Beauvais Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Peter of Beauvais (French: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais) is a Catholic church in the northern town of Beauvais, Oise, France. It is the seat of the Bishop of Beauvais, Noyon and Senlis.
| Beauvais Cathedral Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais | |
|---|---|
Beauvais Cathedral from the south-east | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Catholic Church |
| Province | Diocese of Beauvais, Noyon, and Senlis |
| Rite | Roman |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Cathedral |
| Leadership | Jacques Benoit-Gonnin |
| Year consecrated | 1272 |
| Status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | Beauvais, France |
| Geographic coordinates | 49.4326°N 2.0814°E |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Enguerrand Le Riche Martin Chambiges |
| Type | Church |
| Style | High Gothic |
| Groundbreaking | 1225 |
| Completed | Never completed. Works halted in 1600. |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 72.5 m (238 ft) |
| Width | 67.2 m (220 ft) |
| Width (nave) | 16 m (52 ft) |
| Height (max) | 47.5 m (156 ft) (height nave) |
Monument historique | |
| Official name: Cathédrale Notre-Dame | |
| Designated | 1840 |
| Reference no. | PA00114502 |
| Denomination | Église |
| Website | |
| www | |
The cathedral is in the Gothic style, and consists of a 13th-century choir, with an apse and seven polygonal apsidal chapels reached by an ambulatory, joined to a 16th-century transept.
It has the highest Gothic choir in the world: 48.5 metres (159 ft) under vault. From 1569 to 1573 the cathedral of Beauvais was, with its tower of 153 m (502 ft), the highest human construction of the world. Its designers had the ambition to make it the largest gothic cathedral in France ahead of Amiens. Victim of two collapses, one in the 13th century, the other in the 16th century, it remains unfinished today; only the choir and the transept have been built.
The planned nave of the cathedral was never constructed. The remnant of the previous 10th-century Romanesque cathedral, known as the Basse Œuvre ("Lower Work"), still occupies the intended site of the nave.