Saint-Pierre Cathedral

Cathedral with an extraordinary fortified twin-pillared porch

The strangest-looking cathedral in Provence-Languedoc. Two massive cylindrical stone pillars hold up a heavy canopy over the main doorway — the porche-baldaquin — making the entrance look more like a fortified gatehouse than a church. The effect is medieval and slightly forbidding, which is appropriate: the cathedral was repeatedly fought over during the Wars of Religion and rebuilt several times.

Inside, the gothic nave is high and surprisingly austere. The cathedral is attached to the Faculty of Medicine, which gives the whole complex an unexpected scholarly air. It is open daily and free to enter.

things to do sight
A story
Originally the chapel of a 14th-century Benedictine monastery, the church was elevated to cathedral status in 1536 after Montpellier became a diocese. It was sacked during the Wars of Religion in 1567 and again besieged in 1622 — the bullet-pocked tower and the heavy fortification of the porch are reminders of the city's bloody Protestant–Catholic past.