Saint-Fortunat Abbey
The former abbey Saint-Fortunat (French Abbaye de Saint-Fortunat ) is located in the art-historically significant French city of Charlieu , in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region , on the southern border with Burgundy, in the Loire department , about 15 km north of Roanne and 5 km east of the Loire .
The special gems of the abbey are the three tympana of the portals of its third church, which was largely destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century, of which only the western facade with the first two aisle bays and the later added two-storey open narthex (vestibule) have survived above ground . The rest of the three-aisled basilica , with its sweeping transept , separated crossing and a staggered choir, is only preserved in its foundation walls. It followed two previous buildings in the 11th century, the foundations of which have also been excavated and are partially open. Of the convent buildings of the monastery that have survived today , only the chapter house and the cloister belong to the medieval inventory. Among the later monastery buildings, the prior's house, built in the 16th century as a multi-wing complex, stands out.
History
The monastery in Charlieu was founded in 872 by Boson , Bishop of Valence , and was dedicated to a saint Fortunatus (French: Saint-Fortunat ). It is very likely Venantius Fortunatus (* around 540 in Valdobbiadene near Treviso , Italy , † between 600 and 610 in Poitiers ), who was a poet and hagiographer of the Merovingian period and bishop of Poitiers.
The abbey church, which was largely destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century, had two predecessor structures, the floor plans of which could be reconstructed from the excavated remains of its foundation walls. The two previous churches stood within the later floor plan of the subsequent church and were more precisely aligned slightly rotated to the east.
The construction of the first church is dated to the 9th century, presumably as a result of the year in which it was founded, and is accordingly classified as part of the pre-Romanesque Carolingian era .
The second church is actually the extensive renovation and expansion of the first, as its dimensions were almost identical. Its outer walls were probably reused. A narthex was added to it in the 10th century in the west, and the construction was supplemented to the extent that a complete stone vault was possible.
Soon after the founding of the Cluny Abbey in 910, the monks of the Fortunatus Monastery joined the Reform Monastery of Cluny in 927 under the later consecrated Abbot Odo (927 - 942). The monastery thus became a Benedictine abbey, which was first mentioned in a document in 994 as Carus Locus (= Charlieu) and gave the later village its name (see also Cherlieu Monastery ).
The mostly two-storey convent buildings of the monastery, in particular the surrounding walls of the cloister adjoining the south side of the church, the east wing of the chapter house with a chapel adjoining to the south and the parlatorium probably date from this time . furthermore from the remains of the south wing, possibly containing the refectory (dining room) on the ground floor .
The third church in Charlieu was built under the successors of Abbot Odilo (994-1049) and Abbot Hugo (1049-1109), a more extensive new building that could be consecrated in 1094 by Pope Urban II . In 1130 an open two-story narthex was added to the west facade of the new building , the entrance of which opened to the north due to the terrain. The floor plan of the third church Saint-Fortunat is directly comparable with the priory church of Ste-Trinité d'Anzy-le-Duc from the 11th century, only about 25 kilometers away , which suggests a joint planning. The three-aisled complex with a protruding transept and a five-part relay choir has also been taken over from its mother church in Autun, which was based on the model of the Cluny II abbey church, which was destroyed in 1088.
In the following years the church structure remained largely unchanged.
The completion of the third church of Saint-Fortunat Abbey coincided with the heyday of pilgrimages to the tomb of the Apostle James the Elder in Santiago de Compostela in the first half of the 12th century, when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims traveled south across the Pyrenees every year . During this time, mainly monastic communities organized the pilgrimage. Four main routes and a network of secondary routes were formed, on which churches, monasteries, hospices , hostels and cemeteries were built.
Saint-Fortunat was a very important station on the Way of St. James on a side route of the Via Lemovicensis , starting in Vezelay , and the priory was able to participate in the pilgrims' willingness to donate with its new church and its relics.
Due to its strategically exposed location at a junction between the Rhone Valley and Loire and on the border with Burgundy, King Philippe Auguste had the monastery, which was under his protection, surrounded by fortifications with defensive walls and towers together with the city in 1180. Extensive remains of this have survived.
The inner Gothic arcades of the cloister date from the 13th century, while the southern gallery has been partly renovated more recently.
