Trizay Abbey
The original priory, later the Abbey of Trizay, was one of the most important and architecturally idiosyncratic monasteries in the Charente-Maritime department (not to be confused with the Cistercian Trizay abbey in the Vendée department ).
location
The ruins of the Benedictine Abbey of Trizay are located about ten kilometers southeast of the city of Rochefort and about one kilometer outside the village of Trizay , on the Canal de Pont-l'Abbé in the Saintonge ( Charente-Maritime department , France ).
history
In the 11th century, the abbey was built in the middle of the forest on a promontory overlooking the fertile Arnoult valley . The legend reports that a landlord ( seigneur ) of Tonnay-Charente had the buildings built as atonement for his cruel misdeeds. This distant past is poorly documented and therefore hardly known. The priory was initially in the care of the Benedictine monks, who were called "black monks" because of the color of their robes. Later these were replaced by monks of the order of La Chaise-Dieu (lat. Casa-Dei ) from Auvergne , who had religious establishments in the Charente (e.g. Sainte-Gemme or Meursac ), but also elsewhere in France and in Europe . With the prior there were initially 13 monks, together with the lay brothers a total of about 50 people, whose community was dependent on the monastery of La Chaise-Dieu , which is more than 300 kilometers (as the crow flies) away . The abbey's lands included large arable fields, meadows, forests, moors, vineyards and salt pans.
Building description of the abbey church
Of the formerly monumental octagonal central building, only three wall sections with four building corners remain. The larger choir chapel with apse and dome and two smaller chapels with apses, which are connected to each other by locks, are attached to the wall sections . In the upright wall sections of the octagon , a round window, so-called " ox eyes ", is still preserved on both sides of the chapel abside .
The outer contours of the octagon were excavated in the course of the renovation work and made visible in the form of a platform plate. The actual appearance of the magnificent central building of the abbey church, which is probably unique in Saintonge, and its vaulting and roofing will probably remain unknown. On some capitals in the apses, lions without hair and mane with heavily twisted bodies are depicted. Similar to those in Saint Eutrope de Saintes, these lions had the function of protecting the entrance to the church tower and the monks. There are also capitals with an eagle and two birds with goat heads. On the wall there are remains of a red and ocher fresco . The choir chapel is illuminated by arched windows, framed by small columns, the capitals of which are decorated with vegetal decorations.
Gallery capitals
Birds with goat heads
Mythical animals
vegetable decor
Building history
The Church, under the patronage of St. Evangelist John , dated from the 12th century. The original building was an octagonal central building with a main apse on the eastern facet and two secondary apses on the south-east and north-west facet. The monastery was rebuilt into a fortress during the Wars of Religion (1562–1598), but was unable to protect itself from the considerable looting and destruction (1585–1586). This can explain the high level of disrepair in which it was later found. After the church was destroyed in the wars of religion, a wall was built into the triumphal arch of the choir chapel in order to have a church space. Services were held there until 1840. During the French Revolution of 1789, the rubble was sold to the population as a national good for demolition and the remaining building remains were converted into an agricultural yard.
The entire complex of the Trizay Abbey has been recognized as a Monument historique since 1920 . The Trizay Township purchased the buildings and began restoration work in 1990. The mayor and Senator Michel Doublet raised the funds for the renovation, which was completed in 2004.
Chapter House
The facade of the chapter house , facing the no longer existing cloister, dates from the late 12th or early 13th century. It consists of four open windows and a doorway, which are covered with multi-stepped and jagged round arches. The arches rest on slender columns with capitals arranged in rows and decorated with vegetal decor. The door on the left leads to the so-called "Mette", a staircase that leads to the bedrooms on the upper floor. The chapter house is spanned by a six-part, barely delicate, but rather massive cross-ribbed vault from the 13th century. Pronounced and sculpted keystones are missing here. The bundles of ribs stand without carved capitals on round pillars that end with narrow profiles. On the walls there are simple consoles without a column base on which the ends of the ribs stand. On the rough stone walls there are " graffiti " in the form of carved paw crosses of the Templars , a Santiago cross and various rosettes . The monks sat on stone benches along the walls and listened to the prior's lecture. The exclusive gathering of the choir monks was called "Kapitel"; the lay brothers who did manual work stayed outside in the cloister and could listen from there.
