Cargèse (Carghjese), France

 

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.

 

Destinations

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.