As the quarrels over Aquitaine between England and France rose after the mid-12th century, the pilgrimage declined and the wars of the 13th and 14th centuries, especially the Hundred Years War (1339-1453), brought a dramatic slump. The monasteries of Charlieu and Anzy-le-Duc again had to limit themselves to the pilgrims to their own relics.
Compared to other Benedictine or Cluniac monasteries, it is noticeable that a settlement has formed around St-Fortunat, which continued to grow even after the importance of Cluny declined. If one thinks of Semur-en-Brionnais or Anzy-le-Duc, stagnation occurred there after the 12th century. However, Charlieu remained economically and militarily important in the 13th and 14th centuries.
In the 16th century, the Prior's House was built as a multi-wing, two-storey complex on the southeast corner of the convent building. Its south walls stand in the course of the defensive wall of the monastery, which at that time had lost its original meaning.
In the following years of the French Revolution , at the beginning of the 19th century, the church building fell victim to almost complete destruction, apart from a few remains. In addition to the foundation walls of the nave and transept and the choir, the former west wall of the nave, its first yokes of the side aisles with their vaults, parts of the south wall of the nave and the entire narthex have been preserved and thus their main treasure from the west portal and the two north portals . Along with the destruction of the church, parts of the convent buildings were also torn down, such as the south and west wings of the monastery.
Buildings
First church
Dimensions approx, without wall templates (taken from the floor plan and extrapolated)
- Total length (outside): 45.30 m
- Length of the nave (outside): 24.50 m
- Width of the nave (outside): 13.00 m
- Width of the nave (inside): 11.20 m
- Length of the choir bay (inside): 9.40 m
- Wide choir bay (outside). 11.60 m
- Width choir bay (inside): 9.80 m
The single nave of the church stood on a rectangular column-free floor plan, which by external semicircular wall projections in three yokes was divided between which small round-arched windows were spared. The facade (west wall) was divided into three sections by the same pillars with a simple round arched main portal, which was flanked by two windows in the side panels. In the east followed a somewhat narrower, almost square choir bay, each with a window in the side walls. This was closed off to the east by an access choir, the outer wall of which was semicircular in plan and connected to the side walls of the choir bay. A small apse (small apse ) stepped out from the top . The walls of the gallery and the apex idiole were divided by seven semicircular wall templates, between which five arched windows were left open. The gallery was enclosed by a semicircular choir apse with five small windows let into the wall. The choir bay and the ambulatory choir were separated from each other by a wall in which a central arched arcade opening was left open, which were flanked by two smaller arched passages. The floor of the choir apse and the gallery were nine and seven steps higher than the choir bay. The large spans of the nave and choir bay did not allow stone vaults at that time, but were probably covered by wooden roof trusses. The ambulatory was perhaps vaulted by a continuous curved barrel, the apses by half domed domes .
Second church
Dimensions approx, without wall templates (taken from the floor plan and extrapolated)
- Length of nave with narthex (outside): 55.00 m
- Others like the first church
The outline of the second church is almost identical to that of the first, but has been extended to the west by almost ten meters with a narthex the width of the nave, the appearance of which there is no evidence. It is quite possible that the outer walls of the first church have been reused. So you have first removed all semicircular wall templates. On the sides of the nave and choir bay, rectangular buttresses were placed inside and outside with smaller spacing. The former nave was divided into three narrower bays and a wider transept without a lateral projection, but with a crossing. The former only choir bay was divided into two bays. Partition walls on arched arcades and rectangular pillars resulted in the division into three naves. The arcades of the crossing walls stood on cross-shaped pillars. The two choir bays also had three aisles. The originally almost closed choir apse has probably been dissolved into a surrounding arcade gallery. An arched window was cut out in every space between the buttresses . The central nave was presumably barrel vaulted, possibly also the side aisles, which may have been covered with groin vaults. No evidence is known about the elevation of the ships. Perhaps it was that of a pseudo-basilica , without a windowed upper cadastral zone .
