Saint-Gilles Abbey Church
The former abbey church of Saint-Gilles is located in the middle of the village of the same name, St-Gilles, on the northern edge of the Camargue in the Gard department , France . It is also called the Abbey Church of St. Egidius in Saint-Gilles or the Abbey Church of St. Egidius in Saint-Gilles .
The former abbey church is particularly known for its rich and artfully designed facade with three portals. Other sights are the stone spiral staircase Vis de St-Gilles (screw of St-Gilles) and the crypt, with the tomb of its patron, St. Giles .
St-Gilles was once one of the four great pilgrimage destinations of Christianity. To this day, it is an important stage on the Via Tolosana , one of the four main French sections of the Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela .
Since 1998 the church has been designated as part of the Camino de Santiago in France and is therefore a UNESCO World Heritage Site .
history
The origins of the monastery go back to a legend, according to which Saint Aegidius (French: Saint-Gilles ), a wealthy merchant from Athens, who was born around 640, retired to solitude at this point in order to live far from the world To lead poverty and renunciation. He is said to have fed on the milk of a doe and lived for years in the diocese of Nîmes as a hermit in a cave at the mouth of the Rhone in the Mediterranean.
In 680, Aegidius founded the Abbey of Saint-Gilles, which he headed as abbot until his death - the king had the monastery built for him. Several “miracles” were ascribed to him during his lifetime. Not long after his death, probably around 720, an increasing number of pilgrims made their way to the hermit's tomb. In the 9th century the monastery was placed directly under the Pope and about two hundred years later in the 11th century it came into the care of the Benedictine Order of Cluny , which had now risen to world renown. The monastery soon played a key role in the skyrocketing importance of pilgrimage.
There is a passage in the Analecta Bollandiana about the size and appearance of the monastery before the construction of the 12th century complex . There a church family is described, consisting of an "ecclesia major", which had three crypts, a "Petruskirche", whose choir could hold 80 monks and had an extensive vestibule, and a "Marienkirche". However, there is no concrete statement about its exact location and architecture. An archaeological excavation, which was initiated in the summer of 2004, suggests that the complex stood on the same site on which the remains of the 12th century abbey are today. Immediately in front of the west facade, in addition to the remains of demolished buildings, a large collection of human bones and an early Christian grave were uncovered. The fact that funerals took place there in pre-Romanesque times is a clear indication of the sacred use of the site.
St. Gilles was not only the destination of a lively pilgrimage, but also became a gathering point for pilgrims who had taken the Via Tolosana , one of the four main routes of the pilgrims to Spain, from eastern southern France and Italy . Likewise , all pilgrims coming from northern France embarked in St. Gilles, which had a seaport since the 11th century and was connected by a canal to the arm of the Petit Rhone and above it to the Mediterranean Sea, in order to then set course for Rome. So St. Gilles developed into an important pilgrimage center in the south of France with great economic importance. The city is said to have had 40,000 inhabitants in the 13th century, today there are around 13,500.
The Romanesque church of Saint-Gilles was built in the 12th century. The building began in 1116 and ended in the portal facade, a monumental display wall. According to the inscriptions of a certain "Petrus Brunus" under the statues of Matthew and Bartholomew , it is dated to the last decades of the 12th century. More recently, the period in which the facade was built has been narrowed down to the years between 1125 and 1150 by means of precise style-critical comparisons. The abbey thus participated in the climax of the pilgrimage to St. James in the first half of the 12th century.
The Counts of Toulouse also contributed to the rise of St. Gilles as secular sovereigns. Raymond IV of Toulouse (* 1041/1042; † 1105), who called himself Raimund of St. Gilles, was probably also born there, who owned the land around the monastery of St. Gilles, chose this place as the starting point for the first Crusade and became its leading figure. However, the monastery and the count were not always friendly. For a physical assault on the abbey, Raymond IV had to repent according to the stipulations of the Synod of Clermont .
