Riez Cathedral

About

Notre-Dame-de-l'Assumption de Riez Cathedral is located in Riez in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the diocese of Digne, Riez and Sisteron. It was the seat of the Diocese of Riez until 1801, when it was officially abolished by the concordat and transferred to the Diocese of Digne.

History: In the 14th century, the bishop of Riez authorized the dismantling, for the reuse of building materials, of the first cathedral, Notre-Dame-de-la-Sède, built, as well as the Baptistery in the Paleo-Christian era. On the night of May 18, 1842, a part of the nave collapsed, causing a great trauma within the Riezian community, which mobilized to finance its reconstruction, despite the disastrous financial state of the city. The ceremony of the symbolic laying of the first stone took place on October 8, 1844. Unfortunately, the vault collapsed again in October 1952. Today, the cathedral once again requires restoration work. The side walls of the church gradually deteriorate, mined by the flow of rainwater, threatening the conservation of the works that it houses (painted paintings of the eighteenth and nineteenth century...