Third Church
Dimensions approx, without wall templates (taken from the floor plan and extrapolated)
- Total length with narthex (outside): 62.10 m
- Total length without narthex (outside): 53.30 m
- Length of narthex (outside): 9.00 m
- Length of the nave (outside): 25.50 m
- Width of the nave (outside): 19.40 m
- Width of the nave (inside): 16.00 m
- Width central nave (inside): 7.10 m
- Length of transept (outside): 29.80
- Length of the transept (inside): 26.70 m
- Length of the choir bay with apse (inside): 11.00 m
Longhouse
The third church of St-Fortunat was a three-aisled basilica with a four-bay nave and a windowed Obergade zone. The ship division was taken over by partition walls under the upper cladding, which stood on arched arcades with sharp-edged setbacks. These in turn stood on pillars with a cross-shaped cross-section, which were clad with semicircular old services towards the center of the nave and towards their arcades. The midship-side services reached up to the approaches of the barrel vault, where they merged into their belt arches. The aisle bays were divided by round arched sharp-edged arcades and covered by groin vaults.
The central nave was covered by a flat sloping gable roof, the side aisles by pent roofs of the same type. The outer walls of the central nave and the side aisles were divided on the outside by right-angled buttresses into the yokes, in which round-arched windows were cut out on the ground floor and in the upper aisles.
- Gallery remains of the nave
West wall nave + foundation walls of the churches of O
Foundation walls of the churches by W
north aisle, yoke 1
Central nave west wall
Partition wall capital, yoke 1
Transept
The broad transept enclosed a square crossing in the middle, the arcades of which were supported by sharp-edged setbacks from four pillars, the cross-sections of which were significantly larger than those of the nave. The transept arms were arched by transverse barrels which were covered by gently sloping gable roofs. Its free outer walls were equipped with several arched windows. In the west wall of the southern arm of the transept there is a doorway leading directly into the cloister. The crossing was vaulted with a trumpet dome. One can only speculate about the design of the crossing tower. Possibly it was a multi-storey octagonal bell tower, which was windowed on all sides by sound arcades and was covered with a gently sloping octagonal pyramid roof. The crossing tower of Ste-Trinité d'Anzy-le-Duc or St-Hilaire de Semur-en-Brionnais could be named as an example.
In the east wall of the transept there were five arched arcade openings to the relay choir. The middle one, also called the triumphal arch, corresponded to those of the crossing. Behind it was the choir room, the floor plan of which stood on a rectangle with an adjoining semicircular apse. It was vaulted by a barrel with an adjoining semi-dome, which is covered by a gently sloping gable roof with an adjoining half-conical roof. At the apex of the choir apse there was an apsidiole, which was designed similarly to the choir, but significantly smaller and lower. The choir was flanked on both sides by two such apsidioles, the apses of which were staggered further back towards the outside. This staggering also took place with the heights of the roofs connected to one another.
facade
The former facade of St-Fortunat is now covered by the two-storey narthex, but inside it can be viewed from one storey to another (see also hand sketch).
The vertical structure of the facade wall corresponds to that of the elevation of the nave. Rectangular buttresses in the floor plan in extension of the side aisles and partition walls divide them into three sections, corresponding to the three naves, which are sloping on the top and reach up to just below the eaves of the nave roofs. The sloping upper sides of the wall sections run parallel a piece over the roof areas of the central nave and the aisles that were formerly connected behind them. The central section is divided vertically into two floors by cantilever cornices.
The main portal of the church (west portal), a classic step portal, is located on the ground floor. It consists of four sharp-edged wedge stone arches , two of which stand on pillars set back from the wall and are equipped with carved capitals and profiled fighters and bases. The inner arch encloses the semi-circular, slightly recessed tympanum and is flush with the surface of the ends of the architrave , which rests on corbels above the sharp-edged door reveals (for a description of the reliefs, see separate section).
A large arched window with multilevel archivolts opens up on the upper floor . On both sides, set back from the wall, there are two pillars each with figurative and vegetable carved capitals , profiled fighters and sculpted bases . On each of the struts there are two arches made of round bars, which are accompanied by a narrower twin profile. The inner round rod has a smooth surface, the next one is twisted in a spiral, the next is smooth again and the last is decorated with leaf fans. The arches are covered on the outside by a pearl rod and an angular cantilever profile. The window is flanked on both sides by slim, round-arched blind arcades that are inserted into wall niches. Their sharp-edged wedge arches are approximately at the level of the window capitals. Their pillars are similar to the neighboring ones. The arches are covered with the same profiles as for the window. The gable field above the window is decorated with profiles that look like cross ribs , once horizontally across the entire width of the gable, just above the window and along the sloping gable tops. They are supported by short vertical pieces of the same profile. Two vertical profiles in the form of narrow wall pillars are set between the horizontal and inclined profiles.
