Abbaye de Sainte-Trinité (Lessay)

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Choir and crossing
View from the south

The Ste-Trinité Abbey in Lessay is located in the Manche department in Normandy in France . The heyday of the monastery was in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The founding dates of the abbey are controversial. In many representations it can be read that the foundation stone of the monastery was laid in 1056. At the end of the 11th century, the monastic buildings, the choir, the transept and the first two arches of the central nave were completed (the grave of the founder's son, who died in 1098, is in the choir). The church probably contains the oldest ribbed vault in Normandy.

However, as with the other churches of that time in Normandy, there are no direct construction reports and so far no scientific dating either. The Cologne building historian Norbert Nussbaum , who has dealt intensively with church architecture, therefore prefers a more cautious estimate, according to which the church building was more likely started around 1105 and the vault around 1120.

In contrast to the abbey churches of Saint-Étienne of Caen and Saint-Étienne of Cerisy-la-Forêt, the building is not a gallery basilica . However, the triforic floor is designed as a gallery , so more elaborate than in Ste-Trinité of Caen , where it is just a blind arcade . As in the two large abbey churches in Caen and in Cerisy-la-Forêt, the upper storeys are also equipped with a walkway. This means that the basiika is double-shelled on all floors.

In 1356 the abbey was set on fire during the Hundred Years War and the nave and the tower were badly damaged. The subsequent restoration lasted from 1385 to around 1415. Further destruction followed during the Huguenot Wars , during which the monastery was completely looted. After the Allies landed in Normandy, German mines destroyed large parts of the monastery in 1944. The subsequent faithful restoration using old stones took twelve years.

  • Longhouse to the west

  • Central nave cross ribs, side nave cross rib vaults

  • apse

  • Modern organ prospect in the south transept

literature

  • Marcel Durliat : L'art roman (L'art et les grandes civilizations; Vol. 12). Mazenot, Paris 1982, ISBN 2-85088-012-4 .
    • German: Romanesque Art (Great Epochs of World Art / Series 3; Vol. 2). Herder, Freiburg / B. 1983, p. 495, ISBN 3-451-19402-3 .
  • Viviane Minne-Sève: La France romane . Nathan, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-09-290610-0 .
    • German: Romanesque cathedrals and art treasures in France . Bechtermünz, Eltville 1991, Figs. 167 and 170, ISBN 3-927117-84-6 .
  • Norbert Nussbaum, Sabine Lepsky: The Gothic vault. The history of its shape and construction . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1999, p. 36, ISBN 3-422-06278-5 .
  • Michel Pinel: L'Abbaye de Lessay . Association des amis de l'abbaye de Lessay, Lessay 1994.
  • Werner Schäfke : Normandy from the Seine valley to Mont-Saint-Michel (DuMont art travel guide). 7th edition Dumont, Cologne 1990, p. 225, Fig. 64, ISBN 3-7701-1141-9 (EA Cologne 1981).

Coordinates: 49 ° 13 '12.3 "  N , 1 ° 31' 57.7"  W.