Why go
If the cathedral's architecture holds your attention, this altar brings the scale down to individual figures. Saint Maurice's armour and Saint Margaret's dragon give you clear ways to identify the saints, while Urbain Aygosi's name connects the religious imagery to the family who commissioned it.
What to look for
- Saint Maurice wears 15th-century armour; Saint Margaret appears with a dragon.
- Urbain Aygosi's coat of arms sits at the edge of the altar's upper structure.
The full story
The altar began in Aix's Carmelite church and moved to the cathedral in 1823. Its left-hand inscription records the completion of the chapel on 28 January 1470 and honours Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. It also names Urbain Aygosi, whose coat of arms appears on the monument. The sculptor was Audinet Stéphani, originally from Cambrai, who worked in Aix and the surrounding region between 1446 and 1476. His stone retable, the sculpted structure above the altar, brings together Saint Anne, Mary and the infant Jesus with Maurice, Margaret and Christ on the Cross. A figure of Christ also decorates the tabernacle, accompanied by an inscription addressing the viewer directly and explaining his sacrifice. The monument once included statues of the Virgin and Saint John that later passed to the Musée Granet.