by the sea breezes.
Architecture
Saint-Vincent cathedral has a classical Latin cross floor plan, with a double side aisle to the south and a Rosary wing that considerably extend the floor space. The Romanesque nave, whose powerful cylindrical pillars bear witness to its 12th-century construction, contrasts with the vertical momentum of the Gothic choir rebuilt in the 13th century. The transept crossing retains part of its original Romanesque structure, a rare reminder of Jean de Châtillon's campaign. The west facade, rebuilt in 1772-1773, adopts a sober classical vocabulary, framing a monumental portal surmounted by a rose. The spire, which was destroyed in 1944 and rebuilt exactly as before, reaches a significant height, making it an essential visual landmark on the skyline of Saint Malo. Inside, the dominant materials are local granite - a hard, austere stone typical of Breton architecture - and the softer limestone used for the sculpted elements. The chapels in the choir and the south aisle still have fine Renaissance decoration, with pilasters, shells and finely chiselled floral friezes. The most spectacular feature is the cycle of contemporary stained glass windows by Jean Le Moal, whose vivid colours - ultramarine blues, blood reds and deep greens - transform the Atlantic light into a chromatic palette of poetic intensity. The door from the first quarter of the 17th century, formerly in the Hôtel-Dieu courtyard and now housed in the cathedral, is a masterpiece of Breton Baroque carpentry.
Related Figures
Jean de Châtillon, évêque de Saint-Malo (1146-1163), initiateur de la grande campagne de construction romaneJean Le Moal, peintre verrier du XXe siècle, auteur des vitraux contemporains du chœurJacques Cartier, explorateur malouin dont la cathédrale Saint-Vincent abrite le souvenir et la tradition funéraireDuguay-Trouin, corsaire malouin dont la mémoire est étroitement liée à la cité et à sa cathédraleRené-Auguste de Chateaubriand, père de l'écrivain, dont la famille était paroissienne de Saint-VincentFrançois-René de Chateaubriand, écrivain romantique né à Saint-Malo en 1768, baptisé dans cette cathédrale
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Vincent located?
Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Vincent is located in Saint-Malo, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Vincent built?
Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Vincent dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Vincent open to visitors?
Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Vincent is currently closed to visitors.
