We visited the stunning cathedral in the centre of the Bayeux in Normandy, France, while there on holiday back in August. Bayeux is well known for being the home of the Bayeux Tapestry which our daughter wanted to see (and we did), but you cant stop in Bayeux and not also see the cathedral !
Its a huge Norman cathedral with some pretty impressive gothic architecture, and dates back to the 11th century having links with William the Conqueror !
It is a magnificent building inside and out, and I particularly like its gargoyle rain spouts - which are pretty scary !!!
It was quite a lovely day when we visited back in August, and as such we were getting treated to some nice blue skies for a backdrop. They had these lovely sculptures outside the cathedral on the grass while we were there, and I thought they looked great (new against a backdrop of old).
The beauty continues inside, with these fantastic vaulted ceilings, flanked by these columns and arches down each side.
The sunshine outside was really making some of the stained glass really stand out.
And that in turn was casting some nice colours from the glass inside the church.
I really do love to see the coloured light from the windows !
There was also a reliquary which is a fairly common thing to see in churches in France, housing a relic (bone fragment), this time from the Blessed Catherine of Saint-Augustin.
I really loved the carving above - the workmanship in that is just awesome, and I really liked the colours/painting of it too.
The ministers pulpit (above) was rather grand too - quite a work of art in itself.
We really were catching coloured light all around the place from the windows which was lovely.
And it was also possible to visit the crypt underneath the cathedral, with these lovely paintings above the coloumns.
We also found a statue of Joan of Arc. To be fair, we found statues of Joan of Arc in all the churches we visited in this part of France, but each was still pretty impressive to see ! This alter also contained the symbol of the holy roman empire (you can see it there at the bottom in the centre). I always like to find these whenever we are visiting churches around the world. The Romans certainly did leave their mark - and when you see these everywhere, it makes me wonder if they ever did really go away !
There really was a ton to see inside - what a stunning place, although to be fair, they've had close to 1000 years to decorate the place !!!!
The magnificent bell towers out front were also quite impressive.
I just loved seeing the architecture - it truly is a work of art.
And look at the lovely carvings on the main door into the catehdral !
It really was a stunner of a building to visit - what an incredible place, and I think my third time visiting it, if my memory serves me well (with the first trip around 1998). And I'd happily go back tomorrow.