In all our numerous visits to Fort de France I have never been able to visit the Saint-Louis cathedral. We see it's elegant iron spire from the boat and hear the bells every quarter hours, but every time I've tried to see inside the doors have been locked.
This metal cathedral was constructed in 1891 on the site of the previous one that had been destroyed by a hurricane earlier that year which had been built to replace the one that burned down in 1890 in the great fire of Fort de France. It's made from iron parts forged and shipped from Paris. Then in 1953 the spire was damaged by an earthquake. It wasn't taken down until 1971 and then a 25m taller, stronger bell tower was finished in 1975-9. With that history I'd be asking if some higher force was questioning the parish how much they really wanted a cathedral?
I digress. Through a search on the internet I found the opening times which were 6am to 11am daily which is why it was always closed when I visited, because we're always late. This Saturday morning David dropped me off early to do my sightseeing while he did boat jobs. This time not only were the cathedral main doors open but there was wonderful music coming from inside. By luck rather than good planning I'd come on a morning when a woodwind quartet from the police department were giving a recital. I sat intending to stay for ten minutes but it was so good I stayed until the end. Perhaps some higher force wanted me to fully appreciate the acoustics.
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