The decline of St. Gilles followed even faster than its rise. In 1208 the papal legate Pierre de Castelnau was murdered in the city. Thereupon Innocent III called. immediately to the crusade against the Cathars , who were also called Albigensians, after their stronghold Albi . Even the submission of Raimund VI., Who is said to have been an accomplice in this attack, could not avert the consequences. Due to the disputes between France and England after the middle of the 12th century, the pilgrimage movements to Spain went back and the wars of the 13th and 14th centuries. Century they collapsed completely. The Albigensian War also reduced the flow of pilgrims and with them the previously plentiful sources of money dried up. The monastery placed itself under the protection of the French king in 1226.
In the Huguenot Wars in 1562 the abbey and church were devastated, set on fire and the monks, if they were still alive, were thrown into the well of the crypt and drowned.
In 1622 the campanile was torn down . Only the crypt, the walls, pillars and pillars of the nave, the spiral staircase in the north side of the former choir and large parts of the facade have been preserved.
During the French Revolution , the remaining facade was largely removed and later rebuilt from preserved fragments. Therefore, the current state of the facade in many parts does not correspond to its original state, which also explains the different state of preservation.
The current church was rebuilt in the 17th century on the old crypt in neo-Gothic style. Behind its east side you can still see the foundations and column bases of the Romanesque building, this had a choir ambulatory with a chapel wreath based on the model of Cluny, the archetype of the pilgrim church. In the north wall there is still a higher remnant of the old structure, the famous spiral staircase to the bell tower, the Vis de St. Gilles .
Since 1840 the architect Charles-Auguste Questel, together with the archaeologist Le Normand and the engineer Anacréon Delmas, gave the remains of the church its present appearance. Between 1842 and 1845 he cleaned the choir ruins and turned them into a museum. He also cleared the crypt and restored the facade.
The damage to the decorations on the portal facade were restored and the side portals reopened. A new open staircase was created, which replaced the middle staircase with a staircase extending over the entire facade. Some of the houses in the forecourt, which blocked the view of the facade, were demolished, which made today's space possible.
architecture
facade
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North portal: 2–5, 25
Section to the left of the main portal: 24–27
Main portal: 1, 8–12
Section to the right of the main portal: 32–35
South portal: 16–22
The facade or portal of Saint-Gilles takes up the entire width of the western front of the church. Along with St. Trophime d'Arles , it is one of the most important in Provence . It is bounded on both sides by two slim tower-like pillar massifs with a square floor plan, which protrude about one meter from the facade, with internal spiral stairs. The north towers over the facade by about four meters, the south is significantly higher and contains a bell chamber. The towers are not covered by helmets, but by accessible roof surfaces.
Today's horizontally continuous wall closure directly above the top archivolts main portal also owes its disconcertingly fragmentary appearance to the destruction of the wars of religion. After the upper wall sections were probably removed when the building of the nave was demolished, the west wall received this straight end without any structural reference to the baroque gable wall of the central nave, which with a clear setback to the east appears completely isolated above the facade. The new vaults of the side aisles are completely covered by the eleven meter high façade. Today's viewer has to imagine a much more monumental upper wall of the facade as a three-part gable wall, which reflected the elevation of the basilica (see reconstruction of the elevation of the facade after Lassalle 1973). With the elaborate sculpture program, the low west wall looks overloaded today. The bell tower placed on top of the southern staircase is, like the straight wall end, a Baroque addition. Both measures are modest reconstruction solutions without aesthetic demands.
The rough structure of today's façade is dominated by three large archivolt portals with multiple levels , the middle one is significantly more extensive than the two outer ones. The portal openings are rectangular, the outer ones with two-wing doors, the inner ones with two single-wing doors, which are divided in the middle by pilaster-like pillars and bordered on the sides.
The entire width of the facade is covered by a wide architrave-like band between the towers, which extends without interruption over the portal walls and under the tympana of the portals. On it, the Passion of Christ is depicted with many scenes, in contrast to previous thematically more diverse descriptions of the life of Jesus for the first time as a closed Passion cycle.
On the northern lintel there is a depiction of the entry into Jerusalem ( no.4 ), on the middle the scenes of the washing of the feet (no.9) and the Lord's Supper (no.10), on the southern the three Marys with the angel empty Tomb of Christ (nos. 20 and 21). At the same height, further reliefs are arranged between the portals , so that a frieze was created based on an ancient model, which is dedicated to the life of Christ.
