La Chaise-Dieu Abbey

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The abbey of La Chaise-Dieu is a former Benedictine monastery in the French commune of La Chaise-Dieu in the Haute-Loire . Since 1840 the church and since 1941 also the monastery buildings have been registered as monuments historiques .

The monastery is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture . It contains the high tomb of Pope Clement VI. and is also famous for the Totentanz -Fresko, the tapestries with scenes from the New and Old Testament as well as for the music festival, which in 1966 by Georges Cziffra was founded.

View of La Chaise-Dieu with the monastery church

history

Facade of the monastery church. The staircase from 1758 is smaller than the original version from the 14th century, which took up the entire width of the front.

middle Ages

Reclining figure on the high grave of Pope Clement VI.

The abbey was founded in 1043 by Robert von Turlande and two of his students. It initially had the Latin name Casa Dei ("House of God"), from which La Chaise-Dieu developed. In 1052 Pope Leo IX introduced. the house of God under his protection. From the 11th to the 13th centuries, the abbey and the surrounding area experienced rapid and significant development. When the founder died in 1067, 300 monks, the so-called "casadéens", lived here. In addition, numerous craftsmen, farmers, traders and lawyers settled here. La Chaise-Dieu gained a meaning in the Auvergne that came close to that of the Burgundian Abbey of Cluny . In the years 1078/9 Adelelmus, Lesmes of Burgos , later revered as saint , was abbot here. In 1097 Count Raimund of Toulouse made a pilgrimage to La Chaise-Dieu before setting off on the crusade . The abbey received significant contributions of noble families, including the village of Saint-Nectaire , and managed 42 daughter monasteries, including in Reims , Burgos , Saintonge , Savoy and the French-speaking Switzerland ( Grandson , Môtiers ), the Abbey Trizay , the Abbey Chanteuges , Notre Dame in Orcival , churches in Aire-sur-l'Adour and Monistrol-d'Allier , the Monastery of Saint-Pierre de Brantôme , the Abbey of Faverney , the Saint-André convent in Lavaudieu and the Monastery of Frassinoro . Popes who paid a visit to the abbey include Urban II , Calixt II , Alexander III. and Innocent II. In 1342, Pierre Roger, who had lived as a monk in La Chaise-Dieu, was named Clement VI in Avignon . elected pope . He financed a new building for the abbey church, in which he was finally buried, and entrusted the construction management to the architect Hugues Morel, who was also responsible for the expansion of the Papal Palace in Avignon . The new building was built in 1378 under the pontificate of Gregory XI. , a nephew of Clement VI.

Modern times

Angel playing the flute in the south aisle

In 1516, as a result of the Bologna Concordat between Pope Leo X and King Francis I , La Chaise-Dieu, like most other French abbeys, was established as a commander . Numerous personalities, including Richelieu and Mazarin , were appointed commendate abbés (abbés commendataires) , sometimes without ever visiting the place.

On their raids through the Auvergne and Rouergue , Calvinist troops looted the abbey in August 1562 and destroyed the 44 marble statuettes around the tomb of Pope Clement VI. were set up and represented his family. Cardinal Richelieu made the abbey subordinate to the Congregation of the Maurines in 1640 , which resulted in a loss of its autonomy. After most of the monastery buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1695, they were rebuilt by the monks in the following decades. In 1727 Bishop Jean Soanen was admitted, who had been exiled by the king to La Chaise-Dieu as a Jansenist and lived here until his death (1740).

In 1786, Cardinal de Rohan , involved in the collar affair , was exiled to La Chaise-Dieu. While the abbey still had 40 monks at that time, religious life ceased at the beginning of the French Revolution (1790). Although Prosper Mérimée showed no particular interest in La Chaise-Dieu Abbey in his report on his inspection tour through the Auvergne in 1837, he had it registered as a Monument historique . A prominent visitor in the 19th century was the writer George Sand , who described her impressions in Voyage en Auvergne . Since 1975, when some members of the community of St. John settled here, there has been a revitalization of religious activities.

