Ajaccio cathedral

Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral of Ajacc The chapel of this Baroque cathedral built at the end of the 16th century was decorated by Eugene Delacroix. © JD Dallet - age fotostock

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'If they forbid my corpse, as they have forbidden my body, deny me a small piece of land in which to be buried, I wish to be buried with my ancestors in Ajaccio cathedral in Corsica'. This is how Napoleon remembered the cathedral of his childhood on his deathbed in Sainte-Hélène. Their shared history began on 21st July 1771 when the young Bonaparte was baptised. It continued with the burial of the Bonaparte family in a funerary chapel within the cathedral and ended with the affixing of a red marble plaque bearing Napoleon's dying words onto its pediment. It is modest in size, and everything in this building, from the transept to the three naves, appears too short. The cathedral was completed in 1593 and consecrated to the Assumption of the Virgin. Its seven side chapels, imposing dome and unusual ochre façade give the building a distinct charm.
Ajaccio Cathedral
Rue Saint-Charles - 20000 Ajaccio.