St-Jacques (Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre)
The collegiate church (fr. Collégiale ) Saint-Jacques in Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre consists of two composite types of church, a basilica with a rectangular plan and a circular rotunda (fr. Rotonde ), also known as the central building . In 1910 it was elevated to a minor basilica . The village is located in the Indre department , in the Center-Val de Loire region , in the Berry countryside , on the Bouzanne River , about 25 km east of Argenton-sur-Creuse , 25 km south of Châteauroux , 14 km west of La Châtre and 7 km north of Cluis .
In the Middle Ages, the church was an important stop on the Way of St. James , the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in the far north-west of Spain. It is located on Via Lemovicensis with the starting point Vézelay , one of the four main routes that unite in Ostabat just before the Pyrenees . The church was founded in 1998 as part of the "Camino de Santiago in France" as a World Heritage of UNESCO excellent.
The name of the church Saint-Sépulchre goes back to the French word for Holy Sepulcher Church (fr. Saint-Sépulcre ) in Jerusalem . The additional 'h' in the name Sépulchre is a play on words with the Latin adjective pulcher (= beautiful), which goes back to a tradition of medieval monks who wanted to indicate the splendor of the tomb of Christ.
history
Origins
The town of Neuvy (New Village) developed towards the end of the Gallo-Roman epoch (52 before to about 5th century AD) at a ford through the Bouzanne river, which was separated from the ancient way by the important Gallo-Roman settlement Argentomagus ( today's Argenton-sur-Creuse ) was crossed eastwards towards Châteaumeillant .
In the early Middle Ages, a parish was established under the patronage of the Apostle Peter (fr. Saint-Pierre ). Soon the village became so extensive that a second parish had to be set up, which was placed under the patronage of St. Stephen (fr. Saint-Étienne ). Both parishes had their own church buildings.
Eudes de Deols, founder and architect
At the initiative of local rulers, it was decided in the first half of the 11th century to build another church, which was to be built on the model of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The identity of these people can be found in files of the following century. Several chroniclers reported the founding of the new church between 1034 and 1049. Among them was Guillaume Godel (died around 1173), who dated the founding in 1042 and noted that “in the presence of Eudes Roux, lord of the castle of Déols , and Boson , an illustrious man from Cluis , ”took place.
Eude de Déols stayed as a pilgrim in the Holy Land between 1026 and 1028 . Sources report that when he saw the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, he vowed to build a copy of this structure in his homeland. However, he cannot have got to know the original building of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but was only in the first phase of its reconstruction, initially the rotunda, in Jerusalem. Accordingly, he did not see the basilica, which was added 130 years later.
Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, modeled by Neuvys
The Byzantine original buildings of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher were consecrated in 335. Its floor plan was reconstructed in the 1960s (by V. Corbo). It consisted of four building units that merged into one another. The entrance from the main street ( Cardo ) led into the eastern atrium , which was followed by a large basilica ( Martyrion ). This was followed by the inner atrium (holy courtyard), which was closed in the west by the rotunda (anastasis = resurrection) with the actual holy tomb (in the aedicula ). The rotunda had a diameter of 35 meters and an inner ring of columns consisting of alternating three columns and two rectangular pillars, which were probably around 11 meters high and were only enclosed in a semicircular shape with three apses by a lower gallery (see plan of the reconstruction).
After looting and arson by the Persians in 614 and the great earthquake damage in 808, it was completely destroyed in 1009 on the orders of the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim . Not long afterwards, reconstruction began on a more modest scale.
The basilica and the two atriums were not renewed. By 1055, the renovation of the rotunda was completed by reusing the outer walls and the supports. For the first time, however, it received a grandstand with arcatures from the old supports, the lengths of which have been almost halved. A choir apse was initially attached to the opening to the former atrium . Only between the second and third crusades was a five-aisled basilica built directly on the east side of the rotunda between 1160 and 1170, with an ambulatory and many chapels. The combination of rotunda and basilica of the Holy Sepulcher largely corresponds to the building structures preserved today (see floor plan, 19th century graphic).
New building in Neuvy
This Church of the Holy Sepulcher is very reminiscent of the similar combination in the Neuvy Collegiate Church. The combination rotunda / basilica in Neuvy could not have had a model in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem when construction began, as the renovation of the rotunda in Jerusalem was only just completed and the basilica extension was only completed almost 120 years later. Perhaps, however, the builders of Neuvy were familiar with the original Byzantine church, which existed partially before 1009 and through which one could get into the rotonde via a basilica.
At that time there was already a combination of a large basilica in France, the ambulatory of which opened directly into a three-storey rotunda. It was the Romanesque abbey church of Saint-Bénigne, built between 1001 and 1031, the predecessor of today's Gothic cathedral of Dijon . Its floor plan shows clear similarities with the original Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Its builders probably still knew this church. Connections between Neuvy and Dijon in the early 11th century are quite conceivable and obvious.
Construction work on the great Neuvy Rotunda spanned about 150 years, from the middle of the 11th to the end of the 12th century, until about the beginning of the Crusades. It is believed that the rotunda and the adjoining nave of the Romanesque basilica were originally not planned to be spatially connected to each other and were initially not connected. This is confirmed by the fact that the basilica is not exactly centered on the apses of the rotunda, into which the openings in the spatial connection were later broken. The construction work on both structures is said to have started almost simultaneously around the middle of the 11th century, that of the Romanesque basilica perhaps a little earlier. It was already completed at the turn of the 11th to the 12th century. Around this time, however, the construction of the grandstand of the rotunda (dating of its capitals) with its arcade wreaths over two floors, which were closed by a windowed lantern and a dome (see black and white photo, from 1923) did not begin. This rather elaborate work was completed about a hundred years later, at the end of the 12th century.
Its completion coincided with the completion of the “Gothicization” of the central nave vault of the basilica, which was completed with the installation of the keystones of the cross ribs. The fact that work on the grandstand and the inner cylinder made of arcade wreaths began around 50 years later led to the false assumption that the grandstand was subsequently built into the already completed rotunda in the 12th century.
