Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur
Saint-Sauveur stands on Rue Gaston de Saporta, on the site of the ancient Roman forum and, legend says, on the foundations of a temple to Apollo. Centuries of rebuilding have left a mix of styles in one building, 70 metres long and 46 metres wide, with 20 metres up to the keystone.
Read the façade before you go in, because it shows three phases at once. First came the bare front of the Romanesque nave in the 12th century, then, a few years later, a wall of reused ancient blocks with rough-cut faces laid tight against each other. The only young element is the portal of the Gothic nave, from the 16th century. Around the church, further buildings grew over the centuries: the canons' residence from the end of the 12th century, the cloister buildings raised between the 11th and 13th centuries, and the bell tower, finished in 1425.
Going inside is free and worth it for everyone. The cloister is the extra for architecture lovers: you can only see it on a guided visit, and individual visitors give a voluntary donation.
The next leg is the longest: 900 metres, about 11 minutes, to the Quatre-Dauphins. On the way you pass the market on Place Richelme, the Hôtel de Caumont Art Center and the Quartier Mazarin.
- Hours
- Cathedral daily 08:40–18:30; cloister only with a guided tour every 30 minutes, daily 10:00–12:00 and 14:30–17:30 (no visits on Sunday morning)
- Price
- Free (cathedral); cloister guided tours for individual visitors by voluntary donation; group tours by booking 15–55 EUR