In the two side sections of the facade, slender, arched windows with flared walls are cut out. On the east side of the facade wall, the first two bays of the side aisles are also still preserved, including their groin vaults. Here you can also see the shape of the arcade arches of the partition walls and side aisles and the pillars of the nave with their capitals.
Narthex
The narthex is reminiscent of a non-protruding transept with its flat, sloping gable roof, which is aligned across the nave and is covered with red hollow bricks in Roman format, also known as monk-nun bricks . The roof is roughly level with that of the former central nave.
The west side takes on the three-part division of the facade with buttresses up to the eaves, but the cross-section of the buttresses to the right of the center is significantly enlarged as it accommodates a spiral staircase. The stair tower extends a little over the eaves and is covered by a steep stone pyramid roof. Its eaves are supported by a small arched frieze. On the outside there are five slit-like windows. The south-western edge of the tower is beveled with a half meter wide bevel. Profiled eaves protrude over the walls and pillar templates and are also guided over the verges of the gable walls. The outer sections of the west wall are divided horizontally into about two-thirds of their wall height with an angular cantilever profile, which is beveled on the top and which is also led around the buttresses. Above this profile, the pillars recede to about half their depth.
Between the templates and the stair tower, parapets a good meter high are installed flush with the wall, which are covered on the top with cantilevered panels. The buttresses have widened plinths at their bases, the profiled offsets of which remain about a hand's width below the top of the parapets.
In the northern wall section on the ground floor a large round-arched opening is cut out above the parapet, the stepped wall of which takes up the entire width between the pillars. Several arches made of round bars and other profiles stand on sharp-edged recesses of the wall. These are followed inside by a sharp-edged arch on semicircular services equipped with carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. The fighter profiles continue up to the arrows. In the larger central wall section, two such openings are cut out, which stand together on a pillar. A semicircular, fluted, slim service is faded in on its outside, which is equipped like the other services and is at their height. The outer arched profiles meet a little above the fighter, where curved sculptures of leaning forward sit on both sides in an overgrown tendril. The wall section to the right of the stair tower is closed on the ground floor.
On the upper floor, a round arched window is cut out in each wall section, the parapet of which lies just above the cantilever profile that divides the floors. The middle window is the largest. Its garment is graduated with different profiles. The outer round wedge arch is covered by a cantilever profile with a simple roller frieze, which swings horizontally at the arches and is guided up to the buttresses. The rectangular window opening is covered by a semicircular tympanum, which is decorated with a bas-relief. It shows half a six-pass with plant rosettes and leaf fans and is covered by a pearl rod profile. A little above the window, the eaves are interrupted a good bit and replaced by a gable with a flat slope.
The arched window in the left wall section is much smaller. In the lateral setbacks of the reveal edges there are columns with carved capitals, profiled spars and bases on angular plinths . There is an angular wedge arch on top of the spars, which is covered by a cantilever profile with a simple roller frieze. The arched window in the right section of the wall next to the stair tower is a little smaller. Its columns set in the back of the wall are equipped as above. They carry an arch, the visible side of which is decorated with a triple scroll frieze.
The north side of the narthex is a gable wall, which at its edges, slightly indented, is delimited by buttresses with a rectangular cross-section that reach below the eaves. The left buttress is interrupted a little above the cantilevered cornice that divides the storeys and then continued upwards, offset inwards by one pillar width. This cantilevered cornice is at the same height as the cornice on the west side. It is rounded on the underside like a fillet. An arched frieze follows below. The buttresses have the same bases as the pillars on the west wall.
The first floor of the north wall is divided vertically in a ratio of about three to one by a pilaster that is lavishly decorated with leaf ornaments. A second similar pilaster is also on the left side of the large portal, immediately next to the buttress. In these two sections, the second and third portals are left out, for which Saint-Fortunat receives special attention in terms of art history. (See separate section)
The smaller portal does not actually have a real portal opening. In this opening, a parapet blocks the passage, just like the one on the west side. However, it is consistently referred to in the sources as a "small portal". A round arched window is cut out in the center, which corresponds to the one in the left section of the west wall.
