THE SAINTE-MARIE-DE-LA-SEDS CATHEDRAL

From April to June and from September to October, Air Corsica offers direct flights between Ajaccio, Bastia and Toulon. Performed in 70-seats ATR72, they can reach the city in just one hour of flight at the rate/pace of two round trips per week.

Since the 4th century, Toulon was an episcopal city. St Honoré, the first bishop that lived there in 451 AD. The most illustrious of them, St Cyprien, sat in Toulon in 514. The cathedral was built on the same site that the church occupies today/nowadays - there are few remnants of the Cathedral. At the end of the 11th century, a new and larger church was built on the east of the ancient shrine – it was more ornate and flanked by a defensive tower. In 1906, it was dedicated to the Mother of God, under the title of Our Lady of the Seds, after a vow - said at the beginning by Count Gilbert for a Crusade in the Holy Land.

The cathedral has huge naves of uneven grandeur, massive walls, and arcades of different styles. The facade was started 30 years later, after the church was enlarged in 1696. Beneath the dome, in a vast niche framed by an altarpiece with columns and pediments - there is a statue of the Virgin Mary of 1739 with its canopy carved by Mr. Vian de Pignans. Above this niche, a large painting attributed to Pierre Mignard - painted in 1657-1658 depicts the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Under the dome, there is a large oval canvas depicting Constantine's vision and (date absente sur le site!) signed by F. David.

There have been famous visitors such as Charles IX and Louis XIV who visited this cathedral. Later, other princely visitors honoured this building with their presence: the future Count of Artois Charles X, who came to attend a solemn mass in October 1814, the Duchess of Angoulême, her husband - for the departure of the expedition from Algiers in 1830, as well as Empress Eugenie and the Imperial Prince in 1869.

The Cathedral of Toulon is probably not a masterpiece of architecture, but it’s the witnessed for 900 years of all the history of the city - and remains dedicated to St. Mary since the Middle Ages, when men built cathedrals for Christ's love.

An unmissable place of worship, symbol of faith and passing time - visit it during your passing through to Toulon!