Saint Trophîme Cathedral: Overall view, the west portal

The west portal is one of the treasures of Romanesque sculpture, presenting the story of the Apocalypse according to St. John, and the Gospel of St. Matthew. Christ is seated in majesty in the tympanum, with the symbols of the Evangelists around him; the angel of St. Matthew, the lion of St. Mark, the bull of St. Luke, and the eagle of St. John. The Apostles are seated below him. To the left of the portal, a procession of chosen Christians are going to heaven, while to the right sinners are being cast into hell.

The outer walls of the present cathedral of St Trophîme are normally assigned to the Carolingian period. The church was reconstructed with a nave and aisles in the Romanesque style during the first quarter of the 12th century, and a new Gothic choir was built in the mid-15th. The Romanesque sculpture can be divided into four distinct groups: the nave capitals, the façade and the north and east cloister galleries. The nave capitals, which derive from late antique Corinthian forms, have been dated on stylistic grounds to ca. 1120.