CATHÉDRALE SAINT-ÉTIENNE
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Saint-Etienne d'Auxerre cathedral offering a visit to discover the crypt, the only vestige of the Romanesque cathedral.
Impossible to visit Auxerre without discovering its Cathedral. This true masterpiece of Gothic art (whose particularity is to have only one tower) finds its origins around the year 400, when the bishop Saint Amâtre erected it. Destroyed by a fire, rebuilt in the 9th century, it was again engulfed in flames a century later. Rebuilt again, it became a Romanesque cathedral in 1023... before Bishop Guillaume de Seignelay decided (in the 13th century) to destroy it again in order to rebuild it better! Thus, two centuries later, in 1543, the Gothic cathedral that we know today was born.
When you arrive, first observe its portals, which illustrate the great episodes of the Old and New Testament. As for the tympanums of the transepts, they celebrate the two great saints most celebrated in Auxerre: the martyr Saint Stephen (to whom this cathedral is therefore dedicated) and the Auxerre bishop Saint Germain. Take a look at the stained glass windows, too: the oldest date from the 12th and 13th centuries, but the most admirable are undoubtedly the three roses raised in the 16th century. Two paintings also deserve attention: a "St Stephen's stoning" in the north ambulatory, and a "Entombment" in the Treasure Room, with some 400 other rooms.
One last piece of advice: don't leave without visiting the crypt, the only remaining vestige of the Romanesque cathedral that was Saint Stephen's a thousand years ago. A testimony as rare as it is magnificent!
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