Religious Sights in Bordeaux — 5 of Our Favourites

1. Basilique Saint-Michel

Location: Bordeaux

Imposing on the Place Canteloupe in Bordeaux, this Gothic church took over 200 years to construct from the 14th to the 16th century.

Providing one of the most iconic views in the city, its 15th-century bell tower reaches up 114 metres and is the highest tower in southern France. Similar to the Pey-Berland tower, the tower is independent from the church.

Its base retains a crypt that was formally an ossuary (final resting place), and then used as an exhibition for "mummies" unearthed in the nineteenth century during the development of the Place Meynard, which was the former parish cemetery. The church Saint-Michel - became a minor basilica in 1903 - is now on the list of UNESCO World Heritage since 1998 under the road to St Jacques de Compostela in France.

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2. Cathedrale Saint-Andre

Location: Bordeaux

The Roman Catholic cathedral in Bordeaux was originally constructed in the 11th century, though little of this remains today.

Its Royal Gate dates to the 13th century and the main cathedral was built in Gothic style in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its two towers reach an impressive 81 metres in height. A 13-year-old Eleanor of Aquitaine married her first husband, King Louis VII of France, here in 1137.

The cathedral was used to store fodder during the French Revolution, and the building suffered from a devastating fire in the 19th century. All of the furniture was replaced with that taken from other churches.

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the exterior of a baroque church in bordeaux

3. Notre-Dame, Bordeaux

Location: Bordeaux

The Notre-Dame church in Bordeaux is an excellent, late 17th-century example of Baroque architecture located in the Golden Triangle area.

It was built by the Dominicans to complement their large monastery and was designed by Pierre-Michel Duplessy and Mathieu Labat. It has an impressive façade which includes a relief of the Virgin Mary giving a rosary to Saint Dominic.

Inside, there are chapels with trompe-l'oeil mural paintings, as well as 10 religious scenes painted by Frere Andre in the 17th century. The organ dates back to 1775.

4. Tour Pey-Berland (Tower of Pey-Berland), Bordeaux

Location: Bordeaux

Flanking the Cathédrale Saint-André, this tower (and the square in which it sits) is named after the Archbishop Pey-Berland.

Built in the 15th century, between 1440 and 1446, it is topped with a gold statue of the Virgin and Child and has a huge eight-tonne bell.

A stunning example of Gothic architecture you can also climb the tower for wonderful panoramic views across the city.

5. Eglise Sainte-Croix, Bordeaux

Location: Bordeaux

The existing Roman Catholic church was built in the late 11th and early 12th century in a Romanesque style. However, it is thought that the original Benedictine church was built at the request of Clovis, the Merovingian King in the 5th century.

The original abbey was destroyed by the Arabs around the year 730 and by the Norman raids in the middle of the 9th century. Its reconstruction was promoted by Guillaume le Bon, count of Bordeaux, in 970, while the current church was built in the 11th and 12th centuries.

The church was restored in the 19th century and later the annex and former Benedictine abbey became the home for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, and remains so today.