La Joliette | Place de la Major La Major Cathedral is located on an esplanade between the Old Port and the Port de la Joliette, on the site of the old cathedral of the 12th-Century, from which came the Occitan name of "Major". Its architecture and interior design, with marble and porphyry, gives it a special appearance for a religious building. Arch. Léon Vaudoyer, Henri Espérandieu and Henri Antoine Revoil 1852-93. On the bottom of the Cathedral, the City decided to build warehouses, les Voûtes, the side of the promontory serving as the foundation for the cathedral, along the waterfront. Visually, these warehouses were part of a "foreground" of the cathedral. So, their architecture was the subject of special care. Vaudoyer and Espérandieu worked to harmonize the façade of these "commercial spaces" with that of the cathedral arches drawing each store echoed the arches of the transept of the cathedral while a beautiful double staircase decorated a stone fountain assured the connection between, on one hand the Esplanade of the Major, and on the other hand, the arches and piers which docked commercial vessels.