Primatiale Saint Trophime

Date: 12th, 15th centuries
Period: Middle Ages
Type : Religious architecture
Status : Property of the City of Arles, classified as a Historic Monument (1840) Unesco World Heritage Site (1981)

The Christian community of Arles was one of the first in Gaul, with the presence of a bishop attested as early as 254.
What's more, Arles Cathedral was for a time the primatial cathedral of Gaul, and remained the seat of an archbishopric until the French Revolution. Today, it is a parish church.
Initially located near the ancient rampart of Hauture, the cathedral was moved around the 5th century to near the ancient Roman forum.
It was built in several phases, and the main part of the monument we see today dates from the 12th century, when its façade, initially sober, was enhanced by its magnificent historiated statuary.
The building is one of the most important in the Romanesque style of Provence.
It is also a relic church on the route to Compostela. A Gothic choir replaced the Romanesque apses in the 15th century.

The monument was built in several phases.
Its layout is typical of buildings in Provence: a high nave with five bays, vaulted in broken barrel and flanked by narrow side aisles; a very short transept, whose crossing is topped by a cupola and supports the bell tower.
The choir comprised a main apse and two apsidioles.
To the west, a sumptuously decorated portal completes the ensemble.
Finally, in the mid-15th century, a long Gothic chevet with ambulatory and radiating chapels replaced the former Romanesque choir.
Dedicated to the evocation of the Last Judgement, the portal is also a model of life for the faithful and an illustration of the glories of the Church of Arles.
The composition superimposes three major themes: the assembly of patron saints, the divine epic and the human epic, from the original fall to the future fate of the chosen and the damned.
The composition culminates in the solemn, triumphant image of Christ. The dominant feature of this masterly work is the breadth of its ancient inspiration, a Roman cultural heritage that symbolizes a true "renaissance".