There is no evidence that the rotunda of Saint-Sépulchre is a faithful copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The diameter of the rotunda is a good 10 meters smaller than its model. Its very massive outer circular wall is only semicircular and significantly slimmer in the original on the ground floor. Originally eight segmented apse niches were set into this wall all around the inside; in the original there are only three semicircular apses protruding from the half rotunda on the outside. In relation to the diameter of the inner circle of columns, the width of the walkway in Neuvy is significantly greater than in Jerusalem.
The rectangular Romanesque nave of the original basilica, which was completed almost a hundred years earlier, was presumably initially spatially separated from the rotunda, which was closed all around. It does not have the usual west-east orientation, but a north-west to south-east orientation. It consisted of three ships , whose average was more than twice as wide as the aisles and probably in five yokes was divided, calculated without the "connecting yoke". The ships were probably covered with barrel vaults , on simple belt arches that rose on pillars with a cross-shaped floor plan and on rectangular wall pillars on the outer walls. The two aisles were two-story, with grandstands on the upper floor. It is not known whether the two floors of the grandstand were vaulted, but it is not unlikely. To divert shear forces to the outer walls, belt arches on wall pillars would probably have been sufficient above the stands between the yokes. The roofs over the naves were originally more flat because of the lower vault heights and were less high than those that followed later. Whether the nave at the southeastern head end was originally closed with a central choir apse and two flanking chapel apses is discussed, but has not been clearly documented. It is also conceivable that the basilica was originally accessed there through a portal. It is possible that there was a partition under the last lower chords in front of the rotunda, which separated the basilica from the noise of the ongoing construction work on the rotunda and enabled services to be largely disrupted.
One finds in the "Chronique d'Anjou" the claim that the church of Neuvy was built by a certain Geoffroy . In the 19th century, some historians have claimed that this Geoffroy was wrongly identified with the Viscount de Bourges, Geoffroy the Poor . They claimed that the latter built the church on the land of his cousin Boson von Cluis , as a penance for the murder in a duel with Ebbes, the son of Eudes in 1040, at the siege of Châteauneuf-sur-Cher .
Most likely, however, the above-mentioned Eudes de Déols , known as the old man, and former pilgrim to the Holy Sepulcher, was the only one who was inspired to design the new church in Neuvy and to accompany the construction work. He was an important and far-reaching contemporary.
Hildegard, the spiritual director of a school (fr. Écolâtre ) in Poitiers , recommended after her return from a visit to Rome in 1024 to Bishop Fulbert of Chartres that “when he travels through the Berry, not to miss a friendly conversation with Eudes de Déols, a man of great wisdom ”. His piety was supported by numerous religious institutions, primarily the abbeys of Déols and Saint Gildas de Châteauroux. In 1012 he took part in the restoration of the Saint-Abroix Abbey in Bourges , and the following year he founded the Chapter of Levroux. In 1040 he was present at the inauguration of La Trinité de Vendôme .
He should have been closely involved in the design and construction of the new church in Neuvy.
In the case of Boson de Cluis , however, it was an abuse of jurisdiction, in which in 1079 Pope Gregory VII accused him of “harassment against the cleric Simon, rector of the church, and the other clerics who serve God”. He spoke of a church called "Saint-Sépulchre de Neuvy" and added that it "depends on the church of Jerusalem, which pays it an interest ". Therefore, the Lord Boson of Cluis inevitably had to contribute to the financing of the construction work in order to avoid his excommunication. In 1087, in front of the altar of Saint-Sépulchre, in the presence of Richard II, Archbishop of Bourges, the Abbot of Marmoutier invested donations from his monastery of unknown amounts.
Way of St. James
In the first half of the 12th century, the pilgrimage to the grave of the experienced James the Elder , to Santiago de Compostela in the far northwest of the Iberian Peninsula an unimaginable popularity and flowering time in which the pilgrims attracted yearly hundreds of thousands to the south. Four main routes were formed in France, which joined in front of the Pyrenees in Ostabat in order to cross the mountains together and then continue as the Camino francés . Neuvy was on one of these main routes, the Via Lemovicensis with the starting point Vézelay . The clerics of Neuvys benefited especially in the 12th century from the large number of pilgrims on the " Way of St. James ", who were particularly attracted here by the "replica" of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which, however, was still under construction in the 12th century and was not yet "real" Contained crucifixion relics. At that time, however, the basilica could already be fully used for church services. When the "bickering" about Aquitaine between France and England rose after the middle of the 12th century, the pilgrimage gradually declined and the wars of the 13th and 14th centuries brought a dramatic collapse until they almost completely dried up. These events did not pass Neuvy by either. The rotunda was only finished when the pilgrimage to Spain had already decreased significantly.
Gothicization of the basilica
Towards the end of the 12th century, the original Romanesque barrel vault of the central nave of the basilica was replaced by the Gothic ribbed vault that is preserved today. It is not known whether the former vaults collapsed beforehand. The former six yokes (with the connecting yoke) resulted in three twice as large yokes, which were newly covered by four-part cross-ribbed vaults. The central nave vault was extended to the rotunda for the first time. The yokes were separated by two strong, pointed belt arches. Because of the significantly increased loads, the four supports in the corners of the central yoke were considerably reinforced. The pillars retained their Romanesque style from an enlarged, cross-shaped floor plan with semicircular columns pointing inwards. The remaining columns retained their cruciform ground plan. The arches under the partition walls were largely preserved with their semicircular arcade arches, but were partially narrowed by the pillar reinforcements. The whole arches became three-quarter to half arches. Presumably nothing significant has changed in the area of the two aisles. Associated with the "Gotification" of the central nave was probably the construction of a bell tower, following the rotunda, with a pointed helmet. At the beginning of the 12th century, when the vaults were connected to the rotunda, the lateral wall openings were closed as an extension of the partition walls. One had to wait almost a hundred years before the arched passages in the outer wall of the rotunda were opened.
