The Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Troyes, France

These pictures of the cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Troyes, France, about 100 miles to the south south-east of Paris, were taken by a friend during a recent visit. If you are a regular reader of NLM, you know we generally seek to accentuate the positive, and that isn’t going to change. However, this photo set does also include pictures of the comically hideous modern fixtures which have defaced parts of the church’s interior, as a reminder of some of the reasons why the New Pentecost™ turned out a little different from the previous one. They are all grouped together in the lower part of the post under the label “The Ugly Stuff”, so if you don’t want to see them, that’s where you should stop scrolling down. You have been warned...

The current Gothic building is the fourth version of the cathedral, begun in the very last years of the 12th century after a huge fire that destroyed much of the town in 1188. Like many such projects, the construction lasted for centuries; the west front was not completed until 1554, and the north tower, named for St Peter, was only finished in 1634, while the south tower, as you can see, was never even begun.

The chevet has six fairly large chapels radiating out of it, and the buttresses are weighted down with extra spires; these are actually new constructions of the 19th century.

This plaque commemorates St Joan of Arc, who attended Mass here on July 10, 1429, during the period when she was accompanying the Dauphin Charles VII to his coronation at Rheims.

The central nave.

The south nave.

Nineteenth-century neo-classical statues of the church’s patrons, the apostles Peter and Paul.

The chapel of the baptistery.

The apse

The high altar.

A side chapel with some chalices and altar service sets displayed.

The chapel at the very back of the choir is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, a very common arrangement throughout the Middle Ages. A votive Mass of the Virgin would have been said here every day, and the corresponding Little Office sung by a designated group of the lesser canons.

The Ugly Stuff

A modern “altar” made of glass with an old altar-stone inside it. 

Ugly vessels for the sacred oils in an ugly lump of furniture in the baptismal chapel.

Troyes cathedral was very badly damaged during the Revolution, and much of the interior was stripped of its furnishings, so it is quite possible that this space, which is now the Sacrament chapel, was reduced to its current rather bare condition quite a while ago.

However, this disgrace of a tabernacle is an entirely self-inflicted injury.

The graceless lumps of stone and glass that pretend to be a main sanctuary.

The cathedral is currently (permanently) displaying some nice liturgical vestments from its collection...

and contrasting them with these modern monstrosities.