Basilica of St. Michael, Bordeaux

About

The Saint-Michel Basilica of Bordeaux is the second largest Catholic church in the city of Bordeaux, in southwestern France. Built from the 14th to the 16th centuries, it is characteristic of the flamboyant Gothic style. The church gave its name to the neighborhood in which it is located.

The basilica shares with St Andrew's Cathedral the particularity of being equipped with a bell tower independent of the sanctuary, a campanile. Rising at a height of 114 meters, it is the highest of the midday of France and the fourth highest of the hexagon, behind the arrow of the cathedrals of Rouen (151 meters), Strasbourg (142 meters) and Chartres (115 meters). Its base preserves a crypt that served for a long time as an ossuary, then as an exhibition place for "momies" exhumed in the 19th century during the development of the "place Meynard", former parish cemetery.

As a historic monument since 1846, Saint-Michel Church, which became a minor basilica in 1903, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998 under the title of Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle Roads in France.