Eudes de Châteauroux, a great patron and promoter of Neuvy
At the beginning of the 13th century the career of another Eudes began , namely Cardinal Eudes de Châteauroux , a particular patron and promoter of the later chapter of Neuvy. His birth was around 1190 (uncertain) and he died in 1273 in Orvieto , a town in southwest Umbria in Italy. It is often confused with other Eudes , for example: Eudes de Soissons was abbot of the Cistercians , another was Chancellor in Bourges. The connection to Neuvy came from the memory of the founder and builder of the later collegiate church, Eudes , "Prince" of Déols and liege lord of Neuvy. In his impressive sermons he often had to speak of people who came from the social elite. Many would have wanted him to be a nobleman, too, but he came from a modest background. His parents lived in a hut on Metzgergasse. His sermons were in great demand, he spoke to archbishops and highly educated Franciscans .
In 1228 a chapter was founded in Neuvy, the church received - mentioned in a document - the title "Collegiate Church" and was therefore subject to a number of canons . The church building and its outbuildings were grouped on the site of a castle that was fortified with defensive walls and additionally protected by a large moat. Again and again in uncertain times, this fortress served as a refuge for the population. Small remains of it can be seen on the south side of the church: such as a path, towers and moats. On a graphic of this fortress you can see - historically incorrect - behind the conical roof of the rotunda (from 1923) the pointed Gothic helmet of a bell tower, which he wore from the 13th century, but which collapsed in 1899 and was replaced by a bell wall in 1923.
After his ordination he became a canon (1236?) And chancellor (1238) of the Church of Paris. Pope Innocent IV spoke to him frequently. He referred to him as "the man after his heart, distinguished by his virtues, his literary culture and the maturity of his judgment." In 1244 Eudes was appointed Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum ( Frascati ), sixteen kilometers from Rome. This explains the mention of his family name often in connection with: von "Tusculum". As an expert, he interfered in many theological controversies. He fought for "new ideas", or against the introduction of Aristotle's ideas in Christian philosophy and showed himself to be a guarantor of dogmas . Most of all, he was known and appreciated for his talent as a speaker of his sermons, which were discussed by Alexis Charansonnet. He preached as far as England and Germany.
From 1245 he was involved as papal legate with the preparation of the seventh crusade (1248-1254).
Before he finally left France, he took the last opportunity to return to the Berry . On the feast of the Holy Trinity , on June 19, 1246, he consecrated the main altar in the collegiate church of Neuvy. On April 26, 1248 he presided over a similar ceremony in Paris, where the Archbishop of Bourges was staying. As a result: King Ludwig IX. , called Ludwig the Holy (* 1214, † 1270) arranged for Neuvy to build the "Holy Chapel", an aedicule in the rotunda, in order to serve as a reliquary for the crown of thorns and a splinter of the real cross.
Then came the adventure of the Crusades for Eudes , with far more failures than successes. He stayed in Cyprus for a long time in 1248 to settle the conflicts between the Greeks and Romans. He came to Egypt and Babylon (1249) and was busy administering the holy land as much as possible. But despite their best efforts, the Crusades Company slipped into disaster and he turned back to Italy in 1254.
On July 15, 1257, Cardinal Eudes of Châteauroux of Viterbo from Italy sent the Canons of Neuvy Saint-Sépulchre a few drops of the “Precious Blood” and a fragment of Christ's tomb. The choice of this location was particularly important to them. Cardinal Eudes justified his donation in a letter in which he declared: “As a result of the devotion of the faithful who turn their eyes every day to the love and death of our Lord, Saint-Sépulchre will be in honor of your Church” and that now the previous “similarity” would be replaced “by the thing itself”.
The presence of these relics brought Neuvy a privilege among the most important stages on the “Camino de Santiago”. However, due to the significantly reduced pilgrimage towards Compostela in France, the "real" grave and crucifixion relics in Neuvy increasingly became a substitute destination for their pilgrimage.
Late Middle Ages
After 1360, when the English conquered the town of Sainte-Sévère , southeast of La Châtre (about 30 km from Neuvy), the vaults of Neuvys Church were almost simultaneously filled with furniture and food from the refugees, protected by its roof. The canons helped repair the damage and - their means were soon exhausted - they appealed to King Charles VI. to support the residents in their efforts to rebuild.
The 14th century, the epoch of the late Middle Ages, was marked in Europe by many armed conflicts over ecclesiastical and secular claims to rule. In France numerous battles were fought between the English and French, in which Aquitaine was particularly hard hit. The " Black Death ", the plague , spread and decimated the population considerably. In addition, there were famines that led to changes in the social structure . It stands to reason that this terrible crisis also left its mark on Neuvy. During this time, or as a result of this, the north-east side aisle with its grandstand and the entire south-east end of the nave, perhaps a whole choir ensemble, consisting of the central apse with accompanying apses, were destroyed, but there is no evidence of the cause.
At the beginning of the 15th century, between the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453 and the beginning of the Wars of Religion , the basilica was at least partially rebuilt as it is found today, simply and inexpensively (see floor plan). On the northeast side, the aisle on the ground floor has been restored with a barrel vault. On the grandstand level, however, it was only enough to renew a third of the grandstand. During this time, the openings to the former grandstand must have been completely walled up in the partition wall. Likewise, the only window in the side wall of the central nave in today's first yoke is also believed to have been chiseled. The former choir situation has been replaced by a flat end wall along the entire length of the nave elevation.
In the central nave and in the side aisles, some chapels were developed for private use for the installation of sculptures, such as the Chapelle Notre-Dame, owned by the gentlemen of Ranchoux, which was that of Saint-Martial, "for the two of Pisseloup". The presence of the latter was called into question in 1519 by the Canons who had challenged the dignity of the family. “Pisseloup” was written, “neither Chastel nor castellan , there is neither justice nor division. It is a house on the dirt road, although the coats of arms of the owners were in the church, which could be recognized by their decoration with a caterpillar on a head of cabbage ”.