The tympanum of the central portal shows the Majestas Domini (No. 1) (renewed in the 17th century) surrounded by symbols of the evangelists , which are only preserved in rudiments. In the arched area of the northern portal, the enthroned Mary with the child, Joseph and the adoration of the Magi (No. 2) are depicted, in the south the Crucifixion (No. 16) (badly mutilated).
In front of the wall sections separating the portals, three smooth columns are set up free to support the frieze. They are equipped with carved capitals , fighters and bases on angular plinths . Some stand on angular bases . A second column is presented to each of the pillars on the side of the main portal. The lateral ends of the facade are each closed by a column. The same applies to the pages of the external portals.
Two “box niches” are embedded between the columns of the front, which extend from the lower edge of the architrave to half the height of the column and are separated by fluted pilasters . A statue of an apostle or angel (nos. 24-27 and 32-35) is placed in each of the niches . These statues are shown in pairs on the walls of the portals. There are 14 statues in total.
The execution of this enormous project required the employment of several sculptors who were appointed from all over the country. Three different masters have been identified, a stonemason trained in Toulouse, one from Burgundy and one from northern France. The solemn statuary of the great statues of the apostles is attributed to the latter.
Current allusions to contemporary history are also new. For example, in the tympanum of the south portal, next to the crucifixion, there is the building of the synagogue , which is knocked down by an angel who wears a crown on his inclined head with the image of the Dome of the Rock , the symbol of the Arab-occupied Jerusalem. This motif is intended to commemorate the success of the first crusade.
Role model and aftermath
In 1977, the American art historian Carra Ferguson O'Meara put forward the architectural-historical controversial theory according to which this type of portal system is not derived from Roman triumphal arches , but from the stage wall of the Roman theater . This was usually provided with three gates - and the middle one, which was reserved for the ruler, should also be marked and highlighted in the theater in its decoration as the “King's Gate”. And the portal system by St-Gilles is said to have been designed according to this model.
According to this point of view, Thorsten Droste describes the character of the portals:
“Transferred to the facade of St-Gilles, this connection means that we not only experience formally the proximity to antiquity, which is characteristic of the Romanesque style of Provence, but also that the facade in a contextual sense as an image of the royal home of the Savior, the Heavenly Jerusalem which represents the translation of the ancient spirit into Christian thought. Against this background, the image program gains a deeper dimension. The architrave , which stretches across the entire facade, depicts the passion of Christ in a scenic manner. It begins with the entry into Jerusalem on the far left and ends with the appearance of Christ to the disciples. "
The central portal of the Roman emperor from the ancient theater building became the royal portal of the Christian Savior , the main portal that leads into the church, which as a building itself stands for the Heavenly Jerusalem . Both interpretations, which see either a triumphal arch or a theater wall as a model, are nevertheless close. Because both the basic shape of a triumphal arch and that of a Roman theater wall go back to very similar basic ideas of how one wants to imagine the architectural framework for the entry of a victorious ruler. And Christ is also valid as such.
This portal system was used again in Manhattan for the facade of St Bartholomew's Church from 1919.
Former upper church
From the former Romanesque upper church from the 12th century there are only sparse fragments of the choir head and the walls, pillars, the free-standing pillars of the nave on which the upper area of today's upper church was built. It was originally around 100 meters long and its nave was 33 meters wide (including pier templates). The height of the central nave was about 26 meters and that of the side aisles 15 meters.
The nave had a three-aisled and six-bay basilica elevation that was covered by semicircular barrel vaults, which were probably supported by belt arches. The nave was about as long as today's upper church. A slightly projecting transept with an almost square crossing was attached to the nave . It is known that a bell tower rose above its southern arm, which does not rule out a bell tower on the northern arm.
A choir yoke was connected to the Vierungsjoch as an extension of the three naves of the nave. The choir bay was closed by a semicircular choir apse, the rounded walls of which stood on pillars, which was covered by half a dome. But its height was probably less than that of the ships. The choir apse was enclosed by a handling with a floor plan in the form of a half circular ring, the width of which corresponded to that of the side aisles. This in turn was enclosed by a chapel wreath, made up of five wreath chapels, the central apex chapel of which was wider than the neighboring ones. The outer wreath chapels were each connected to a side chapel, the apsidiole of which faced east.
