DUE TO CONSTRUCTION WORKS, THE CATHEDRAL IS CURRENTLY CLOSED.
Built from 1090 in the Romanesque style, the cathedral is characterized by a Gothic elevation and a "neo-Gothic" façade. It is located in an old district of half-timbered houses. To discover: its Romanesque capitals, its Brussels tapestry from 1510, a 16th century stained glass window. A tactile model is available to the blind or visually impaired public.
A formula sums up the interior of the cathedral: a Gothic transplant on a Romanesque base. Because although the existence of a cathedral in Chalon-sur-Saône is already attested in the 5th century, the current building was built from the 12th century, when Romanesque art was at its peak. Three construction sites are attested in the Romanesque period: the choir chapels, the choir, the transept, the side aisles and the walls of the nave are built. Four construction phases can be identified in the Gothic period: the apse and the roof of the choir are rebuilt (construction of a cross vault in seven parts resting on the pillars of the Romanesque arcades on the ground floor), as well as the crossing of the transept; the chapter house is built, all around 1230; the nave is completed and covered with pointed arches (1310-1429). In the 15th and 16th centuries, chapels with Gothic cloisters are built in the side aisles, in response to the development of private worship. This is the period of the murals of the Glorification of the Virgin Mary (1450-1475) in the Lamoureux Chapel, the Flemish tapestry of the Eucharist (1510) and the grisaille and silver-yellow stained glass window of the Virgin of the Apocalypse (1520), all of which are listed as historical monuments.