The east wall of the narthex consists mainly of the largely preserved west wall of the nave of the church. However, the upper part of the gable wall of the central nave above the window has been removed. In addition, the western end walls of the side aisles have been bricked up a good bit. The former west wall of the church still has the old portal and window openings. In the east wall of the narthex, a circular ox eye is cut out above the side aisles . In the middle of the east wall of the narthex is the same gable as the one on the west wall.
The interior of the narthex consists of two floors, both of which are divided into three room sections by two belt arches, which correspond to the three naves of the nave. The slightly sharpened round belt arches stand on semicircular old services, the rectangular pillars are in front of them and are equipped with carved capitals, profiled warriors and bases and angular plinths. The fighters are also led around the pillars. The room sections are covered by groin vaults, the ridges of which emerge from the edges of the wall pillars above the transom profiles. The wall pillars on the former facade replace the buttresses. The curves of the vaulted gussets on the walls and belt arches are slightly pointed. The east walls of the storeys are predominantly the former facade sections of the nave. (see section facade) The eastern wall sections in the side aisles of the upper floor were created with the construction of the narthex and each have a circular ox eye.
The openings in the west and north walls of the narthex correspond to those described on the outside of the narthex, but without their external decoration. In each of the southern sections of the room there is a small door into the stair tower in the west wall, on the ground floor there is a door to the cloister of the monastery in the south wall.
- Gallery narthex
Ground floor, northwest corner
EG, sudl. Area
capital
Narthex, capital upper floor
Capital facade
Capital facade
EG, sarcophagus
Capital, first floor
Convent building of the monastery
The roofs of the convent buildings are almost all covered by wooden gable roof trusses, which are covered with red hollow tiles in Roman form. Most of the convent buildings were two-story apart from the cloister.
Cloister
The Gothic cloister replaced a Romanesque one in the 13th century. It has a not quite right-angled floor plan, the north gallery follows the slightly sloping alignment of the church. Accordingly, the west gallery is roughly shorter than the east gallery. The inner sides of the cloister consist of a series of slender, ogival arcades, which are separated by pillars in Gothic style, with half columns in front of them on the inside and outside and equipped with capitals, spars and bases. There are three-way tracery in the arches. The surrounding walls of the cloister are the south wall of the nave of the church with the preserved buttresses, the western wall of the former southern transept arm with the preserved door, and the four walls of the only partially preserved convent building. The cloister is covered by an asymmetrical gable roof truss open on the underside. In the courtyard of the cloister there was a drinking water fountain about in the middle of the west gallery.
East wing
Almost the eastern half of the east wing consists of the chapter house, which opens almost in full width towards the cloister with round-arched Romanesque arcatures on parapets. A twin arcade is followed by a round-arched door and further a four-arched arcature, which are separated from each other by short pieces of wall. The sharp-edged wedge arches stand on twin columns, which are arranged one behind the other and equipped with carved capitals, profiled warriors and bases. The reveal edges of the door are bevelled and split into several narrow round bars, which are rounded at the apex of the arch. The slightly rectangular chapter house has a north wall, which was formerly also the gable wall of the south arm of the transept of the church. It is covered by four Gothic ribbed vaults that meet together on a strong column in the middle of the room. They probably replaced Roman groined vaults in the 13th century. The north-eastern vault is adjoined by the ribbed vaults of a chapel, made up of two rectangular vaults and a polygonal apse. A wide, arched window is cut out in the free eastern outer wall of the chapter house. Small ogival windows are cut out between the six buttresses of the chapel. A door to the monastery farmyard opens on its south wall. As with other monasteries, the rooms of the dormitory could have been located above the chapter house on the upper floor.
Capital, chapter house
Capital, chapter house
In the middle of the east wing is a smaller room, which is interpreted as a parlatorium , a room in which the monks were released from their vow of silence and in which - for a limited time - they were allowed to speak (and listen). It is covered by two ribbed vaults and has a round arched door to the cloister and another to the cloister courtyard. Today a small lapidarium has been set up in this room , in which various mostly stone fragments are exhibited. The most important exhibit is a Romanesque relief depicting the Annunciation of two saints, which, according to its style, can be classified in the first quarter of the 12th century. Another door leads to the last room on the first floor of the east wing, which may have belonged to the prior's younger house.
