Ajaccio Cathedral, Cathedral in Ajaccio, France.
Ajaccio Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, is a baroque church in the old town of Ajaccio, Corsica. Its floor plan follows a Latin cross layout, and its pale stone facade with pilasters faces a narrow street that leads toward the nearby harbor.
The present cathedral was built between 1577 and 1593, replacing the Cathedral of Saint-Croix, demolished in 1553 to clear space for the city's defences. The design is attributed to the Italian architect Giacomo della Porta, and the final stone was laid in 1593 by Bishop Giulio Giustiniani, appointed by Pope Sixtus V. It was listed as a monument historique on 30 October 1906.
The baptismal register of the cathedral holds the record of Napoleon Bonaparte's christening, which draws many visitors curious about his early life in Corsica. Inside, paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries line the walls, including one attributed to a young Delacroix.
The cathedral sits in the oldest part of Ajaccio and is easy to reach on foot from most central points in the city. Visiting outside of main service times gives you more space to look around the interior at your own pace.
The earlier cathedral stood about 2 km away, in the old quarter near the Saint-Jean site, where a paleochristian baptistery was found in 2005 on a former tobacco factory. The present building replaced the Cathedral of Saint-Croix, demolished in 1553 to clear space for the city's defences. The baptismal font on the right bears Giustiniani's coat of arms and the Latin inscription Heic baptisatus Magnus Imperator.
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