Religious heritage: the finest sites in France
45 sites listed in this category. Gothic cathedrals, thousand-year-old abbeys and small rural chapels: this religious heritage bears witness to exceptional architectural skill and to a spiritual history deeply rooted in each area.
Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde
Nicknamed "la Bonne Mère" by the people of Marseille, this neo-Byzantine basilica topped by a gilded Virgin has dominated the city since 1852 and watched over sailors from its hill.
Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Lourdes
Built on the site of the Marian apparitions of 1858, this sanctuary is one of the most visited places of pilgrimage in the world, welcoming about 6 million people every year.
Abbaye Saint-Jean-des-Vignes
Its two asymmetrical Gothic spires, standing alone above the ruins, form the most recognisable silhouette of Soissons.
Basilique Saint-Sernin
The largest surviving Romanesque church in Europe, built of pink Toulouse brick to house the relics brought back by Compostela pilgrims.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Laon
Perched on the hill of Laon, this early-Gothic cathedral impresses with its openwork towers adorned with sculpted oxen, a reminder of the legend of its construction.
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais
The cathedral of Saint-Pierre de Beauvais, begun in 1225, is known as having the highest vault of the Gothic age: 48 metres.
La Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens
Amiens Cathedral of Notre-Dame, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the largest Gothic cathedral in France, and is often considered one of the masterpieces of medieval architecture.
La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris stands in the city of Paris, at the tip of the Île de la Cité.
Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes
These high walls reveal to the attentive walker that the little priory, founded in the eleventh century, threatened with annihilation at the Revolution, then revived by the Benedictine Order established by Dom Guéranger in the nineteenth century, has become a great abbey, mother of many monasteries in France and beyond its borders.
Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide
Founded in 1093 by a few Benedictine monks, Fontfroide joined the Cistercian Order in 1145 and quickly became one of the most powerful Cistercian abbeys of Christendom.
Abbaye St Georges de boscherville
A twelfth-century Benedictine abbey and its 4-ha monastic garden among the most beautiful in northern France, 10 km west of Rouen.
Abbaye de Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe
The abbey ensemble is made up of the church, the conventual building, the abbot's lodging and the gardens.
Basilique Cathédrale de Saint Denis
The Saint-Denis basilica (universally known as the Basilica of Saint-Denis) is a Gothic-style church in the centre of Saint-Denis, in Seine-Saint-Denis, 5 kilometres north of Paris.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres
Partly built from 1145, and rebuilt in twenty-six years after the fire of 1194, Chartres Cathedral is the monument par excellence of French Gothic art.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims
The exceptional handling of the new architectural techniques of the thirteenth century and the harmonious marriage of sculpted decoration with architectural elements have made Reims's Notre-Dame cathedral one of the masterpieces of Gothic art.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen
The primatial cathedral of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption in Rouen is the town's most prestigious monument.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Saint-Omer
Notre-Dame de Saint-Omer cathedral is a former French Roman Catholic cathedral in the town of Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais département.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg
Strasbourg's Notre-Dame cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral built in Strasbourg, representative of Gothic architecture.
Cathédrale Saint Jean
Cathédrale Saint-Etienne
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre
Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Metz
Cathédrale d'Evry
Cathédrale de Bourges
Admirable for its proportions and the unity of its design, Saint-Étienne cathedral in Bourges, built between the late twelfth and late thirteenth centuries, is one of the great masterpieces of Gothic art.
Cathédrale de Coutances
Notre-Dame de Coutances cathedral is a thirteenth-century Gothic cathedral in Coutances, in the Manche département, in Normandy.
Cathédrale de Mende
Couvent des Carmes
Eglise fortifiée de Saint-Pierrevillers
La Cathédrale Notre-Dame
La Cathédrale Sainte Cécile d'Albi
Albi cathedral is a masterpiece of southern Gothic. It was begun in 1282 by the bishop and inquisitor Bernard de Castanet, who intended to set a vast preaching space against the persistence of the Cathar heresy.
La cathédrale de Bayeux
Bayeux's Notre-Dame cathedral, dedicated in 1077 in the presence of William, was one of the most important Romanesque monuments.
Le Cloître de la cathédrale
Abbaye aux Hommes
A Romanesque abbey founded around 1060 by William the Conqueror, whose twin-towered church of Saint-Étienne dominates the centre of Caen.
Abbaye d'Ambronay
Abbaye de Cadouin
Abbaye de Clairvaux
Abbaye de Longpont
Abbaye de Montmajour
Abbaye de Prémontré
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Moulins
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rodez
Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Major
Cathédrale Notre-Dame-du-Réal d'Embrun
Cathédrale Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais de Soissons