The north outer wall of the north aisle of the choir head still partly exists in its original state. The famous spiral staircase is hidden in it (see below). Their construction and their decorations are similar to that of the west facade, for example the pillars with semicircular services and Corinthian capitals, with angels unfolding on the chalice of one, as well as the winged human figure, symbol of St. Matthew, on a corner capital of the north side chapel, Cornice adorned with acanthus leaves, supported on corbels adorned with foliage and heads. A beautiful oculus decorated with olives, pearls and rolls opens in this wall. One can also find the approach of a pointed arch with a serrated band, which looks similar to those in the crypt.
In the middle of the former choir apse, an altar plate is placed on a Corinthian capital, behind which stands a conically tapering column, the shaft of which is decorated with fluting. She bears a contemporary bust depicting Clement IV , who was born in St-Gilles and was Pope in Rome from 1256 to 1268. According to the old tradition, the house where he was born was the house of today's museum "Maison la Ramaine", with a facade from the 12th century.
On a pillar base in the choir there is a corner spur of a man rolling in pain, whose leg is pinched or even shattered under the pillar base. It is supposed to be a reminder of an accident that happened to him during construction. Today there are some Roman sarcophagi in the ambulatory, bearing inscriptions on cartouches lined with ornaments, such as winged cupids or twisted fruit stands. But they show Christian symbols on their walls, like circular rings that enclose crosses, the same arms of which are slightly widened like paw crosses .
The original Romanesque church was largely demolished during the Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598, which was followed by the “Thirty Years War” from 1618 to 1648, with the exception of the above-mentioned remains, the entire lower church and the main parts of the facade.
Former choir area with today's choir part
North wall former choir
Former choir, corner spur on the pillar base, man with a crushed leg
former choir, pillar base with corner spur
Today's church
It was not until 1650 that the parishioners were able to consider rebuilding part of the church, as the financial means to do so had so far been lacking. Today's church was rebuilt in the second half of the 17th century in the upper area with modest means in neo-Gothic or post-Gothic style. The walls, buttresses, their free-standing pillars with their semicircular services and acanthus capitals of the Romanesque church and its preserved crypt and the lower area of the facade served as the basis. The latter, however, was completely dismantled during the French Revolution and only later largely replaced from the remains.
The length of the new church, including the choir, is around 60 meters; its nave width is likely to be the same as the original at 33 meters. The height of the central nave is given as 16 meters, which is 10 meters less than the original. The three-aisled nave now consists of five bays. The eastern pillars of the sixth yoke were also partially preserved. But then the sixth yoke was transformed into a choir head by adding walls. In the area of the central nave, the choir was separated with the floor plan of half an octagon. Rooms for chapels and the sacristy were created on both sides.
All the vaults of the nave and choir are new, ogival cross rib vaults . The arcades of the partition walls are covered by extremely flat pointed arches. In each yoke, in the aisle and central nave walls, slightly ogive windows are recessed in the middle. The ones in the south aisle are the largest, those in the central aisle a little smaller and those in the north aisle are the smallest and slimmest.
today's church, east part
Today's church, pillar in the southern partition
today's church, central nave to the choir
crypt
The construction of the lower church is said to have begun at the end of the 11th century. The lower church is unusually large with its length of 60 and a width of 33 meters (including the pillars) and represents an architectural masterpiece. This size was probably necessary to cope with the pilgrims at the grave of the patron saint, which had already grown strongly in St-Gilles , of St. Aegidius, who wanted to pray there.
The lower church is designed with three aisles and six bays in accordance with the nave of the upper church. It is vaulted by a system of pressed cross ribs, which has to bear the heavy burden of the upper church. This is where the cross rib appears for the first time in the architecture of the south of France. The structure shows some significant differences that indicate various interruptions and resumption of construction work. In addition to mainly ribbed vaults, there are also groin vaults and barrel vaults.
