Located in the heart of Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Saint-Pierre Cathedral is a religious building listed as a Historical Monument since the early twentieth century. Seat of the archdiocese of Rennes, Dol and Saint-Malo, it takes place in the heart of the historic center, offering a mix of architectures due to the length of its construction.
The foundations of the current building are thrown in the first half of the 16th century after two successive sites of the 6th and 12th centuries. Rebuilt in the nineteenth century, it also experienced restoration programs in the years 2000 and 2010. One can admire outdoors two classic towers of granite nearly fifty meters high, with four levels. The facade also reveals five tufa blazons representing the great families of the city, and a pediment is in the arms of Louis XIV.
Inside, one is seduced by the wealth of the building with its high altar Romanesque, impressive organ, paintings, or vaults. The Saint-Pierre cathedral also hosts a Flemish altarpiece of the 16th century listed as a Historical Monument and revealing eighty carved characters.
The semicircular vault is decorated with works by Auguste Louis Jobbé-Duval, and it is also possible to discover the arms of Brittany and the suffragan dioceses of the archbishopric of Rennes. In the apse of the apse, difficult to miss the dation by Christ of the keys of Paradise to St. Peter, a painting dating from the late nineteenth century and attributed to Alphonse Le Hénaff.
In December 2018, the building was decorated with four clay statues three meters high made in Italy. They represent the symbolic tetramorphs of the four evangelists associated with scenes straight from the Gospels.
