Marseille Cathedral
cathedral located in Bouches-du-Rhône, in France
Marseille Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Major or Cathédrale de La Major or simply La Major; Occitan: Catedrala Nòstra Dòna de la Major) is a Roman Catholic cathedral and a national monument of France. Located in Marseille, it has been a basilica minor since 1896. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Marseille (the Diocese of Marseille until its elevation in 1948).
Old cathedral
Part of the earlier, much smaller, cathedral still remains, alongside the newer one. It was built in the 12th century in a simple Romanesque style. Two bays of the nave were demolished in the 1850s, when the new cathedral was built. What remains is the choir and one bay of the nave, and these remaining parts are commonly referred to as the "Vieille Major". The composer Charles Desmazures was organist at the old cathedral.
Present cathedral
The "Nouvelle Major" was built on an enormous scale in the Byzantine and Roman Revival styles. The foundation stone was laid by Emperor Napoleon III in 1852, and the first service was held in 1893.
The public source identifies “Marseille Cathedral” as cathedral located in Bouches-du-Rhône, in France. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Marseille, Cathedral and cathedral.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Marseille Cathedral”, the useful work is to connect “cathedral located in Bouches-du-Rhône, in France” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1419757. VIAF identifies the subject as 233290265. The Library of Congress control number is no2012038884. Authority coordinates are 43.300, 5.365. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1948, 1852 and 1893.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Marseille Cathedral” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.