In the north aisle there are no connections to the central nave in the 3rd to 6th yoke. But that doesn't mean that it was like that from the start. It is conceivable that this area was walled up before the upper church was demolished and then filled with the demolition material from the upper church. The rough masonry, which differs from the carefully worked stone surfaces of the surrounding pillars and walls, gives the impression of this subsequent closure.
The location and size of the Confessiojoch in the fourth nave yoke, which is probably attributed to a previous building, is unusual . Its significantly smaller inner dimension and its shift from the longitudinal axis of the crypt clearly set it apart from the other central nave bays. In the middle stands the stone coffin with the bones of St. Aegidius, who was only rediscovered by Abbot Goubier in 1865. This could indicate that the crypt was filled with rubble even more extensively. The floor of this Confessiojoch is almost a meter lower than the others. In the 19th century there were also other stone coffins in the eastern niche at the end of the south aisle. The sarcophagus bears the inscription:
INH TML QI CB AEGD The following can be deciphered: IN HOC TUMULO QUIESCIT CORPUS BEATI AEGIDII and means “In this tomb rests the body of the blissful Aegidius”.
On the vault above the tomb there are traces that indicate the preparatory work on a fresco, but they are very blurred.
The crypt had four stairs from different eras. The two oldest were located immediately north of the Confessiojoch and were given up one after the other at unknown times in favor of a more generous development. Only the stairs in the 2nd and 3rd yoke of the north aisle, which are known as the "Staircase of the Pilgrims", are in use today. It is unclear whether it was created at this point from the start. Possibly it was part of a rescheduling that could have been in connection with the supposed abandonment of the northeast yokes.
In the fifth yoke of the south aisle there is the so-called "Abbot's Staircase" which was built in 1220, via which the abbots reached the upper church. Below is the reclining figure of the canon and priest of Saint-Gilles, Emile d'Everlange, who was buried there in 1889.
In the fourth yoke there is a niche in the wall to the central nave in which the tomb of the envoy of Pope Innocent III. Pierre de Castelnau, who was murdered in 1208 and whose murder gave rise to the crusade against the Cathars or Albigensians. In the same yoke of the south aisle there is a well that is 7.47 meters deep, the shaft of which has been bricked up in an exemplary manner and which has witnessed the wars of religion.
The following inscription is carved on the outer buttress between yokes 1 and 2 on the outer wall of the south aisle of the crypt: ANNO DOMINI MCXVI HOC TEMPLUM SANCTI AEGIDII AEDIFICARIi CEPIT MENSA FERIA II IN OCTAVO PASCE . It suggests that “the construction of the temple dedicated to St. Aegidius began in April 1116 on Easter Monday”. It probably reminds of a resumption of work (after completion of the lower church).
On the west wall of the crypt, a 5-meter-wide room is added almost across its entire width, which is covered with a vault in the form of a quarter-ton, which leans with its apex against the west wall and supports the flight of stairs under the facade, a reconstruction of the 19th century. Century. Access to this room is through a door in the head wall of the south aisle, the opening of which was not made until the 19th century. The use of the space is unclear. But you are sure that it cannot be a coincidental formation of space caused by the staircase construction. The ashlars of the base of the west façade and five memorial inscriptions carved into the blocks make it clear that the area in front of this façade has been used in some way. Various remains of the wall can be found here, which presumably go back to previous buildings. There may be a connection from this area to the south to the convent buildings.
Crypt, graphic from Taylor / Nodier 1837
Crypt, central nave (Confessiojoch) with tomb of St. Egidius
Remains of the convent building
Of the exam , which followed in the amount of the crypt to the south wall of the monastery church, very little is obtained of substance (see floor plan crypt). Large parts of the medieval building stock were absorbed in later changes, especially in the destruction of the wars of religion and in the development after the secularization of the monastery. From the structure of the 12th century are still preserved: the southern boundary walls of the cloister and the lower floor of a convent building in the west, which contains the only completely preserved room of the monastery, a hall vaulted into three bays. With a broad band vault, it is very close to the construction of the crypt.
