Grenoble Cathedral, Catholic cathedral in central Grenoble, France.
Grenoble Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in central Grenoble, France. Its massive square bell tower-porch, visible from Place Notre-Dame, is built of brick on a light grey stone base from the Porte de France quarry. The cathedral has a double-church layout with the adjacent Saint Hugh's Church, and its nave has a north aisle wider than the south, which is doubled by an outer aisle added in the 15th century.
The building was first recorded in written documents around 902, and archaeological digs uncovered remains of a fourth-century baptistery beneath the current structure. These findings reveal that worship took place at this location for more than a thousand years.
The choir's right side holds a 14-metre flamboyant Gothic ciborium in Voreppe stone, commissioned in 1455 by Bishop Siboud Alleman; niches that once held statues were emptied by Calvinist troops in 1562. On the left stands the bishops' tomb built in 1407 by Aymon I de Chissé. The reliquary of the Holy Thorn, kept here in the 19th and 20th centuries, returned to the Saint-Louis chapel on 14 September 2025.
The cathedral stands in a dense block: from Place Notre-Dame only its square brick bell tower is visible, built on a base of light grey stone from the Porte de France quarry. It communicates directly with the adjoining Saint Hugh's Church, and homes are built against its walls. The archaeological crypt of the former bishop's palace, holding the fourth-century baptistery, is a separate museum visit.
The cathedral's bell tower is built of brick on a base of light grey stone from the Porte de France quarry, which was worked until the 19th century. Housing and another church are attached directly to the cathedral, and the two churches communicate with each other.
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