Why go
The façade offers an outdoor introduction to the cathedral’s religious imagery. Mary Magdalene’s perfume flask helps identify one saint, while two different figures of Saint Louis require closer attention. The sculpture also records historical loss: the original ensemble included apostles and tympanum figures destroyed during the French Revolution.
What to look for
- Mary Magdalene carries a perfume flask among the middle-level saints.
- Saint Michael confronts a dragon at the centre of the façade.
The full story
The Gothic front replaced the Romanesque façade of Saint Mary’s nave in the 15th century. Its sculpture continued into the following century, linking the late medieval building campaign with the beginning of the Renaissance. Jean Mone made the four middle-level saints in 1512–1513: Saint Mitre, Mary Magdalene, Louis of Toulouse and King Louis IX of France. The two saints named Louis are different people: one was a bishop, the other a king. Their pairing makes the façade more specific than a row of interchangeable religious figures. Higher up, figures traditionally identified as the first bishops of Aix connect the church to its foundation stories. At the centre, Jean Paumier’s Saint Michael Crushing the Dragon dates from 1507. The ensemble once included twelve apostles and six figures in the tympanum, the space above the doorway. Their destruction during the Revolution forms part of the façade’s history.