Liège Cathedral

for the earlier cathedral of Liège, see St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liège

Liège Cathedral, otherwise St. Paul's Cathedral, Liège, in Liège, Belgium, is the seat of the Diocese of Liège.

St. Paul's Cathedral

The present cathedral

During the French Revolution the ancient cathedral of Liège, St. Lambert's Cathedral, was destroyed systematically, from 1794 onwards. After the revolutionary fervour had evaporated a new cathedral was needed. The ancient collegiate church of St. Paul's was thought suitable for the purpose and was elevated in rank, before 1812. This is the present Liège Cathedral.

History

Liège Cathedral interior

The present cathedral was formerly one among the seven collegiate churches of Liège – St. Peter's, Holy Cross, St. Paul's, St. John's, St. Denis's, St. Martin's and St. Bartholomew's – which until the Liège Revolution of 1789 together comprised the "secondary clergy" of the First Estate in the Prince-bishopric of Liège (the "primary clergy" being the canons of St. Lambert's cathedral).

It was founded in the 10th century, reconstructed between the 13th and 15th centuries, and restored in the mid-19th century.

It became the cathedral of Liège in the first years of the 19th century as the replacement for the destroyed St. Lambert's Cathedral.

In 1812, further to a request from Napoléon Bonaparte, the tower, with its ogival windows, was raised by a storey and the belltower installed.

Building

The apse, constructed in the 14th century in the Rayonnant style, is pentagonal. The choir, the transept, the main nave and the side naves date from the 13th century and have all the characteristics of Gothic architecture of that period. Later Gothic architecture occurs in the windows of the transept and of the nave, the side chapels and the tower. The upper gallery is modern, as is the storey with the ogival windows and the spire of the belltower. The lintel of the portal bears an inscription, formerly on the city seal: Sancta Legia Ecclesiae Romanae Filia ("Holy Liège, daughter of the Roman church").

Notes

Sources and external links

• Plan of the cathedral (in French)
• La place de la Cathédrale hier et aujourd'hui (in French)
• The cathedral treasury, largely transferred from the predecessor cathedral (in French)
• Architecture religieuse en occident - Fiche de la cathédrale Saint-Paul (in French)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liège Cathedral.

Coordinates: 50°38′25″N 5°34′18″E / 50.6403°N 5.5718°E / 50.6403; 5.5718