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Origin and history

The cathedral of Saint-François-de-Sales de Chambéry came into being in the early 15th century, when its construction began around 1420 as a small convent chapel of Franciscans. It was enlarged and consecrated in 1488 and completed in 1585. From then on, it temporarily houses the Shroud of Turin during solemn ostensions, attracting many pilgrims. The Chambériens then nicknamed it "the Metropolis". During the Revolution, the church was desecrated but escaped destruction. It became cathedral in 1779 under the invocation of the Annunciation and Blessed Amédée IX, then placed under the name of Saint Francis of Sales in 1802.

The cathedral was listed as a historic monument in 1906. Its stone façade, restored between 2006 and 2009, illustrates the flamboyant Franciscan Gothic style. The building, built on marshy ground, rests on 30,000 larch stilts. Its architecture is distinguished by a central nave of 23 meters high, flanked by low side, and polygonal lateral chapels. The north side is home to blind chapels, including a Treasury Hall containing medieval works of art, such as a 12th century ivory diptych.

The cathedral houses the largest collection of trompe-l'oeil paintings in Europe, made between 1810 and 1885 by artists such as Fabrizio Sevesi, Casimir Vicario and Bernard Sciolli. These later restored works simulate Gothic architectures and skies painted on the vaults. In 2014, the diocese of Turin offered a copy of the Shroud of Turin, exhibited in the chapel of the Resurrection. The organ, built in 1847 by Augustin Zeiger and ranked in 1988, is a 19th century technical masterpiece, restored in 2004 in its original spirit.

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