Just an hour by RER from Gare du Nord, you can reach Beauvais and its majestic Saint-Pierre Cathedral. Its appearance immediately intrigues: unlike Notre-Dame de Paris, Chartres, or Amiens, it has virtually no nave. This unfinished building, however, houses the world’s tallest Gothic choir, with a vaulted height of 48.5 meters.
This height epitomizes the ambition of the construction project launched in 1225. After the old cathedral burned down, the goal was to build a structure capable of rivaling the great Gothic monuments already under construction in northern France. The choir was consecrated in 1272, after nearly half a century of construction. But twelve years later, part of its vaults collapsed. The repairs that followed altered the architecture and permanently slowed the pace of construction.
Beauvais Cathedral: A Gothic Project That Sought to Break All Records
Work truly resumed in the 16th century with the construction of the transept, followed by a massive tower at the crossing. Completed in the 1560s, the tower stood over 150 meters tall, surpassing all other cathedrals at the time. This distinction would last only a few years: the tower collapsed in 1573, taking part of the transept and the choir with it.
The project would never truly recover from this setback. Work began on the first bay of the nave, but construction came to a definitive halt. This history explains the current silhouette of Saint-Pierre: a gigantic choir and a Gothic transept attached to a much older structure, the Basse-Œuvre, a remnant of the previous cathedral dating from the 10th century.
Inside, the proportions of the choir immediately convey a sense of the medieval builders’ audacity, while part of the 13th-century roof framework is still preserved in the attic. The transept, for its part, features large Flamboyant Gothic facades and a rose window 11 meters in diameter.
The cathedral also hides one of its most astonishing curiosities behind the choir. Built in the 19th century by Auguste-Lucien Vérité, its astronomical clock stands 12 meters tall and comprises approximately 90,000 parts, 52 dials, and 68 automatons. Daily audiovisual presentations allow visitors to see its figures come to life and understand how this monumental mechanism works.
Admission to Saint-Pierre remains free, and a visit can easily be incorporated into a day trip to Beauvais. Allow about an hour to tour the cathedral, or longer if you include the astronomical clock and the Basse-Œuvre. Just an hour by train from Paris, few day trips offer the chance to discover a medieval monument that pushed Gothic architecture so close to its limits.
Location: Saint-Pierre Cathedral, Rue Saint-Pierre, 60000 Beauvais
Hours: daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.; admission is free.