Tapestries

On the walls around the choir , 24 tapestries of Flemish origin hang over a length of 65 meters , with a height of two meters. They are made of wool, with additional threads of silk, linen, gold and silver, and were used in 1518 at the instigation of the Abbot of Saint-Nectaire . They represent a splendid further development of the medieval Bible for the poor .

Each carpet is designed in the form of a triptych , the main picture of which contains a scene from the New Testament in the middle , which is heralded by two smaller, framing scenes from the Old Testament . The following scenes are shown in the central main images:

Detail from the tapestry depicting the Last Judgment

Dance of death

Fragment of the dance of death (15th century) in La Chaise-Dieu Abbey

The north aisle of the choir contains a fresco on three panels and four columns by an unknown artist on the outer wall , which is dated to the second half of the 15th century. The dance of death is the second oldest example of its kind, after the Danse macabre from 1425 on the Cimetière des Innocents in Paris' Quartier des Halles , which was destroyed in 1669. La Chaise-Dieu also illustrates the inevitability of death and the equality of all social classes - powerful, bourgeois and common people - before death. The medieval legend The Three Living and the Three Dead is believed to be a source of inspiration . According to the latest research, the surface of the fresco was treated with pumice , which would invalidate the hypothesis that the work remained unfinished.

organ

Organ of the abbey church of La Chaise-Dieu

After the installation of the first small organ with 13 registers in 1683, the organ builder Marin Carouge, who was mainly active in Franche-Comté , built a large case in 1727 , which probably looked quite similar to today's appearance. This organ was last heard in 1791. After restorations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the condition of the organ deteriorated. It was renovated again in 1995 by Michel Garnier and inaugurated by Michel Chapuis .

I Positif de Dos C – c 3
Montre 8th'
Dessus de Flûte 8th'
Bourdon 8th'
Prestant 4 '
Flûte à cheminée00 4 '
Nazard 2 2 ⁄ 3  '
Duplicate 2 '
Tierce 1 3 ⁄ 5  '
Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  '
Cornet III
Plein-Jeu V
Trumpets 8th'
Cromorne 8th'
Voix humaine 8th'
Clairon 4 '
II Grand Orgue C-c 3
Bourdon 16 '
Montre 08th'
Bourdon 08th'
Prestant 04 '
Flûte à cheminée00 04 '
Big Tierce 03 1 ⁄ 5  '
Nazard 02 2 ⁄ 3  '
Duplicate 02 '
Fourth 02 '
Tierce 01 3 ⁄ 5  '
Cornet V
Fittings IV
Cymbals III
1st trumpet 08th'
2nd trumpet 08th'
Clairon 04 '
III Récit c 1 –c 3
Cornet V
Trumpets000 08th'

IV echo f 0 - c 3
Flute 08th'
Prestant0000 04 '
Cromorne 08th'
Cornet III
Pedale Cf 0
Flute 08th'
Trumpets0000 12 '
Clairon 06 '

List of Abbés commendataires

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ La Chaise-Dieu - Église abbatiale in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  2. ↑ La Chaise-Dieu - Abbaye in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  3. ↑ L'église abbatiale (French)
  4. ↑ Information on the organ (French, English)
  5. ^ Brother of François de La Rochefoucauld
  6. ^ Brother of François de La Rochefoucauld

literature

  • Pierre Roger Gaussin: L'Abbaye de La Chaise-Dieu (1043-1518) - L'abbaye en Auvergne et son rayonnement dans la chrétienté . Edition Cujas, Paris, 1962.
  • Achille Jubinal : La danse des morts de la Chaise-dieu [...]. Paris 1862.

Web links

Commons : La Chaise-Dieu Abbey  - Collection of images
Commons : Tapestries of Saint-Robert Abbey in La Chaise-Dieu  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 45 ° 19 ′ 15 ″  N , 3 ° 41 ′ 46 ″  E