Eglise Notre Dame de la Major

Date: 1152 times: Middle Age Type: Architecture religious status: property of the city of Arles classified historic Monument (1945) the Major Church derives its name from its location, the highest hill of the Hauture. Built from the 12th century, its architecture has however been often reworked. It has retained its Romanesque character for the nave, which added more recent improvements, including Bell Tower and façade. The furniture of the Church is particularly rich. It was erected in college chapter, and, until the French Revolution, was the largest church of Arles. Today, the Major Church is mainly religious headquarters of the brotherhood of the herdsmen. They go there, every 1 may, to pay homage to saint Georges to bless their horses. The bombings of 1944 have strongly shaken its structure, which has been the subject since a vast restoration operation. The Romanesque church has retained its nave with three spans, covered by a broken cradle vault underpinned by recessed timbers which fall on massive pillars. The semicircular apse was decorated with eight columns of basalt and porphyry, today missing. Bedside includes a choir span vaulted on vaults and an apse five sides, as high as the nave. On it come join side chapels of ogival style dating back to the 16th century. The current facade presents itself under the sober elegance of the Louis XIII style. The square Tower is obeying a pyramid, surmounted by a Virgin comic by Lasalle and executed by Cusson. Yet this furniture in the Church, note a Chair in polychrome marble (XVIII century) and an altar of gilded from the Church Saint-Blaise wood. In addition to the saint Georges, one can see two statues in marble of the nineteenth century, the sacred heart of Jesus, and a Virgin due to the Italian sculptor Monti. Finally the altarpiece of the choir presents three paintings of the 18th century depicting the Annunciation, the Visitation and the Presentation at the Temple.

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