The Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul (french: Cathédrale Saint-Vincent-de-Paul de Tunis) is a Roman Catholic church located in Tunis, Tunisia. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Vincent de Paul, patron saint of charity. It is the

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

of the

Archdiocese of Tunis , local = ar, أبرشية تونسfrench: Archidiocèse de Tunis , image = , image_size = frameless , image_alt = , caption = , coat = , coat_size = , coat_alt ...

and is situated at Place de l'Indépendence in Ville Nouvelle, a crossroads between

Avenue Habib Bourguiba Avenue Habib Bourguiba ( aeb, شارع حبيب بورڨيبة) is the central thoroughfare of Tunis, and the historical political and economic heart of Tunisia. It is named for Habib Bourguiba, the first President of Tunisia and the national leade ...

and Avenue de France, opposite the French embassy. The church, designed by L. Bonnet-Labranche, was built in a mixture of styles, including Moorish revival,

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

, and Neo-Byzantine architectural traditions. The cornerstone was laid in 1890, and construction began in 1893. The church was opened on Christmas in 1897, albeit without its belltowers owing to a shortage of funds. The reinforced concrete towers were completed in 1910 using the Hennebique technique. Cardinal Charles Lavigerie laid the first stone for a church on 7 November 1881, a little further down Avenue de la Marine (now Avenue Habib Bourguiba). This was a pro-cathedral; the cathedral of the

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

(then called Carthage) being the Saint Louis Cathedral. The pro-cathedral was built quickly, but its condition soon deteriorated due to the adverse ground conditions, necessitating the construction of the current cathedral. The number of Roman Catholics in Tunisia fell rapidly following Tunisian independence from France. A

modus vivendi ''Modus vivendi'' (plural ''modi vivendi'') is a Latin phrase that means "mode of living" or " way of life". It often is used to mean an arrangement or agreement that allows conflicting parties to coexist in peace. In science, it is used to descr ...

reached between the Republic of Tunisia and the Vatican in 1964 resulted in the transfer of selected buildings to the Tunisian state for public use, including the Acropolium of Carthage in Carthage. However, the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul remains under the ownership and operation of the Roman Catholic Church in Tunisia.

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External links

{{Commons category, Cathedral Saint-Vincent-de-Paul of Tunis
Archdiocese of Tunis page

Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul on

structurae Structurae is an online database containing pictures and information about structural engineering, structural and civil engineering works, and their associated engineers, architects, and builders. Its entries are user-generated content, contribu ...

Churches completed in 1897 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings Vincent de Paul Religious buildings and structures in Tunis Byzantine Revival architecture in Tunisia Gothic Revival church buildings in Tunisia Moorish Revival architecture

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