Grasse Cathedral, Romanesque cathedral in Grasse, France
Grasse Cathedral, now the Church of Notre-Dame-du-Puy, has a west facade with Lombard bands and a square bell tower holding eight bells that rises 34 m above the building. The nave, built from the 13th century, is 55 m long, 7 m wide and 19 m high, with twelve cylindrical pillars. The walls are of white limestone called pierre de La Turbie, 1.7 m thick and without buttresses.
A church dedicated to Notre-Dame du Puy is first mentioned in 1154. The bishop's seat moved from Antibes to Grasse in 1244, prompting construction of the cathedral in the 13th century. The diocese was suppressed in 1801 under the Concordat, and the building became a parish church.
The interior houses numerous religious artifacts and paintings, including Christ the Savior of the World between Saint Honorat and Saint John the Baptist.
The cathedral sits centrally in Grasse and is easily reached on foot from the town center. It remains an active place of worship and can be visited during standard opening hours.
The west wall still bears the mark of a cannonball fired during the 1589 siege of the town by Hubert de Garde de Vins, leader of the Catholic League. The north wall has a portal flanked by two enfeus, burial niches that were later walled shut.
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