Saint-Dié Cathedral, Roman Catholic cathedral in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France.
Saint-Dié Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, built of local red sandstone. It has a Romanesque nave from the 12th century and a Gothic choir, with an 18th-century red stone portal. A 13th-century cloister with a stone pulpit connects it to the Petite-Église, or Notre-Dame de Galilée, a Romanesque church.
The site traces back to a monastery founded by Saint Deodatus in the 7th century, which was rebuilt several times over the following centuries. A papal declaration in 1777 gave it cathedral status.
The cathedral holds regular religious services, and the stained glass windows made by contemporary artists in the 1980s are easy to spot inside. Their modern style stands in clear contrast to the Romanesque stone walls around them.
The complex is open to visitors and covers several connected areas, so it is worth setting aside enough time to see them all. The cloister and the connected church are both accessible and worth including in the visit.
The Romanesque capitals of the nave, carved in the second half of the 12th century, survived the dynamiting of the church by German forces in late November 1944. Their carvings include an "orant" bee above the first pillar and a scarab at the level of the frieze on the seventh, alongside crowns, vines and palmettes.
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