The rotunda, which always attracted the special attention of its visitors, was probably assigned a different task in Neuvy than in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where the faithful moved into the rotunda via the basilica. It was not originally the place of worship as such. Thematically it fell under the tradition of the "vestibules" (fr. Narthex), as in other examples, especially in Burgundy, so with the narthex ("Galileo") by Vézelay , which illustrates the theme of Pentecost and that of the mission of the disciples in his mission. The portal tower of the Abbey of Fleury in today's Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire , with its twelve gates and the iconography of its capitals, also mentions the heavenly Jerusalem, which is described in the Apocalypse . In Neuvy one had to keep faithfully to the Passion of Christ.
In 1524 it was the adventurers known as "6000 devils" who repeatedly besieged the population of Neuvy and killed "four people of the church" within the fortress walls, destroyed the organ and burned the chapter archive. For this reason, more detailed information about the foundation is available from Saint-Sépulchre rather rare, as well as about history over the course of the centuries.
It is known, however, that at that time the chapter consisted of a prior , twelve canons , an organist - music director with young monks - and several civilian officers, the president and a surgeon . The Mass was equipped with its own songs and readings (including a letter from Cardinal Eudes). The community was expanded through privileges from the lords of Châteauroux and did not go under in the French Revolution . She raised her in many parishes around tithe .
Modern times
Towards the end of the Middle Ages , around the 16th century, the church was rededicated in "Saint-Jacques", which is certainly due to the remaining pilgrimage to St. James, who chose Saint-Sépulchre from Neuvy as a worthy replacement for the pilgrimage destination of Santiago de Compostela.
_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
In 1621 the "great miracle" is said to have occurred. A huge flood of the Bouzanne threatened the neighbors . The residents of Neuvys begged the canons to display the relics. The chronicle reports that their presence caused the waters to recede. In the same year the union of the relics was achieved under the auspices of the "Holy Passion and the Precious Blood and the Redemption of the World". Their parishioners were two years later by Pope Gregory XV. Indulgences granted.
In the second half of the 18th century, the archbishop considered dissolving the chapter. At that time, the community was in great motion to reform the diocese , which aimed at bringing the religious communities back to their origins, with their buildings and undisputed pilgrimage sites. The inhabitants regained their decision-making power by ascertaining the spiritual needs of the population: at that time "320 fireplaces" were counted.
Until 1806, the aedicula "a kind of massive construction, which is designed according to the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem" stood in the center of the rotunda , covered by an iron helmet, which contained at least one altar on which the famous reliquary with the crucifixion and Grave relics stood. It was probably destroyed as a result of the events of the French Revolution and then replaced several times in the following years by simple altar stones. The original room design was permanently lost. On a stone one reads this entry: “Hic sunt reliquie de sépulcro Domini et de loco Calvarie” (Here are the relics of the tomb of the Lord and the place of the Passion).
Shortly after the revolution (1789), in February 1794, the valuable relics almost disappeared. A ruse by the sexton (fr. Sacristan ) Jean Blondeau is thanks to her rescue. In good time he replaced the drops of the Precious Blood in the reliquary with a few pieces of boiled pear. As the times calmed down, the real drops of blood were returned to the clergy . They are shown today in a new reliquary donated by a Belgian family in 1909. In addition to the terror, there was an amused experience of the sister of an old canon who led a republican ceremony in which she was disguised as the “ goddess of reason ”. But another member of the chapter, Jean Baptiste Darchis, remained true to his faith and his state judged it on the guillotine in Paris on July 24, 1794. The other two churches in Neuvy were then destroyed (for example in 1765 Saint-Pierre ) or as “ National Good ”sold for demolition (1795 Saint-Étienne ). Today nothing remains of Saint-Pierre above ground. The town hall was built on its site. From Saint-Étienne, the flat top wall and the side walls of its former choir are still standing, in which the room of a restaurant is located, where a Gothic inscription has been preserved.
The collegiate church became a parish church in 1808 and was under the new patronage of St. Stephen (French: "Saint-Étienne"). In 1847 it was classified as a "historic monument" by the monument authority , and then the object of a major restoration campaign led by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and his collaborator Mérindol.
Because of the frequent pilgrimages to Neuvy, the Holy See is also organized here and in 1910 awarded the former collegiate church the title “Basilica”.
In 1923, the architect and site manager Mayeux built a bell wall with three arched arcade openings in which the bells were hung between the basilica and the rotunda to replace the old bell tower with a pointed helmet that had collapsed in 1899 . Around the same time they changed the old lamp with dome, a new Oriental-style as a century earlier Viollet-le-Duc had imagined (see black and white photograph) to then through the roof in its present form of a cone with to cover an incline of about 45 degrees. The former direct exposure of the inner cylinder via the window of the lantern was no longer necessary.
The restorations between 1993 and 1998 made it possible to restore large parts of the building to its original majesty. The roof of the rotunda, which "hides" the lantern that has been visible for over 700 years and prevents the above-mentioned lighter exposure of its interior, is no longer original, and in the basilica the partial lack of the grandstand over the northeast side aisle, the bell wall that rests against the former bell tower had been replaced and the presumably falsifying design of the former choir head.
architecture
The collegiate church consists of two monuments, the connections between which were probably not provided for in the original plans of the builders. This is shown above all by the fact that the basilica is not exactly centered on the three apses of the later passages to the rotunda. If the connection was intended from the outset, it would surely have been done and the rotunda turned a little clockwise.
Approximate dimensions (measured from the floor plan):
- Total length of rotunda + basilica (overall): 47.00 m
Rotunda:
- Outside diameter: 24.30 m
- Inner diameter: 19.60 m
- Wall thickness: 1.80 - 2.00 m
- Inner arcade wreath diameter: 8.30 m
- Height under the top of the dome: 22.00 m
- Eaves height 13.50 to 14.00 m
Basilica:
- Width outside (without buttresses): 16.50 m
- Inner nave length: 19.60 m
- Length of aisles outside: 23.70 m
rotunda
Since its construction, the unusual building of the rotunda from the late Romanesque has been looking for its equals in France. Above all, it is difficult to find buildings of comparable size from this period in the country. As an extension of the choir of the Saint-Bénigne Cathedral in Dijon (Burgundy), the crypt alone is the basement of a former three-storey rotunda, which is likely to be slightly smaller in diameter. It once belonged to the Romanesque predecessor of the cathedral, a large basilica, the ambulatory of which opened into the rotunda with double aisles. The Neuvys rotunda can still be compared with its "little sister", the burial chapel of the Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat collegiate church , near Limoges , which was added to the original collegiate church around 1075 and is spatially connected to it. Today it is in an excellent renovated condition.
