Church trail in Arras

Description of the route

Leave Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church and walk along Place des Héros, admiring the belfry. Pass the Place de la Vaquerie and continue straight ahead, rue Ernest de Lannoy. You reach the back of the cathedral and the abbey of Saint-Vaast, rue Albert Ier. Turn left and cross Place du Théâtre. Take rue Ernestale on the right, then the rue du péage which you go up to rue Aristide Briand, visit Notre-Dame des Ardents, then go up the same path to the cathedral. On leaving, do not hesitate to get lost in the narrow streets of Arras, discovering its hidden treasures and its many private mansions.

1. Church Saint Jean-Baptiste

   Saint-Jean-Baptiste is the only church that survived the French Revolution because it was used as a Temple of Reason. After its complete destruction by bombardment, it was rebuilt in the 1920s in a neo-Gothic church-hall style. In 1945 Max Ingrand signed four coloured stained glass windows representing the four evangelists. But the jewels of this church are La Descente de la Croix de Rubens (about 1612) and a large 17th century marble altarpiece that serves as a setting for the 14th century white alabaster statue of Our Lady of the Ardents.

   
   

   
   

2. Church Notre Dame des Ardents

   Notre-Dame des Ardents was created from scratch in the 19th century. She translates the fervour of Mary, who appeared to two minstrels in the cathedral to heal the sick of the holly fire, through the gift of a miraculous candle. His drops of wax, mixed with water, were beneficial. The reliquary, the statues, the high altar decorated with mosaics and the stained glass windows refer to Mary and her blessings. The church, built according to the plans of Clovis Normand, is built in a flowery Romanesque style. The large white marble statue of Mary, above the altar, was crowned with jewellery collected after the Great War, to honour its protection, because the church, as well as the district, were little affected by the bombs.

3. Cathedral Notre-Dame de l'Assomption et Saint-Vaast

   The abbey church and the Abbey of St. Vaast. are among the few buildings that have escaped iconoclastic acts. Both were rebuilt by the monks in the second half of the 18th century. The church became the new cathedral of Arras, consecrated in 1833 by Monsignor de la Tour d'Auvergne, bishop in 1802. Destroyed during the bombings of 1915 to 1918, it was rebuilt identically by Pierre Paquet, Chief Reconstruction Architect, and reopened in 1934. The cathedral, together with the abbey of Saint-Vaast, forms the only complete Benedictine neo-classical complex in Europe.