Sainte-Réparate Cathedral

In front of you rises the cathedral of Nice, dedicated to Saint Reparata, the city's patron saint. Its history is written in stone; the story of its saint, on the other hand, belongs mostly to legend.

1The angels' boat

According to tradition, Reparata was a young Christian from Caesarea, in Palestine, martyred around the year 250, under Emperor Decius, at just fifteen. Her body is said to have been laid in a boat with neither sail nor rudder and left to the sea. Angels, with their wings or their breath depending on the version, then pushed it all the way to the beach at Nice.

That, they say, is how the Bay of Angels got its name. It is a pious tradition: there is no trace of the saint's cult before the 9th century.

There is a more down-to-earth explanation too: fishermen in the bay used to haul up «sea angels», flat sharks with broad, wing-like fins.

2What the records say

The saint's relics arrived from Rome in 1078. The present cathedral was begun on 7 January 1650, to plans by the architect Jean-André Guiberto, and consecrated in 1699; the relics have rested here since 1690. Before that, the bishop's seat was up on Castle Hill, in a cathedral that survives today only as a ruin. The bell tower went up between 1731 and 1757, and the Baroque façade was added between 1825 and 1830.

3What to look for

• The dome of glazed tiles, in the Genoese style.
• The statues on the façade, in their niches.
• The bell tower, on the right, with its tiered top.