Bazas Cathedral, Gothic cathedral in Bazas, France

Bazas Cathedral is a pale stone Gothic church whose west front has three levels: three pointed-arch portals from the mid-13th century, a flamboyant rose window completed before 1537, and a Neoclassical gable rebuilt in 1725 after a hurricane. A slender spire rises above a square tower on the left. Inside, a long nave without transept runs between clustered columns to a rounded apse with stained glass.

A Romanesque cathedral was rebuilt from 1070 by Bishop Raymond II and dedicated by Pope Urban II in 1095; its bell-tower base survives. The Gothic first stone was laid in 1233, and the west facade was completed in 1537. Huguenots sacked the building in 1561, and the nave was rebuilt between 1583 and 1635 under Bishop Arnaud de Pontac.

The dedication to Saint John the Baptist stems from a legend told by Gregory of Tours: a woman of Bazas brought back a flask of the saint's blood from Jerusalem and placed it in the cathedral. The tympanum of the central portal depicts his life from nativity to martyrdom, and the south portal shows the Coronation of the Virgin.

The cathedral stands at the east end of a wide open space called the parvis, which makes it easy to locate from the town centre. The west front faces this square, so the three portals and rose window are seen first. The interior is a single long nave without a transept, giving a straight view toward the apse.

The north belfry keeps the base of the Romanesque bell tower, the only remnant of the cathedral dedicated by Pope Urban II in 1095; the rest was rebuilt after the Huguenots burned the building in 1561. Look for the join between this older masonry and the Gothic stone.