Various traces of the roof structure of the cloister can still be seen on the south wall of the church, such as a console protruding from the wall and remains of mortar from the roofing. The spatial end of the enclosure to the east is marked at the level of the fourth crypt bay by the remains of a baroque building block, which may have been built on the old foundations of the Romanesque complex. ( Chapter House ?)
Spiral staircase
Embedded in the north wall of the former choir is a free-standing stone spiral staircase, the Vis de St. Gilles ("Screw of St. Gilles") from the first half of the 12th century. It is a stone spiral staircase leading up to the bell tower. Its fan-like layered steps also form the underside of the barrel vault of the staircase, which is wound around the core. The complicated shape of the spiral staircase inside the remains of the building is a masterpiece of stonemasonry and is therefore still a stage for journeymen stonemasons on their way from Sainte-Baume to Toulouse .
The vault of the spiral staircase of Vis de St.Gilles
Carved inscriptions on the inner wall of the spiral staircase (17th century)
Spiral staircase, top end
Spiral staircase from the outside
literature
- Heike Hansen: The west facade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. Building research into a key work of the southern French late Romanesque (dissertation Stuttgart 2007; PDF; 14.1 MB)
- Thorsten Droste: The Provence, a companion to the art places and natural beauties in the sunny land. France, Dumont Art Guide 1986, 3rd edition; ISBN 3-7701-1727-1
- Office de Tourisme Place Fredéric Mistral 1, 30800 Saint-Gilles (Ed.): The Abbey. Small brochure in German, 12 pages A5
Web links
- Abbey Church of St. Gilles-du-Gard - history and photos at art-roman.net (French)
Individual evidence
Individual references refer to historical data, developments and connections. Architectures, their integration into the environment, outdoor facilities, artistic works of art and the like are evidenced by photos and graphics.
- ↑ Heike Hansen: The west facade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. (Dissertation Stuttgart 2007), page 14/15.
- ↑ Thorsten Droste: The Provence . DuMont Art Guide 1986, p. 206.
- ↑ a b Thorsten Droste: The Provence . DuMont Art Guide 1986, page 207.
- ↑ Thorsten Droste: The Provence . DuMont Art Guide 1986, p. 225.
- ^ Gerhard E. Sollbach: Crusade against the Albigensians. The "Historia Albigensis" (1212–1218). For the first time translated from Latin into German, edited and provided with an afterword . Manesse-Verlag, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-7175-8228-3 , p. 32-33 .
- ↑ Brochure The Abbey. Office de Tourisme, p. 11.
- ^ A b Thorsten Droste, Die Provence, DuMont Art Travel Guide 1986, page 208
- ↑ Heike Hansen: The west facade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. (Dissertation Stuttgart 2007), p. 17.
- ↑ a b c Brochure Die Abbey in German, Office de Tourisme, page 9.
- ^ A b Heike Hansen: The west facade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. (Dissertation Stuttgart 2007), p. 18
- ↑ a b c Brochure Die Abbey in German, Office de Tourisme, page 8
- ↑ Heike Hansen: The west facade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. (Dissertation Stuttgart 2007), pp. 17/18
- ↑ Brochure Die Abbey in German, Office de Tourisme, page 10
Alyscamps Necropolis and Saint Honorat Church in Arles | Former Abbey of Saint-Gilles | Pont du Diable near Saint-Jean-de-Fos | Former Gellone Abbey | Saint-Sernin Basilica and Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques in Toulouse | Sainte-Marie Cathedral of Auch | Oloron-Sainte-Marie Church
In the central Pyrenees: Notre-Dame-du-Bourg church in Rabastens | Buildings in Saint-Lizier | Church of Tramesaygues | Saint-Just church in Valcabrère | Religious buildings in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges | Saint-Laurent church in Jézeau | Hospice du Plan and Templar Chapel in Aragnouet | Parish Church of Gavarnie | Cotdoussan Church
Via Turonensis · Via Lemovicensis · Via Podiensis · Via Tolosana
Other buildings: Notre-Dame du Port basilica · Mont Saint-Michel
Coordinates: 43 ° 40 ′ 36.4 " N , 4 ° 25 ′ 56.4" E