Cathédrale Saint-Pierre

Gothic cathedral at the heart of the old town, built over five centuries

The Cathédrale Saint-Pierre stands at the heart of the old town, its facade rising above a small cobbled square off the main street of the old city. Construction began in the thirteenth century and continued, in fits and starts, for over six hundred years — the result is a building that reads like an architectural timeline, with Romanesque, flamboyant Gothic, and nineteenth-century additions sitting side by side.

Inside, the most remarkable feature is the tomb of Saint Vincent Ferrier, a Dominican preacher who died in Vannes in 1419 during a preaching tour and was later canonised. The treasury contains several fine pieces of medieval goldsmithing. The cathedral is free to enter and worth a look even for visitors who don't usually seek out churches — the interior is cool, dark, and genuinely atmospheric.

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A story
The cathedral took so long to build — from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century — that it contains nearly every style of Gothic architecture in sequence. The round tower on the south side is Romanesque, the nave is flamboyant late Gothic, and the dome was added in the 1850s. Somewhere underneath the high altar lies Saint Vincent Ferrier, a Spanish Dominican friar who died in Vannes in 1419 and is the city's patron saint.

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