Such structures were essentially developed as grave structures, such as memorial mausoleums and ancient graves, as baptisteries , for example in Vienna, Florence, Pisa, as oriental churches, in the form of so-called " central structures ", with an altar in the middle, or the massive western one Art, in the form of round towers, such as in Carolingian churches.
The Rotunda Neuvys belongs to the group of oriental central buildings. Although it is not a true copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem (see history), it was definitely intended to imitate it, and its coarse structure is therefore comparable to central oriental buildings, crowned by the circular lantern with a domed vault , which has only been covered by an all-over one since 1923 Conical roof is "hidden". She also had the altar in an aedicule in its midst. In contrast, the fine structure, especially inside, consists of purely Romanesque style elements.
Outward appearance
The almost circular outer wall is characterized by a particular simplicity that gives no indication of its architectural splendor inside. According to the internal structure, it is divided horizontally into two floors exactly at the height of the floor of the grandstand floor by a circumferential recess. At 8.20 to 8.70 meters, the lower section is a good 1.5 times higher than the upper section, at 5.30 meters. A protruding base is 0.80 to 1.30 meters high, corresponding to the slope of the adjoining terrain , and is covered by a profile sloping on the top.
The unusually large wall thickness of 1.80 to 2.00 meters in the sections against which the belt arches abut is almost enough to absorb the lateral thrust from the vaults of the outpatient clinic . For this reason, only slightly bulky buttresses are bricked up on the outside , the edges of which are simply stepped with recesses. There are nine such pillars on the free sides of the outer wall, sometimes at different distances. They end with outwardly sloping upper sides directly below the recess dividing the height of the wall. At the foot of the pillars, the projecting wall plinth runs around them. In the walls between the pillars, a total of five small, arched windows have been cut out at different heights. Another window is wedged in on the east side in the corner between the last buttress and the adjoining northeast side wall of the basilica. In one of the spaces in between, a round-arched wall niche is left of a former seventh window. The space between the pillars facing west has no opening.
In one of the two north-facing spaces, the main portal is cut out in the two-meter-thick wall. The approximately 1.75 m wide, rectangular portal opening is directly flanked on both sides by pillars with a square cross-section and covered by a lintel of the same cross-section. Above it opens a semicircular window the width of the door, whose arch of wedge stones is framed in the same cross-section as the door opening. The outer edges of the door and window frames are bevelled . These borders stand - somewhat indented - on and under the two-meter-wide reveals of the actual wall opening. In the lower area, the projecting base of the wall is led around the reveal edge on both sides up to the door frame. Immediately above, the edges of the reveal are indented a good bit to create space for a column with a smooth shaft. Instead of the usual column base, the columns stand on upturned, vegetable- carved capitals , at the top they are crowned by similar capitals, the tops of which reach up just above the upper edge of the lintel. On top of it lie transom panels with bevelled lower visible edges, which extend on the inside up to the Keilsteinbogen and on the outside a good deal on the wall surface. The ends of the arch of the soffit edge, which is broken up into a strong quarter rod, stand on the battlements. The outer arch stones are covered by a cantilever profile that swings a little horizontally outward at the ends.
Particular attention is paid to the door hinges attached to the outside of the main portal , which support the old wooden door leaves of the double-leaf portal door. The artistically forged hinges present elegant lines of tendrils and wickerwork that take up almost the entire surface of the door. This work is complemented by a grip ring, which is carried by a lion's head in its mouth. Two plates with multi-part keyholes suggest that the old locks are still there. It is a rare example of excellent ironwork from the 12th century. In the Middle Ages, the Cistercians in particular made a name for themselves in spreading this handicraft.
To the right of the main portal rises the stair tower, which contains a spiral staircase that leads from the ambulatory on the ground floor to the grandstand on the upper floor. Up to the level of the eaves, it protrudes from the outer wall of the rotunda in a semicircle in plan, so as to rise a good bit as a cylinder and be closed off by a steep, conical helmet made of dark gray stones, which is crowned with a kind of finial. The horizontal caesuras of the outer walls are taken over in the stair tower, the top section tapers slightly. The eaves are marked by a cornice with a roll frieze . On the north side of the tower there are four slit-shaped arrow slits arranged one above the other .
The upper section of the free outer wall of the rotunda, which on the inside corresponds to the grandstand floor, is again divided roughly in half horizontally, namely below in an unstructured closed parapet , which is covered on the top by a layer of light stone slabs in the manner of a window sill. The upper half consists of a continuous sequence of individual arcades with significantly smaller round-arched windows and groups of blind arcades , mostly groups of triplets. The outer vertices of all arcades are at the same level, just below the eaves cornice. The single arcades with windows are wider, so their capitals are at a lower height than in the narrower blind arcades. Arcades and blind arcade groups are separated by pillars that are flush with the surface of the arches and the continuous "window sill". The arched ends of the outer blind arcade groups stand on them. All other arch ends stand on columns with smooth shafts , some of which are equipped with figuratively carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases . The arches are made of smooth wedge stones with a right-angled visible edge. Arches of the blind arcade groups unite with each other above the capitals. All arches are covered with cantilever profiles with zigzag friezes.
The eaves cornice consists of strong, horizontal cornice panels with a beveled visible edge. They are supported by simple, closely placed corbels that are rounded inwards on the front.