- Gallery Lapidarium
Madonna
Capital m. monk
Bearded man with crown
2 heads
South wing
It could, however, have belonged to the kitchen with the adjoining room in the south wing, to which a large room adjoined, perhaps the refectory.
West wing
In the west wing of the monastery other rooms of the convent were housed, such as a fraterie and other utility and ancillary rooms. Today there is a small museum here.
- Gallery cloister
South gallery
from the north gallery
from the north gallery
from chapter house
Prior's house
The prior's multi-wing house connects to the southeast corner of the convent building. Its south walls are in the course of the defensive wall of the monastery. The greater thickness of these walls suggests that the defensive walls from the 12th century were reused here. In the middle of the south facade of the house there is a main portal facing the city. Further entrances to the two stair turrets lead to the farm yard, which also open up the upper floors of the connected convent buildings.
Farm building and farm yard
There is a drinking water fountain in the center of the farm yard.
The farm buildings of the monastery, which adjoin the prior's house in the east, also follow the course of the city wall, which they used as one of their outer walls, up to the round defensive tower of the old city fortifications that towers east of the choir of the former church. A more recent residential building has been built on its north side. Between the choir apse and the buildings opposite, a wall with a wide portal closes off the farm yard.
The monastery area is closed in the west, also in the course of the former western defensive wall, by a modern building.
Portal sculpture
The great art-historical importance of Saint-Fortunat is less due to its architecture than to the preserved architectural sculpture of its portals. Thus three tympana with architraves with rich figural reliefs have been preserved, which only a few steps away from each other allow a comparison of the earliest and latest phases of Burgundian architectural sculpture from the Romanesque.
West portal
The former west and main portal of the church connected the narthex, which was added around 40 years later, with the nave of the church. The relatively simple design of its archivolt frame is already described in the section Buildings / Third Church / Facade. The semicircular tympanum stands on a relatively slender architrave, slightly receding from its frame. The flat reliefs of the tympanum and the lintel are each framed by a narrow band. The tympanum of the west portal, created shortly before 1094, is one of the first large-format sculptures in Burgundian art.
The Maiestas Domini (“glory of God”) or Christ enthroned in the mandorla , which is carried by two angels, is shown. The throne is suggested as a precious carved bench on which Jesus sits in flowing robe, with his left hand the Book of Life is supported on his knees and his right hand holds up in a gesture of blessing . His face is backed by a cross nimbus. The angels stand slightly bent forward with wings spread wide, obviously ready to fly. Their heads are backed with nimbs.
Twelve apostles are sitting on the architrave in a simple blind arch, facing the viewer, each holding a book in their right hand, and greeting with the left hand that is fully open and pointing upwards.
The structure of the overall composition is clear and calm. The representation appears monumental, which is reinforced by the statue-like immobile posture of the figures, which are softly modeled and applied to the flat background. The robes lie against their bodies in a closed contour.
In the tympanum in particular, the sculptor does not yet dare to do the same approach to spatialization that his colleagues had dared to do shortly before on the capitals of Ste-Trinité d'Anzy-le-Duc .
All of the people's faces are severely damaged.
North portals of the narthex
The two north portals of the narthex were built barely forty years later than the west portal of the nave. The statics and monumentality of this depiction were to give way in such a short period of time to the extremely increased dynamism and expressiveness represented by the two tympana of the narthex portals created around 1130. At that time it came up to give church - or as in this case a narthex - several portals adorned with sculptures, a development that consequently led to the shape of the three or five-gate systems of Gothic cathedrals.
The crowded abundance of decorative forms of jewelry as an expression of a horror vacui (abhorrence of emptiness) is just as characteristic of late Romanesque sculpture as the strong plasticity and expressive exhilaration. Just look at the extreme angling of the legs of the two angels, which are supported in the tympanum of the large portal on the back of Mark or the symbol of Luke. The interplay of light and shadow, completely alien to 11th century sculpture, has become a style-forming component. Many of these ornaments are clearly indebted to ancient models.
