Abbey of St. Victor

About

The abbey Saint-Victor of Marseilles was founded in the fifth century by Jean Cassien, near the tombs of martyrs of Marseilles, among which Saint Victor of Marseilles († in 303 or 304), who gave him his name. The abbey takes on considerable importance at the turn of the first millennium by its influence throughout Provence. One of his abbots, Guillaume de Grimoard, was elected pope in 1362 under the name Urbain V.

From the 15th century, the abbey began an irremediable decline. For more than 1,500 years, Saint-Victor has been one of the high places of Catholicism in the south of France and although the monastery was dismantled during the Revolution, the church remains devoted to worship. In 1968, the mayor of Marseille Gaston Defferre placed in the crypts of the abbey the rich collection of sarcophagus from the end of the fourth century to the first half of the fifth century contained in the church.

These sarcophagi were previously exhibited in the museum of the castle Borély. This transfer makes the abbey of Saint-Victor the most important museum of Christian art in Provence after that of Arles. The abbey is classified as historical monuments by the list of 1840...