Gallery Chapter House
Console with head
Console with head
Templar paw cross , chapter house
Small dormitory (dormitory)
It was reached via the "Mette", a staircase that enables a direct connection between the sleeping quarters and the abbey church and the cloister. The dormitory is as big as the chapter house below. It was restored with a floor covering made of terracotta tiles , over which a whitewashed oak beam. The monks slept in an unheated common room, like St. Benedict of Nursia prescribed it. There are slender Romanesque arched windows on the west side.
Large dormitory
This room follows the previous dormitory. Here, too, arched windows give the room its light. At the level of the wall paintings was the prior's room , which is equipped with a fireplace. The coat of arms belongs to the Goumard, lords of Echillais. Jacques von Saint Nectaire, elected in 1491 and died in 1518, was the last prior of the order. After him there were only secular clergy who were not subject to the monastery rules. The prior had his own staircase that led to the refectory and the cloister.
The wall paintings date from the 17th century and have been restored to the height of the hatching. Half of them depict biblical scenes and were discovered under fifteen layers of limestone. There are four representations in the naive style:
Gallery of plaster paintings
Rural day
Archangels Raphael and Tobias
Jupiter in the triumphal chariot
David defeats Goliath
- A rural day. The lying woman is wearing a diadem , a boy is wearing a banner on which one can read Latin words that are written in mirror image.
- Depiction from the book Tobias: the archangel Raphael accompanies the young Tobias on his journey while Tobias catches a fish.
- The giant Goliath , killed and beheaded by the young David , who later became king of Israel.
- Jupiter , with a bundle of lightning bolts in hand, in a triumphal chariot drawn by an eagle .
Refectory (common dining room)
During meals, the monks sat at tables that were lined up and ate without anyone opposite. The prior sat in the middle. The order of the monks was determined by their service time in the monastery. A monk read from the chapters of the Benedictine Rule from a pulpit . The lecturing monk changed every week.
The ribbed vaults date from the 15th century. The paintings in the central vault date from the 15th and 16th centuries. They only needed minor restoration and represent the symbols of the four evangelists:
- the winged lion for St. Markus
- the winged bull for St. Luke
- the winged eagle for St. John
- the winged man for St. Matthew
The plaster paintings were discovered under three layers of lime plaster. There are blended stone arcades on the gable wall of the refectory , above which there are stone masonry in a Romanesque herringbone bond . On the arcades, scallops remind of the passage of pilgrims to / from Santiago de Compostela. The western part of the refectory was acquired by the municipality and converted into private apartments.
Pantry
The pantry is covered by a pointed barrel vault. The vault is divided into two parts by a belt arch . The capitals are decorated with vine leaves. A little devil warns of the consequences of excessive wine consumption.
Cloister
A vaulted corridor connects the former cloister with the gardens and fields of the outside area. The fountain dates from the 12th century. The cloister was the center of the abbey, around which the abbey buildings were grouped. The four galleries were initially covered with wooden beams and a monopitch roof, later stone structures (columns, vaults) were added with more or less decor.
Stained glass window
As part of the restoration work and at the end of it, the municipality asked for seven arched windows to be fitted with modern glass paintings . The artistic work was entrusted to the painter and engraver Richard Texier and the artist and glass master Gilles de Rousvoal of the Duchemin stained glass in Paris. The GDF Foundation ( GDF Suez ) financed the work.
literature
- Thorsten Droste : Poitou: Western France between Poitiers and Angoulême - the Atlantic coast from the Loire to the Gironde. DuMont-Verlag, Cologne 1999 ISBN 3-7701-4456-2 .
- François Eygun: Saintonge romane. Zodiaque, [Saint-Léger-Vauban] 1970
Web links
- Abbaye Saint Jean l'Evangeliste (French)
- Abbaye Saint Jean l'Evangeliste (French)
- Abbaye Saint Jean l'Evangeliste (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Abbaye, Trizay in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
Coordinates: 45 ° 52 ′ 54 ″ N , 0 ° 54 ′ 50 ″ W.