Almost all of the heads of the people portrayed have been chopped off, as is usual with ideological destruction, for example in the French Revolution. On the other hand, there are small traces of paint, of which it is not known whether this is the original color from the construction period.
Large north portal
The large north portal is flanked by sharp-edged pilasters, the fronts of which are carved with geometric structures (double wavy lines and angular meanders ). It is divided horizontally into about two thirds of its total height by a finely sculpted fighter profile that runs through all the forwards and backwards offsets. Above are the archivolt arches and the semicircular tympanum, including the high architrave, the capitals, the multi-level wall recesses and the pillars.
In the lower section, on the outside, a short, smooth wall strip is followed by a sharp-edged setback, in which an extremely slender column is set, the dimension of which is steadily decreasing in height and is decorated in the upper part with three circumferential, finely carved bands. It is equipped with a deeply carved capital below the above-mentioned fighter profile and below with a profiled base and an angular, rather high plinth. The setback is followed by a narrow wall protrusion, the front of which is carved with wildly overgrown tendrils. This is followed by a short setback and a protrusion, the front of which is broad with tendrils twisting violently in large spirals. Its side surface is also decorated. After another step back, you end up on the last ledge of the door reveal, the front and inside of which are geometrically decorated. The architrave is also located in this vertical plane, the deep relief sculpture of which is led around the following wall offsets at the same height on both sides. The architrave rests on both sides of the inner reveal projections, which are closed at the top by angular, figuratively carved capitals. The female figure on the reveal under the left capital represents luxuria , lust or abundance. At the lower ends of the offsets of the walls, multi-profiled base profiles are led around.
In the upper section, the graduations of the archivolt arches, which are all decorated on the front and inside, take place in roughly the same rhythm as the lateral offsets. The innermost arch around the tympanum consists of two rods of pearl in narrow coves, between which a wide cove extends. This is followed by a wide arch, the front of which is decorated with a row of heart-shaped curved tendrils, each with four leaf fans. The outside of the next arch is decorated with a very fine, even, diagonal zigzag pattern, which is accompanied by a bead in a hollow groove. The inside of the last and widest arch is again decorated with tendrils similar to the heart-shaped ones. On the outside, double circular rings are lined up with tiny circles embedded in between. A rosette made up of four heart-shaped leaves is incorporated into the inner circular ring. The last arch is covered on the outside by a cantilever profile with intricate leaf ornaments worked into the throat. At each end of the outer bow there is a musician who works a stringed instrument with a bow with swinging hips. The top of the outer arch bears a sculpture of an Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), the thick skin of which is lifelike carved.
The tympanum of the large north portal takes up the iconography of Christ in a mandorla carried by angels, which was introduced into the Burgundian monumental art at the west portal. Added to this, however, are the symbols of the evangelists, which complement the representation on the iconographic theme of the Parousia , the expected return of Jesus Christ on Judgment Day.
The four winged evangelist symbols have also been known as tetramorphs (four shapes) since the 4th century . The strange vision goes back to the Hebrew, to a vision of the prophet Ezekiel ( Ezekiel ), so it has a much older origin. It can be assumed that the four ends of the world and thus the universe ruled by Christ were also thought of.
The double arches of the mandorla are filled with rows of small rings in which Christ sits on a precious carved throne and supports his feet on a stool of the same kind. His body is wrapped in an elegantly curved robe. His right hand is raised in a gesture of blessing, his left hand holds the book of life on his knees. His former face was backed with a cross nimbus.
Two angels with equally curved robes hold the mandorla with both hands and support themselves with a high-angled leg on the back of the lion and the bull. Their bodies strive outwards, but their heads turn over their backs backwards to Christ. Above the angels, the mandorla flank the other two symbols: on the left the human being (Matthew) and on the right the eagle (John), both facing Christ. The angels, like the symbols, have wings spread wide and are ready to fly. The whole semicircular relief appears to be in active movement and partly to step out of the plane of the background.
