Cathédrale de Maguelone v0.1
The bush trip in southern France added in World update 4 makes you fly over Maguelone Cathedral. This monument however doesn’t have a specific representation in the vanilla game. This mod aims at fixing this.
The Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Maguelone is a Roman Catholic church and former cathedral located around 9.7 km (6 miles) south of Montpellier in the Hérault department of southern France.
The building stands on an isthmus between the Étang de l’Arnel lake and the Mediterranean Sea in the Gulf of Lion, which was once the site of the original city of Maguelone, opposite the present-day town of Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone.
At the beginning of the 13th century, two towers were built to defend the western front, Saint John’s Tower and the Bishop’s Tower (now partially ruined), ensuring the diocese was securely protected. During the Albigensian Crusade, Maguelone remained a bastion of the papacy: Melgueil County, property of the Count of Toulouse Raymond VI, was put under the rule of Maguelone by Pope Innocent III. The archdeacon of Maguelone at this time was Pierre de Castelnau, the papal legate in Languedoc, whose murder in Saint-Gilles in 1208 triggered hostilities against the Cathars.
Maguelone Cathedral was the episcopal seat of the former Bishop of Maguelone until 1563, when the see was transferred to the newly created Bishopric of Montpellier.
Sold as national property during the Revolution and classified as a historic monument in 1840, the area of Maguelone was acquired by the historian Frédéric Fabrege in 1852 who began a programme of restoration. He carried out excavations which uncovered the cathedral’s rich past, rediscovering the foundations of older buildings. He also planted a number of Mediterranean plant species, the island then being totally denuded of trees. Christian worship returned to the cathedral in 1875. Fabrege’s son donated the island to the Diocese of Montpellier in 1949.
Although parts, such as the towers, have been demolished, the main body of the building remains functional and is a registered national monument. It is run by a dedicated preservation society, les Compagnons de Maguelone, and is used for both religious and secular purposes.
Today, Maguelone hosts le Festival de musique ancienne de Mauguelone, a music festival that is held annually in June in the cathedral by the Friends of the Festival of Maguelone. This popular event for lovers of early music stages performances of medieval and renaissance music in the magnificent setting of the cathedral, as well as baroque music, romantic music and rare or forgotten works.
GPS Coordinates: 43.51260482189528, 3.883355139475724
