Saint-Jean de Sorde Abbey

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Saint-Jean de Sorde monastery church

The Abbey of Saint-Jean de Sorde in the French community Sorde-l'Abbaye , Landes department , is a Founded 960 Benedictine Abbey . Since 1998 it has been recognized as part of the UNESCO World Heritage “ Camino de Santiago in France”.

description

The completely preserved abbey from the 10th century in the small town of Sorde, surrounded by walls and the houses of the village, emerged from an ancient fortification. In 1290 the common lords , the Abbot of Sorde and Eustache de Beaumarchais, Seneschal of Toulouse , placed the place and its possessions under the protection of the King of France in view of the threat from the English king. The abbey was then surrounded with walls. Only a few buildings have survived from this period. The apse of the church with its two choir chapels dates back to the 12th century, the bell tower dates from the 10th century.

history

The place near the confluence of the Gave de Pau and the Gave d'Oloron is almost ideally situated, on rich floodplain and with the possibility of fishing salmon in abundance. In Gallo-Roman times there was a villa rustica on the site of which the Benedictine monks of the Middle Ages could build their monastery. It was to be an important stage on the Via Turonensis , a French section of the Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela .

Roman remains

The area is crossed by an ancient north-south connection, which in Roman times was to become the road from Bordeaux to Astorga ( Léon province in Spain ), and in the Middle Ages it became a pilgrimage route. This has resulted in an almost uninterrupted settlement since prehistoric times.

Since the end of the 19th century, the existence of a Roman villa on the site of the later abbey was known. The discovery of a mosaic in 1957 in the courtyard of the abbot's residence sparked further excavations. Between 1958 and 1966, the archaeologist J. Lauffay discovered extensive building remains from the third and fourth centuries, some of which were still in use into the Middle Ages and on whose foundation walls the abbot's residence was built in the 16th century. The excavations in the underground of this house uncovered Roman thermal baths with caldarium , tepidarium and frigidarium (hot bath, moderate and cold bath), heated with a hypocaust (hot air underfloor heating) and a floor decorated with mosaics. Remains of an atrium surrounded by galleries and residential buildings were also discovered . The remaining facilities of the villa are located under the monastery buildings and the church; these were not excavated. However, they can explain some irregularities in the abbey's layout, including the displacement of the north transept of the church that was forced by the Roman buildings.

A second villa exists further east in the village of Barat-de-Vin.

The abbey

The first written mention of the abbey is a letter of foundation from the year 975, but the list of abbots in the Chronicle Gallia Christiana does not start until 1060. The abbey prospered in the Middle Ages. For pilgrims it was a haven of peace between the dangerous crossings over the two wild rivers. In Jakobsbuch (written around 1139), the author, Aimeric Picaud, recommends mistrusting the ferrymen and preferring to lead their horses through the water on halter, because the boats are often much too small for them.

With every ferry failure, the boatmen robbed the drowned people. This situation only improved in 1289 when a toll bridge was built. Since then the abbey has suffered numerous destruction, especially in 1523 by the Spaniards under the Count of Orange and later in 1569/70 during the Huguenot Wars by the troops of Gabriel de Lorges .

The abbey was rebuilt by the Congregation of Saint-Maur in the 17th century and lasted until the French Revolution when it was finally destroyed.

architecture

Benedictine floor plan

This church floor plan is based to a large extent on the needs of the liturgy - the church should be functional. A large choir and the central part of the transept allow the entire community to gather there; pilgrims and the local population can be found in the nave . The altar is in the choir room. Chapels are built on both sides of the choir. The side aisles and the outer areas of the transept are set up in such a way that processions and the passage of pilgrims past the reliquary can be organized there. In addition, the cross shape of the church symbolizes the dying of Jesus Christ on the one hand, and the human figure on the other: the transepts as outstretched arms, the heart under the crossing , the head pointing to the east, to the rising sun, which drives away the darkness of the night.

The striking asymmetries are undoubtedly due to the Roman foundation walls on which the medieval church was largely built in Romanesque style and completed with the Gothic ribbed vaults of the aisles. Their vault ribs are made of brick. The interior of the church has been badly damaged by restorations, but remarkable pieces of furniture have been preserved. Large parts of the building have lost their Romanesque character. Only the choir, which was built in two stages, dates entirely from this era. The northern portal is only a little younger, it dates from the 12th century.

