Angers Cathedral

Angers Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d'Angers) is a Catholic church dedicated to Saint Maurice in Angers, France. It is the seat of the Bishops of Angers. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, it is known for its mixture of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, and its ornate Baroque altar and sculpture. It also has an extensive collection of stained-glass windows, including several elements from the late 12th century, one of the earliest uses of grisaille glass in combination with coloured glass, and two rose windows depicting the Last Judgement and the Apocalypse, unique in French renaissance stained-glass.

The earliest cathedral on the site was dedicated to the Virgin Mary but in 396 Saint Martin, the Archbishop of Tours, added the Theban legion Egyptian martyr Saint Maurice to the dedication. He had acquired a relic of some of the blood of the members of the Theban Legion, who were martyred with Saint Maurice in the 3rd century for converting to Christianity. The relic was brought to Tours and later, according to the legend, a phial of it was given to Angers. In the 7th century, an additional devotion to Saint Maurilius, the Bishop of Angers in the 4th century, began. A biography of him was written and in 873 his body was transferred to the cathedral. For 200 years Saints Maurilius and Maurice were frequently mentioned together as the patron saints of the cathedral but gradually Saint Maurice became the primary patron.

At the beginning of the 11th century, Hubert de Vendôme, the Bishop of Angers from 1010 to 1047, decided to build a new cathedral in the Romanesque style to replace the existing church. The new church was consecrated on 16 August 1025, but in 1032 it was ravaged by a fire. Geoffroy de Tours, the Bishop of Angers from 1081 to 1093, ordered the reconstruction of the cathedral, which continued under the supervision of his successors, Renaud de Martigné (1102–1125), Ulger (1125–1148) and Normand de Doué (1148–1153). The altar crucifix was blessed in 1051 and the new altar was consecrated in 1096. In the mid-12th century, the cathedral underwent another t

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