Lyon Cathedral

Lyon Cathedral Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon
Lyon Cathedral.
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic Church
Province	Archdiocese of Lyon
Region	Rhône-Alpes
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Cathedral
Status	Active
Location
Location	Lyon, France
Geographic coordinates	45°45′38″N 4°49′39″E
Architecture
Type	Church
Style	Gothic
Groundbreaking	1180
Completed	1480

Video of the cathedral's astronomical clock

Lyon Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon) is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, in Lyon, France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Lyon.

History

The cathedral was founded by Saint Pothinus and Saint Irenaeus, the first two bishops of Lyon. The cathedral is also known as a "Primatiale" because in 1079 the Pope granted to the archbishop of Lyon the title of Primate of All the Gauls with the legal supremacy over the principal archbishops of the kingdom. It is located in the heart of the old town (Vieux Lyon), less than five minutes away from the banks of the Saône river, with a large plaza in front of it and a metro stop nearby providing easy access to and from the city center.

Description

Begun in the twelfth century on the ruins of a 6th-century church, it was completed in 1476. The building is 80 meters long (internally), 20 meters wide at the choir, and 32.5 meters high in the nave. The cathedral organ was built by Daublaine and Callinet and was installed in 1841 at the end of the apse and had 15 stops. It was rebuilt in 1875 by Merklin-Schütze and given 30 stops, three keyboards of 54 notes and pedals for 27.

Noteworthy are the two crosses to right and left of the altar, preserved since the council of 1274 as a symbol of the union of the churches, and the Bourbon chapel, built by the Cardinal de Bourbon and his brother Pierre de Bourbon, son-in-law of Louis XI, a masterpiece of 15th century sculpture.

The cathedral also has the Lyon Astronomical Clock from the 14th century.

Until the construction of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, it was the pre-eminent church in Lyon.

Organists in residence

• Edouard Commette - most of the first half of the 20th century.

Burials

• Cardinal Foulon
• Cardinal Gerlier

Gallery

• 
  The front elevation of the Cathedral
• 
  Interior of the Cathedral
• 
  front elevation of the Cathedral by night during Festival of Lights (Lyon)
• 
  Exterior, overlooked by the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Sources

• Association Cathédrale de Lyon Primatiale Saint John n.d.

See also

• Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
• Basilica of Saint-Martin d'Ainay
• Église Saint-Paul