Ajaccio Cathedral

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Ajaccio Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Ajaccio (French)
Ajaccio Cathedral
Basic information
Location	Ajaccio
Geographic coordinates	41°55′02″N 08°44′16″E / 41.91722°N 8.73778°E / 41.91722; 8.73778Coordinates: 41°55′02″N 08°44′16″E / 41.91722°N 8.73778°E / 41.91722; 8.73778
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Year consecrated	1593
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Monument historique
Leadership	Bishop of Ajaccio and suffragan of the Archdiocese of Marseille
Website	http://www.ajaccio.fr/Monuments-et-architectures_a11.html
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Giacomo della Porta
Architectural type	Cathedral
Architectural style	Baroque and Mannerist
Direction of façade	Southwest
Groundbreaking	1577
Completed	1593

The Ajaccio Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Ajaccio and also known as the Cathedral of the Assuption of Saint Mary, (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Ajaccio; Cathédrale de l'Assomption de Sainte-Marie) is a Baroque and Mannerist Roman Catholic cathedral located in Ajaccio, Corsica. It is the seat of the Bishop of Ajaccio and the suffragan of the Archdiocese of Marseille. The cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

History

The present cathedral was built between 1577 and 1593 and is attributed to Italian architect Giacomo della Porta. It was built to replace the old cathedral destroyed in 1553, as stated in the permit required by the Council of Ancients in 1559 to the Senate of Genoa and Pope Gregory XIII in order to build a new cathedral. It is where Napoleon Bonaparte was baptized on July 21, 1771^[1] and has been a monument historique (a national heritage site of France) since October 30, 1906.

According to legend, on August 15, 1769, Letizia Buonaparte felt sudden labor pains while in the cathedral. She rushed home to the Buonaparte's home, just steps away, and gave birth to Napoleon on a first floor sofa before she could reach her bedroom upstairs.^[2]

Architecture

Exterior

Ajaccio Cathedral is built in the style of the Counter-Reformation with an ochre Baroque façade.

Interior

The present cathedral is smaller than it's predecessor. The interior's Latin cross is delineated by the shallow and modestly-sized transept, which is covered by a dome. The central nave is very high and wide itself, but is short in length compared to the rest of the building. It is covered with barrel vault arches reminiscent of the Renaissance era. The building also has two aisles that depart from the front door and go up to the transept, separated in the middle by the seven chapels beside two rows of three columns.

Entering on the right is the marble baptismal font. It is a simple bowl engraved with the insignia of the Giustiniani, surmounted by a Tuscan bronze crown, below which there is a gold inscription, Heic baptisatus Magnus Imperator (Latin for Here is baptized the Great Emporer).

The altar is in polychrome marbles, a gift from Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister, and has an altarpiece composed of four twisted columns of black marble from Porto Venere. The Corinthian orders have a double pedestal with a collection of marble. The tabernacle dates from the time of the construction of the cathedral and originally stood at the baptismal font. It was then placed at the high altar and stands out for its unorthodox style.

Ajaccio Cathedral has many chapels:

• A 1752 chapel in honor of the Virgin of Mercy is dedicated to the patron saint of Ajaccio, Virgin Mary. It has a marble altar designed by Geonese sculptors decorated with spiral Brocatello marble from Spain.
• The 1765 Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary houses a stucco altar and series of boxes representing the Glorious, Joyful, Luminous and Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary of the Virgin, a central niche with the statue of the Virgin Mary and two side niches containing statues of Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena.
• A chapel with its marble altar dedicated to the Body of Christ. The altar is in white marble relief and colored marble.
• The small eighteenth century Our Lady of Tears chapel contains many murals by Domenico Tintoretto and Eugène Delacroix's The Triumph of Religion.

The cathedral also houses a large pipe organ built in 1849 by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll and later restored and electrified by Joël Pétrique.

References