The surfaces of the outer wall and the stair tower are now smoothly plastered and tinted slightly ocher. The black and white photo from 1923 shows that at least parts of these wall surfaces were exposed to stone and were made of small-format rubble stones in irregular layers. The buttresses and narrow strips of the adjoining outer wall are unplastered and made of large-format smooth stone in a uniform layer height. Their colors change from ocher to brown and gray. The elements of the arcades and blind arcades, including their backgrounds, are made of almost white stone material.
The conical roof structure above the rotunda, covered with formerly red tile shingles and a roof pitch of about 45 degrees, only existed since 1923. Before that, for more than 700 years the roof consisted of a circular, very flat, sloping pent roof over the grandstand floor, around the windowed lantern. The rafter heads of the new roof structure are just visible above the eaves . The rainwater is collected in a copper rain gutter and drained off in a controlled manner via rain pipes made of the same material. Eight dormers with gable roof cover and glazed windows are arranged around a third of the roof height , which dimly illuminate the roof space. Further up, in about two thirds of the roof height, there are still some such, but particularly small dormers that help ventilate the roof space. The roof mainly covers the oriental lantern with a dome. The top of the conical roof is crowned by a kind of double knob and a graceful “three-dimensional” metal cross that already adorned the dome of the lantern. A small weathercock sits on top. The black and white photo from 1923 shows the state after the bell wall was erected, but shortly before the rotunda was covered with today's conical roof in the same year.
Inside the rotunda
The impressively large interior is enclosed in a circle by the outer wall, which is divided into ten equally wide sections and one significantly wider one by protruding wall pillars with half-columns. In the original eight of these wall sections, circular segment-shaped apses are recessed, which are vaulted by domes . The west-facing apse is significantly larger than the others. Possibly it was once a kind of altar niche or choir apse (?). The apse, originally facing southeast, had to give way to a large arched opening in the central nave of the basilica when the two structures were connected. On both sides of this opening, smaller round arched openings to the side aisles were made in the adjacent apses. In all of the outward-facing apses, small, arched windows have been cut out, with walls flared inwards . The wall sections on both sides of the larger apse and the one with the main portal do not contain any apses and are only slightly curved along the outer wall. All eleven wall sections are covered by semicircular belt arches , the edges of which are simply stepped. They stand on the edges of the pillars. They carry the outer edges of the vaults above the circular ambulatory (access).
Opposite the eleven sections of the outer wall are eleven arcades and form the inner arcade circle. Correspondingly, the eleven semicircular services on the pillars stand opposite eleven strong columns of these arcades, which have the same diameter as the thickness of the cylindrical wall towering on them. They are made of large-format stone. The arcade arches are made of wedge stones in a simple arrangement towards the pedestrian area and in a double, slightly stepped arrangement towards the center. The columns are crowned by lavish capitals with vegetal and figurative sculptures, on which sturdy fighter plates rest with profiled visible edges that are slightly sloping downwards. The pillars stand on simple, profiled bases. The half-columns opposite also have capitals with fighters, albeit smaller vertically divided and slightly higher. They stand on bases carved like capital. Semicircular belt arches with a rectangular cross-section span between the outer and inner capitals. To compensate for the differences in height between the transom plates, the inside of the belt arch ends are lined with transom-like plates. The polygonal fields between the lower chords and arcade arches are spanned by four-part Romanesque groin vaults , the outer segments of which spread wide. At the highest point you are at least 7.30 m above the floor.
The columns, half-columns, pillars and belt arches are made of smooth ashlar stone, with natural hues ranging from light beige and brownish to darker gray. The wall and vaulted surfaces are plastered in a light natural tone.
In the inner cylinder, the darker brownish hue of the masonry changes to almost white natural stone masonry at about the height of the ceiling above the ambulatory, which ends just under half a meter above the floor of the grandstand. The ambulatory of the grandstand can be reached via the spiral staircase in the north of the outer wall. Its flat, unstructured white ceiling is about 5.70 m above the floor of the grandstand. It is supported by a simple, invisible wooden substructure. The circular outer wall is stiffened by eleven wall pillars with a rectangular cross-section that extend into the ceiling structure. Every now and then, small, arched windows are cut out between the pillars. Their cloaks and cloak edges are clad with dark stone. Otherwise the walls are plastered.
The inner arcade wreath consists of 14 arcades and columns and stands on the natural stone parapet. The length of the columns, including simple capitals, only one of which is sculpted, profiled transom plates, profiled bases and rectangular plinths is a total of about 2.80 m. Its almost white shafts are significantly slimmer than those on the ground floor and consist of one monolithic piece. The slightly pointed arches of the arcades made of gray and brownish wedge stones meet on them. The thickness of the arches and the cylindrical wall rising above them is also much less than that of the same wall on the ground floor. The wedge arches are covered with profiled cantilever cornices. The white brickwork that fills the arched gussets ends just above it. This is followed by a strip of slightly colored ashlar, like the one on the ground floor. It is closed on the top with a profiled cantilever cornice. Above it, the vertical cylinder of the lantern rises almost four meters in a similarly colored masonry. Eight slightly sharpened windows are cut out in it, which are filled with close-meshed iron bars through which electrical artificial light in a bluish hue comes in.
The cylinder is covered by a slightly pointed dome, the smooth surface of which is tinted light gray.
Rotunda, arched wreath
Rotunda, arcade wreath, access
Rotunda, from SW aisle of the basilica
Sculpture of the rotunda
On the outside, in the wall section to the left of the main portal, a larger monolith made of almost white limestone is walled in a little above eye level, on which a deep relief is carved. Obviously a winged sea monster is depicted on the left and a water-spouting dolphin with a wound body on the right . There are no reliable statements about its origin. It is possibly the replacement of a Gallo-Roman work or a medieval copy (Carolingian to Romanesque) based on an ancient model.
In the case of the capital sculptures within the rotunda, a distinction is made between two schools.
The first are reused former capitals that have been added to and around the feet of semicircular services. There are some examples of high quality sculpture, such as that of a centaur shaped on an arch or sculpted bases that date back to pre-Romanesque traditions.
