Aix-En-Provence Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur

Generally speaking, the older and more seemingly disorganized a cathedral, the more interesting we find it. Saint-Sauveur in Aix is hard to beat in that regard. We have seen older cathedral renovations: e.g.,  a baroque church built on top of a Greek Doric temple in Sicily. But Saint-Sauveur was built on top of the Roman forum, incorporating bits of it, first as a parish church, then revised as the church of one of the orders, then finally revised as a cathedral when Aix became the capital. It's always fascinating to see the layers of Romanesque, Gothic, then Baroque, side by side or one on top of the other. Add a conspicuous layer of Roman, or Greek, and you really have something.

Facade of the cathedral complex

Guess who attended the university across the street

Gothic facade

Helpful floor-plan; looks like a conventional nave with two side aisles; but it's
more complicated than that, with the aisles (and chapels) having come in in
different ages and for different purposes...

It's all fascinating, but the Baptistry is the most fascinating: eight Roman columns
with Corinthian capitals, recycled from the Forum; we'll see this octagonal baptistry
design again in Frejus, a few miles down the road

Gothic nave/aisle

Interesting non-Christian-looking pediment up high in the
Romanesque nave

Few windows

So visits to the cloisters are by guided tour only, so we interrupt this visit to the
cathedral to have a look into the Romanesque cloisters

Thus nicely landscaped

The carving quite good, old, generally well-preserved

"Please proceed to the left"

The capitals in the four corners are the attributes of the four gospel writers;
here, my personal favorite, the lion, Mark 

Highly regarded statue of St. Peter

Now in the Baptistry, looking up at the dome and oculus, much later additions

Original baptistry pool, the oldest bit, going back to early Christian times

Remnant of painting in Baptistry

Remnant of mosaic, on the wall, thus probably very late Roman, Roman/Christian

Ample info on evolution of the Baptistry

The pediment again

Vaulting in Gothic aisle

Barrel vaulting in Romanesque nave

Note the non-Christian-looking little columns up high

Exposed bit of the Roman Forum under the church

Crossing...fascinating church!