Abbey de La Lucerne
Coordinates: 48 ° 47 '30 " N , 1 ° 27' 57" W.
Sainte-Trinité de La Lucerne is an abbey of Premonstratensian from the 12th century. It lies in the region of Normandy in the Manche department in the municipality of La Lucerne-d'Outremer , about 15 kilometers northwest of Avranches .
history
founding
The abbey was founded by Hasculphe de Subligny and his brother Richard, then Bishop of Avranches, in 1143 on a "Courbefosse" plot on the banks of the Thar near La Lucerne-d'Outremer. The first monks under Prior Tankred († 1144) came from the Abbey of Dommartin.
Since the place was too humid, it was abandoned around 1145 under the first regular abbot Teskelin and the monastery was moved a little downstream. Teskelin died in February 1157. Already at this time the monks of the monastery with the Abbey of Ardenne near Caen founded the first subsidiary.
A little later, under Abbot Angot, the abbey was relocated a second time to its current location, which was already called “La Lucerne” at that time. The construction of today's church began before 1171 and was consecrated in 1178.
In the decades that followed, the abbey benefited from generous endowments and privileges from the kings of England and France, the archbishops of Rouen , the bishops of Coutances and Avranches, and other benefactors. After more than fifty years as abbot, Angot died in 1206 and was buried in the north aisle of the church, where his grave was found again in 1984.
middle Ages
In the largely peaceful, sometimes "golden" period of the 13th century, the church was redesigned. A large tracery window in the Gothic style was built into the apse . At the end of this century the bell tower received its crowning balustrade . At the same time the chapels of the transept were enlarged; later the Lords of Beauchamps, benefactors of the abbey since 1300, were buried here.
In the 14th century a Gothic window was also built into the facade; this was last restored in 2003.
In the Hundred Years' War several abbey buildings were damaged. In the second half of the 15th century, it was therefore limited to repairing the damage. The ruined nave was poorly covered with wood. Abbot Richard de Laval, who was in charge of the monastery from 1463 to 1493, built a new cloister that stood until 1700.
Modern times
Abbot François Caignon, elected in 1507, was the first to have a separate house built for himself. This was badly damaged in the French Wars of Religion.
As in almost all French monasteries, La Lucerne was facing a period of decline in the 16th century. Fortunately, Jean de La Beslière was installed as abbot by Henri IV in 1596. Unlike many abbots of his time, he kept his residence in the monastery and followed the rule of St. Norbert . He had the vault of the abbey church restored, erected a new high altar and renovated some of the convent's buildings . He died in 1630; most of its construction is still preserved today. His nephew François de La Beslière then headed the abbey from 1631 to 1656 and carried out the restorations, especially in the abbey church.
Jean Éthéart (1700–1712) and his successor Hyacinthe des Noires-Terres used a different type of stone in their construction work: the blue granite from Carolles . From this time came u. a. the renewed cloister and a large, no longer preserved building, which - instead of the medieval dormitory and the chapter room - connected the refectory with the southern cross arm of the church.
Her successor Jean-Baptiste Pellevé (1727 to 1747) finally initiated the renovation of the abbot building and the surrounding park around 1740.
French Revolution
In the course of the revolution, the monastery was closed and the monks were expelled. The monastery buildings were first sold to the neighboring landlord Léonor Claude de Carbonnel de Canisy (1732-1811), and later to a dealer from Granville. He used the buildings for a cotton mill , later, after his bankruptcy, the abbey buildings were dismantled as a quarry and fell into disrepair.
reconstruction
In 1959 the activities to rescue and restore the abbey began. In addition to the purely structural measures, the Fondation Abbaye de La Lucerne-d'Outremer also had its sights set on the revival of religious life. In 1964 the "Fraternité de L'Abbaye de la Lucerne" was founded under Abbot Marcel Lelégard, who headed the new monastery community until 1994. The building work that began in 1964 with the renovation of the choir continues to this day. In 2010 the tower was re-covered.
Building description
In addition to the abbey church, the monastery grounds include a number of other buildings, some of which date from the Middle Ages . This includes the monastery rooms as well as the gate building with the bakery and the courtroom, the pigeon tower and agricultural buildings. An aqueduct from the 19th century runs through the park, not far from the abbey building from the 18th century is reflected in a pond, the water of which drove the monastery mill.
Abbey church
The church, originally from the 12th century, has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. It owes its present appearance to the reconstruction measures between 1985 and 2003. The sober, towerless facade corresponds to the ideas of the Premonstratensians who emerged from the Cistercians . The main portal is still covered by a round arch; on the level above there are already pointed arch windows . The simple gable is crowned by a cross-shaped antefix .
The massive, square bell tower is a typical example of Norman architecture during the Gothic period. The three lancet windows on each side show that it was built at the beginning of the 13th century.
The interior, which is mainly illuminated by the large choir window, is divided into seven bays by massive, square pillars . The vault, which last collapsed in the 19th century, was reconstructed with its cross ribs at the end of the 20th century.
The baroque organ was completely renovated in 1981; it originally comes from the Cathedral of Chambéry .
Cloister
From the cloister , around which, as usual, grouped the monastery buildings, is - remained little get - as in many Norman abbeys. In the north-west corner, the last remaining arcades rise above rectangular pillars. In the west, only four Romanesque arches embedded in the wall are evidence of the former lavatory , one of the oldest in Normandy. Convent buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries rise behind the otherwise lost west wing of the cloister. On the opposite east side was the chapter house , which, apart from the entrance, was destroyed by two arched portals. A gate in the south wing gives access to the storage cellar from the 12th century and the newly restored refectory above .
Abbot building
The abbot's building is located in the north-east a little away from the other buildings. It was built around 1740 in the classicist style in place of the previous building completed under Abbot François Caignon. Some elements were added in the 19th century.
Pigeon tower and garden
The pigeon tower dates from the beginning of the 13th century and is possibly the oldest in Normandy. In the gardens you come across three areas that want to give examples of medieval, romantic and more modern garden design.
Blue granite portal
Abbot building
Inside view of the pigeon tower
Web links
- Site de la Fondation Abbaye de La Lucerne-d'Outremer (website of the foundation)
- Side of the brotherhood
Individual evidence
- ↑ L'abbaye de la Sainte-Trinité de la Lucerne, in Art de Basse-Normandie, No. 114, Caen 1998, pp. 7-13.
- ↑ Marcel Lelégard, La destruction de l'abbaye de la Lucerne pendant la guerre de Cent Ans et sa restauration au XVe siècle d'après le livre des chroniques, in Cahiers Léopold Delisle (special volume), Paris, 1979, pp. 195-221 .
- ^ Philippe Bonnet, Les constructions de l'ordre de Prémontré en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, in Bibliothèque de la Société française d'archéologie No. 15, Geneva, 1983, p. 166.
- ↑ Art de Basse-Normandie, ibid. P. 15.
- ↑ cf. Bonnet, ibid. P. 166.