The second school can be found in the sculptures on the eleven capitals on the ground floor, which tie directly to the great tradition of Fleury in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire . Different types were created in this ensemble: Corinthian , fantastic animals and human faces. In these pictures the well-known conflicts between good and bad can be recognized, between virtues and vices, between humans and animals. In them, cats symbolize heresy , lies, thrive on connections, represented by vegetable ribbons or tendrils, the speech of the wise, symbolized by bearded men, or the mighty men of the earth, as crouching atlases . Some animals denounce luxury, while others open-mouthed remind you of feasting. Monsters feed on inverted lilies (fr. Fleur de lys ), which represents the defilement, against the steadfast faces of women in wisdom. The position of these terrible figures on the capitals of the church, including in the basilica, are reminiscent of the well-guarded gates of heaven, and it is terrible to break them.
A regional peculiarity can be found on some capitals. There is usually an annular band or bead between the capital and the column shaft. Here, however, the band doubles between and above which plant motifs develop.
Rotunda, capital, mythical creatures
Rotunda, capital, monsters
Rotunda, capital, mythical creatures
Rotunda, capital, monster, etc. wise men
Rotunda, capital, vegetable. sculpture
Rotunda, capital, monsters in the tendril
Rotunda, capital, monsters, bearded faces
Rotunda, capital, face u. 2 four-legged friends
basilica
Outward appearance
Today's nave of the basilica stands on the clear plan of a rectangle with a ratio of about 1 to 1.4. The basilica has neither a transept nor a pronounced choir head with apses. The end of the choir consists of a flat wall over the entire width of the nave and at the entire height of the verges . The three aisles, consisting of a wide central nave with two narrow aisles, can already be seen from the outside. The central nave is covered over its entire length by a gable roof with a good 50 degrees incline. The roof surfaces then bend slightly above the side walls of the central aisle, in order to merge into towed roofs with a roof pitch of 45 degrees above the side aisles . The roof areas are covered with red tile shingles. Copper rain gutters are mounted on the slightly overhanging eaves without a cornice , from which the rainwater is drained off in a controlled manner via rain pipes. You can also see from the outside that the side aisles were once entirely two-story. About two thirds of the grandstand floor is missing on the northeast or street side. In this area, the aisle is covered directly by a pent roof with an incline of about 30 degrees.
The north-western end of the long walls of the basilica butt against the curve of the outer wall of the rotunda. The lateral outer walls of the nave are divided vertically by buttresses into six bays, which corresponds to the original inner division into five bays. A sixth was only added when the two church buildings were merged. On the south-western side, on which the grandstand has been preserved throughout, the first five bays (from the rotunda) are divided by four slender buttresses, which reach up to three quarters of the wall height, which jump clearly back about half the wall height and are closed off by steeply sloping upper sides become. The last yoke is delimited by two much more massive buttresses, which reach up over the entire height of the wall to under the cantilevered eaves. The pillars have projecting bases at their feet. The spaces between the pillars at a height of about 1.50 m and almost to the full depth of the pillar are filled with quarry stone masonry made of field stones, the front sides of which are slightly rounded and steeply sloping at the top. In the walls between the pillars, one to three and five small arched windows are recessed in the yokes, a larger window with a pointed arch in yoke six and a round-arched portal in yoke four.
On the opposite side of the nave, the first four bays are subdivided by slender buttresses, which, with their sloping tops, reach just below the eaves of the ground floor aisle. The next two, but two-storey, yokes are divided over the entire wall height with significantly stronger buttresses, corresponding to those of the last yoke on the opposite side. It should be noted that the grandstand floors, with two small exceptions, each have a tiny window on both sides of the nave, without any direct light through windows. The buttresses again have the protruding bases. A round-arched door is left open in the first yoke, a small round-arched window in the second, and in yokes five and six a larger window with a pointed arch. On the exposed wall section of the central nave, above the pent roof of the aisle, there is only one buttress between the larger Gothic bays one and two. A large window with a pointed arch has been chiselled in the middle of each of the two yokes.
The flat gable wall forms the south-eastern end of the nave and extends under the stone slab covering of the verges sloping according to the roof inclinations, which only slightly protrude over the roof surfaces. The two outer strong buttresses are slightly indented from the edges of the gable wall and sloped to the side on the top, flush with the verge covers. In the extension of the side walls of the central nave there are buttresses of the same type, the tops of which are sloping outwards. Two very tall, slender windows with pointed arches are cut out between them. A circular so-called “ ox eye ” with Gothic tracery , in the manner of a leaf rosette, opens in the middle above it . Further up in the gable triangle there is a small, slim, rectangular window slightly off-center. At the head of the south-western aisle, a round-arched door is cut out over a height of almost three meters. A winding stone staircase leads to it, which presumably rises a little higher on the inside in order to reach the southwestern grandstand.
In the middle of the gable wall, a small sacristy building has been added in modern times. It has a rectangular floor plan that extends from center to center of the inner support pillars and in height up to the window parapets. It is covered by a gently sloping hipped roof with a slate roof. A strong cornice profiled on the visible edge rests on simply designed corbels. The roof drainage is the same as for the church. On the south-east side, a large rectangular twin window is cut out in the middle, on the south-west side a rectangular window and an access door. The component and opening edges are decorated with slightly bulky stone in changing sizes.
A bell wall was built in 1923 to replace the much older bell tower that collapsed in 1899. It is as wide as the central nave, which ends shortly before it, and stands on the south-eastern section of the outer wall of the rotunda. It is limited and stiffened at both ends by short transverse walls, which rise up as an extension of the central nave side walls, which are steeply beveled on both sides of the bell wall. The upper sides of the bell wall, sloping towards the ends at the angle of the roof surfaces, are covered with flat, slightly protruding stone slabs. On the flattened ridge of the wall there is a stone sculpture made of a short handle on which a squat, circular roller stands on the "running surface". Their diameter corresponds to their width. The structure is still decorated with flowers. In the wall of the bell there are three slender, high openings with pointed arches. The inner one is narrower and higher than the two outer ones. One smaller and two larger bells are hung freely rotating in them.