In the architrave, Mary appears with two angels in the midst of the twelve apostles. This row of 15 people sits on a continuous bench and continues in the stepped cloak of the portal, where Bishop Ratbert, John the Baptist and the two kings David and Boson are shown standing. Everyone seems to be expecting the approach of the parousia. The severed heads of three people were subsequently replaced. With the others, only the nimben remained. The seated apostles all have a book or other object in their hands, the apostle on the far right has a book open on his knees. The fourth person to the left of Mary is Peter, recognizable by the hanging keys.
- Gallery large north portal
Tympanum, left side
Tympanum, right side
Architrave, left
Architrave, center
Architrave, right
to the right of the architrave
to the left of the architrave
Capital left, arch attachment
Right capital, arch base
Steps on the side
Reveal capital on the left
Reveal capital on the right
Small north portal
The portal opening over a parapet is flanked by narrow strips of wall, which are set back somewhat with semicircular columns. These are equipped with vegetable and figurative carved capitals and fighter plates and profiled bases on plinths. A slender architrave rests on top of them, which pushes up to the side wall ends. Above the relief of the architrave there is a wide cantilevered profile with a sloping front and decorated with leaf fans. It is led around the wall strips. On the wall ends there is a sharp-edged archivolt arch, the front of which is carved with five relatively large figures. They are assigned to the theme of the Lord's Transfiguration . The inside of the arch is decorated with curved tendrils.
The redemption theme that can be heard in the tympanum of the large north portal also characterizes the iconography of the smaller north portal. Its tympanum shows the wedding at Cana . This interpretation is supported by the figure on the right, who is filling a jug with water. An expansive table extends almost over the entire width of the scene in the shape of a segmented arch and is covered with a tablecloth that hangs down over the edge of the table and is draped decoratively there. Eight people are seated behind the table on a continuous bench with a backrest, Jesus in the middle, flanked by Mother Mary and John, followed by other disciples. The head of Jesus was backed with a cross nimbus, that of his two neighbors with simple nimbuses. On the table are objects and edibles, such as bowls, a goblet, bread, and a fish, which bear witness to the wedding feast that has just ended. A person sits in front of the table who turns his right side towards the viewer and seems to be watching the water pouring in. You can see the feet of the guests under the table. You rest on a continuous footstool that is curved to match the table and has a dwarf arcade on the front. You can see heads between the seated guests, perhaps of children watching the banquet (?). The semicircular edge of the tympanum is accompanied by a continuous dwarf arcade similar to that of the footstool.
There is a tumultuous mess in the architrave. The outlines of a larger crowd, a few pets and scaled-down architecture, perhaps of altars, can be made out. Presumably Old Testament sacrificial scenes are depicted here.
- Gallery small north portal
Tympanum
Architrave on the right
Architrave on the left
Arch sculpture
Arch sculpture
Tympanum vertex
Left side tympanum
Tympanum right side
Small north portal, relief above portal
Small north portal, tympanum with architrave
literature
- Klaus Bussmann: Burgundy. Cologne [1977] 2nd edition. 1978. (DuMont Art Guide), p. 86ff, color plate 30,31, fig. 33–42.
- Thorsten Droste: Burgundy. 3rd updated edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-7701-4166-0 , pp. 170–172.
- Rolf Tomann, Ulrike Laule, Achim Bednarz: Burgundy. Könemann Verlagsges., 2000, ISBN 3-8290-2707-9 , pp. 233-235.
- Marcel Durliat : Romanesque Art. Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-451-19402-3 , fig. 180.
- Hermann Fillitz : The Middle Ages. I. (= Propylaea art history vol. 5). Frankfurt am Main / Berlin [1969] 1990, Fig. 285a.
- Raymond Oursel, Henri Stierlin (Ed.): Romanesque. (= Architecture of the World, Vol. 15). Taschen-Verlag, Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-8228-9524-5 , p. 181.
- Rolf Toman (ed.): The art of the Romanesque. Architecture - sculpture - painting. Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-89508-213-9 , p. 273.
- Jochen Zink: On the third abbey church of Charlieu (Loire), in particular on the sculpture of the vestibule and its artistic successor. In: Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch. Vol. XLIV, Cologne 1983, pp. 57-144.
- The information on the former design of the three churches and the monastery buildings comes largely from floor plans displayed in the buildings that have been preserved, without any indication of the author.
Web links
Coordinates: 46 ° 9 ′ 28.1 ″ N , 4 ° 10 ′ 7 ″ E