CLOITRE DE LA CATHEDRALE NOTRE-DAME-DE-L'ASSOMPTION

Although the ribbed vaults of the three galleries are done in a flamboyant Gothic style (late 15th century), the keystones of the western gallery have a cut leather decoration: a characteristic of the Renaissance: 16th century (French Renaissance). The first floor of this wing is particularly remarkable, with its diamond-shaped pilasters and mouldings from the first Renaissance repertoire. From 1858, during the restoration of the cloister by the diocesan architect Juste Lisch, the first floor was extensively remodelled and nothing remains of the interior fittings. In 1847, the architect Émile Boeswillwald discovered the tomb of an abbot, with an enamelled copper stock dating from the 13th century. It was in order to house the 30,000 books bequeathed by Bishop Jacques Marie Baillès in 1873 that Bishop Charles Théodore Colet asked to raise the east wing, but the construction of a library was planned from 1866. In 1874, its realization was entrusted to the Luçonnais entrepreneur Henri Hibert.

On the ground floor, an adjoining door, redone in the 19th century, gives access to part of the bishopric arranged in the former chapter house. On the first floor of the western gallery, we can discover a pilaster construction decorated with rosettes and diamond-shaped boxes in Renaissance style. This gallery links to the cathedral through a door dating from the late 17th century surmounted by two angels framing a shield erased during the Revolution. The cloister is open to visitors at the same time as the cathedral.