The Saint-Géry Church in Cambrai, in the North, was built between 1648 and 1745.
Experts believe that it is a perfect synthesis between Baroque art in the Netherlands and the classical style of the French.
The current church is, however, the heir to a long history. The original building dated from the Middle Ages and had been erected on a site already occupied during Gallo-Roman Antiquity.
Attached to an abbey, the church is first in the Romanesque style, then each period (Gothic, Renaissance, etc.) leaves its mark as changes are made.
Rebuilt in the 17th century, dedicated to the city's first bishop, the church was saved during the Revolution by being transformed for some time into a warehouse keeping all the goods confiscated from the clergy!
Since then, it has been famous for the exceptional quality of the works housed there. This is the case of a rood screen (tribune forming a fence separating the liturgical choir from the nave) in polychrome marble sculpted by Jaspar Marsy and a painting by Rubens, "The Entombment", dating from 1616, which the grandmaster brought himself to Cambrai. He also came to collect payment for the order made by the chapter. On this occasion, according to some historians, Rubens would have noticed that the canvas had been touched up by excess of prudishness (Christ had been represented naked). The painter would then have struck the painting with a dagger…
There is still a canopy in blue stone and organs rebuilt in 1978.
Open to free visits every day except Sunday (except in July and August where volunteers guide the public). Information on +33 3 27 81 87 11.
