Cargèse is a French commune, located in the departmental district of Corse-du-Sud and the territory of the community of Corsica. It belongs to the ancient parish of Sevinfuori, in the Deux-Sevi.
The Genoese towers
The coast of Cargese includes three
remarkable peaks, Punta d'Orchinu, Punta d'Omigna and Punta di
Cargèse, which are each topped by a Genoese watchtower. They were
built in the 16th century by the people of Paomia, Revinda and
Salona, who took refuge in Renno, by order of Genoa, in order to
protect themselves from the Barbarians who were beginning to raid
the island's coasts.
Orchinu Tower
It is the northernmost
Genoese tower in the commune, built 172 m on the tip of Orchinu. It
is ruined.
Omigna Tower
It is a round tower twelve meters
high, on two levels with a terrace, built at the end of the tip of
Omigna during the second half of the sixteenth century, in order to
protect from arable pirates the arable land of the coast. It was
part of the so-called Four Towers land and was built by the people
of Paomia, Revinda and Salona, refugees in Renno.
Formerly
called the Tower of Paomia, the Tower of Omigna was on April 27,
1731, the last entrenchment for 127 Greeks attacked by 2,500
revolted Corsicans. After three days of siege, they manage to break
free and join their family in Ajaccio.
The Omigna Tower is
classified as a historic monument by decree of March 8, 1991.
Cargèse Tower
The tower of Cargèse, of which only the base
remains, is located at an altitude of 157 m to the west of the
village, at the top of the hill overlooking the village, between it
and Punta di Cargèse.
Church of St. Spyridon called "Greek"
The Greek Church of St. Spyridon (San Spiridionu) is a Greek Greek
Catholic church dedicated to St. Spyridon, a second-century Cypriot
bishop and patron saint of sailors. This church replaced the chapel
established in 1775 in one of the houses of the Greek colony.
It was built by the inhabitants of Cargèse from 1868 to 1874.
The sanctuary is separated from the nave by a wooden partition
decorated with holy images on a gold background (iconostasis). You
can admire beautiful icons brought by the first inhabitants.
In 1846, the Greek colony, which numbered 525 people, expressed its
desire to have a church that could accommodate all the faithful of
the Greek rite. The building, inspired by the neo-Gothic style, was
built in the last third of the nineteenth century. It has a front
façade supported by buttresses and crowned by a bell tower on the
panel. The bedside table is flat. The interior consists of a single
nave separated from the sanctuary by an iconostasis. The iconostasis
separating the nave from the sanctuary is the work of a Roman
workshop for the church of the monastery of Santa Maria di
Grottaferrata. It was offered to the Greek church of Cargèse in 1886
by Bishop Simeoni, prefect of the Congregation "Propaganda Fide".
The walls are pierced with thirteen flat-bottomed niches, inscribed
in broken arches. The decor is neo-classical.
Elevation, roof
and interior decoration are protected and classified as historic
monuments by decree of June 30, 1990.
Church of the
Assumption called "Latin"
Also called St. Mary's Church, the
Church of the Assumption (Santa Marìa Assunta) was built in the
nineteenth century, from 1822 to 1828, to meet the needs of the
Catholic population of Latin rite.
The so-called "Latin"
church is a parish church. It was built with the funds raised by
subscription launched in 1817. In 1835 it was badly damaged by a
violent storm. In 1837 the extension of the church and the
construction of the high altar were considered. In 1845, the
interior arrangements were still not completed. Between 1970 and
1975, the painted decoration of the nave was made. Between 1992 and
1997, the choir was decorated by two Russian painters, Anastassiya
Sokolova and Valeri Chernernitsky. The church has a front façade
chanted with flat pilasters and crowned with an undulating pediment.
Her bedside table is rounded. It has two side chapels. The
Baroque-style interior is decorated with trompe-l'oeil paintings.
This church with a quadrangular bell tower is built on a terrace
overlooking the Gulf of Sagone. It faces the Greek church.
In
1847 - 1748, the multi-storey bell tower was built, topped by an
oculus lantern. The bell tower, whose bells were executed in 1887 by
the bell founder Ferdinand Farnier, is protected and listed as a
Historic Monument by order of 13 February 1989.
Other
religious heritages
Chapel of St. Mary in the hamlet of
Rundulinu, Paomia, on the roadside D 181.