The church

The south apse chapel from the 11th century is the oldest part of the church. The exterior view is remarkable, not only because the south transept with its Gothic gable gives the impression of a second church attached at right angles, but also because of the pink color of the stones used for the choir. Inside you can admire an extensive floor mosaic from the 11th century behind the high altar. The central field with depictions of birds and hunting scenes takes up motifs from Moorish art of the Middle Ages.

  • The high altar, in the form of a tomb, was created in the workshop of the Mazetti brothers in 1784 and consists of six different colored types of marble. It is a balanced late work.
  • The monks' choir stalls date from the last quarter of the 18th century. In the 19th century it was dismantled and distributed throughout the church.
  • A group of three low wrought iron bars from the last quarter of the 18th century serves as the altar
  • A wrought iron sideboard (a side table for cult objects) from the same period
  • A statue of the Virgin and Child made of wood, originally from the 18th century, but with more recent colored paint
  • The tomb of Abbot Vincent de Caste made of white marble. In 1679 he joined the monastery of the Maurist Congregation. Presumably he is also the author of the monastery chronicle from 1677.
  • The 19th century oak pulpit in neo-Gothic style.
  • A stone sarcophagus without a lid was discovered during excavations in 1960; it is exhibited in front of the northern portal.
  • The sacristy has oak furniture from the last quarter of the 18th century: built-in cupboards, door and fireplace are connected by high paneling

The abbot's residence

The building is flanked by a polygonal stair tower and was built on the ruins of a Roman thermal bath from the 3rd and 4th centuries. From a viewing platform inside, you can see the heating system and fragments of floor mosaics.

The Benedictine monastery

Of the other buildings of the monastery, which were destroyed in the Huguenot Wars and then rebuilt in the 18th century, nothing has been preserved except for a few walls overgrown with plants. From the terrace you have a beautiful view of the Gave d'Oloron.

A stone gospel

The figurative decorations complemented the sermons, in which images and allegories were used to bring the gospel closer to the population . In these stone gospels, those who were ignorant of reading learned about the Old Testament and the life of Jesus.

Despite the reworking of the paintings in the 19th century, some original figures from the 12th century still adorn the arches leading to the choir chapels. There are a few wooden friezes and, in particular, four heavily restored capitals . Most of the heads shown are made of plaster. Despite the changes, its style is reminiscent of the capital figures with the beheading of John the Baptist in the Abbey of Saint-Sever .

In the northern choir chapel, the Passion and Triumph of Christ are depicted on opposite sides . On the north side you can see his capture, with his hands tied and held by soldiers, he stands next to Judas and other soldiers. At the level of the abacus , decorated with palm branches , an inscription explains the scene. On the south side, his victory is illustrated by a depiction of Daniel in the lions' den blessing the holy book. Here, too, there is an explanatory text above, next to an upside-down head that spits out tendrils.

The capitals of the southern choir chapel depict scenes from the childhood of Jesus. On the south side, Mary sits on a throne between angels and holds the baby Jesus. The abacus is decorated with tendrils. The north side shows the representation in the temple : Mary presents the wrapped baby Jesus to the kneeling elderly Simeon , with two angels leading them to each other. Doves remember the offering made in the temple. The abacus is decorated with masks that spit out tendrils.

The mosaics

The art of the Middle Ages colored the interior and sometimes the exterior of churches: mosaic floors, wall paintings and colorful windows. Mosaics, in particular, were used extensively in Romanesque art, as previously in Roman and Byzantine .

The mosaics behind the high altar date from the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century. As in Saint-Sever, they cover the entire floor of the apse. They must have been covered in the 17th century and were rediscovered during repair work in 1869.

The mosaics consist of eight fields of different conservation status. Five of them show different designs of tendrils and foliage (hogweed and vine) or flowers arranged in a circle. In one field, a rectangular wickerwork is surrounded by braids. Another is designed as a large geometric rosette, composed of circles and semicircles, which enclose four areas in which groups of animals are depicted: two pairs of cats, back to back with intertwined tails, a pair of eagles with outspread wings and a dog, one of them Hares pursued.

It is likely that the mosaics in Sorde were made by the same workshop as those in Saint-Sever. Technology and composition are identical, and the representations are both based on ancient models. There is something similar in Lescar , Moissac and Layrac .

swell

  • Display boards in the Abbey of Saint-Jean de Sorde

Web links

Commons : Abbaye de Sorde  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 43 ° 31 '44 "  N , 1 ° 3' 17"  W.