Le Mans Cathedral (Saint-Julien)

The Cathédrale Saint-Julien du Mans is one of the great underrated churches of France. It occupies the highest point of the old city, visible for miles, and its exterior flying buttresses — one of the most elaborate systems in the country — give it a bristling, almost skeletal silhouette from the south and east.

Inside, the scale shifts dramatically between the 11th-century nave and the high Gothic choir completed in the 13th century. The stained glass is exceptional: the rose window above the north transept dates from the 12th century, and several lancet windows retain their original Romanesque glass, among the oldest in France. Allow at least an hour to do the interior justice.

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The south porch of the cathedral contains a remarkable set of column statues from the 1140s — among the earliest Gothic sculpture in France, pre-dating even Chartres. The building was constructed in stages over six centuries, so you can walk along the nave and watch the architecture shift from heavy Romanesque to soaring Gothic as you move east toward the choir.

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