The wall surfaces on the southwest side are plastered in a light beige color. On the other walls, individual stones, groups of stones and larger sections of the small-format natural stone masonry in changing colors peek out of the plastered plaster. All buttresses, component and opening edges are neatly joined from large-format stone in different colors. Some of the walls of the windows with pointed arches have profiles.
Interior of the basilica
The three-aisled nave preserved today stands on an almost rectangular floor plan, the fourth side of which forms the outer surface of the curved outer wall of the rotunda. The central nave is more than twice as wide as the side aisles. You actually miss the usual choir head consisting of a central choir apse and the flanking chapel apses, possibly also a transept. So far, there are no archaeological investigations that could have clarified the exact circumstances. In any case, it is known that the simple south-eastern end wall of the entire nave was not erected until the beginning of the 15th century, perhaps as a replacement for a possibly different architectural situation (?).
Today's central nave shows the result of a very early transformation of the original Romanesque architecture into Gothic style elements, which mainly affected the vaults. The original six yokes, including the connecting yoke, became three yokes, two rectangular and one square, today's choir yoke. The distribution of the vault loads changed considerably, and was mainly concentrated on the pillars in the four corners of the central yoke, which then had to be significantly reinforced. There were now voluminous bundle pillars with a cross-shaped floor plan, the arms of which pointing to the central nave are equipped with powerful semicircular services . Significantly slimmer semicircular services are placed in the two interior corners next to them. The pillar reinforcements reach up on the partition wall to about the level of the arches of the grandstand arcades. The upper end of the bundle pillars is crowned by a bundle of capitals whose vegetable sculpture develops over the arrow edges. The same applies to the profiled transom plates on top. All pillar reinforcements stand on profiled bases and protruding plinths about half a meter high. The architecture of the reinforced pillars does not yet show any Gothic style elements, at best they can be assigned to the late Romanesque , perhaps even the early Gothic .
The new yokes are separated by strong, slightly pointed belt arches, the edges of which are resolved by right-angled setbacks. They too do not yet belong to the Gothic style. They stand on the capitals of the four pillar reinforcements. Their outer edges end exactly above the edges of the pillar cores, their inner edges roughly end with the capital fighters of the "older" services in the center of the pillar. The yokes are covered by four-part Gothic ribbed vaults , the ends of which rise from the capitals of the younger ministries. The ribs consist of a central three-quarter round bar which is accompanied by shallow, grooved profiles, which in turn are separated by narrow, deep grooves. Its keystones consist of circular disks the diameter of the three-quarter round bars of the ribs, which are decorated with a rosette. Short molded pieces of three-quarter round rods go from it in the direction of the ribs, to which the rods of the ribs connect.
The remaining pillars under the partition walls with a cross-shaped floor plan, which are hardly burdened by the central nave vault, are largely unchanged; they extend on the central nave sides of the partition walls as wall pillars, which tapers slightly from the level of the grandstand floor up to the shield arches of the vault gussets. They remain without a base. There are also partially only surface-flush contours of remnants of the stone masonry of former pillars or former openings. In the partition walls between the central nave and the side aisles, an arcade opening was originally made in each yoke. They were bordered at the sides by the pillar arms and at the top by semicircular arches with simple right-angled edges, the apex of which remains well below the approaches of the belt arches of the side aisles. The arcade arches themselves merge into the side reveals without a break. At the level of the south-western grandstand level, similar openings have been made just above the floor, but with recessed reveal and arched edges and one of them with cantilevered transom profiles at the level of the arches. On the opposite side of the central nave, all the arcades to the former grandstand floor are completely walled up, even if a part of this floor has been restored in the area of the choir bay. A small access hatch has remained in one of the walled-up arcades. Most of the former round-arched openings in the arcades of both storeys are sometimes less, sometimes more, even half-constricted laterally by the pillar reinforcements, which has always left a provisional and incomplete impression.
Excepted from most of the divisional arcades are those in the larger choir yoke. The ones on the ground floor on the southwest side were a little wider but significantly higher than the others, their vertices remained slightly below the height of the vaulted vertices of the aisles. The last arcade is completely walled up in half the wall thickness. The background of this niche shows traces of ashlar from various smaller openings, such as doors and windows, flush with the surface. Immediately next to it, the arcade opening is only partially bricked up. In the lower area, a significantly smaller, off-center arcade opening has been left open. It is covered by a pointed arch with a stepped edge, the lower one of which is designed as a semicircular bar and the upper one as a hollow profile. The profile ends stand on pillars in recesses in the wall and are equipped with vegetable carved capitals, double transom plates, profiled bases and protruding plinths. Above this arcade, about two thirds of the remaining large arcade opening is walled up flush with the wall. The wall above is closed completely flush with the surface. Remnants of ashlar are evidence of two former arcade openings to the grandstand.
On the opposite north-eastern side of the choir bay there were originally the same two large, arched arcade openings. The last one is again set back half the wall thickness, but has a much smaller round arched passage in the middle of the remaining niche. The second large arcade is walled up flush with the wall, and has an arched arcade opening that is roughly the same as the one opposite. The partition above it is completely closed, with the exception of the entry hatch mentioned above. There are no traces of former arcade openings to the grandstand.
Two slender, high windows with pointed arches and widened walls are recessed in the flat head wall of the choir bay. In the middle above is a circular "ox eye" with Gothic tracery, the walls of which widen towards the inside almost to a square.
The north-western aisle essentially shows its original appearance, divided into six bays, including the connecting bay. The yokes are subdivided by right-angled belt arches that stand on the outside on pillars and on the inside on the cross-shaped pillars of the partition wall. Four of these pillars also show their subsequent reinforcements towards the aisle, which narrow the arcade openings and their base projections. The arches merge into the pillars without a caesura. The yoke fields are covered by barrel vaults, which are supported by the walls and belt arches. The fifth yoke is a groin vault. The vertex height of the aisle vault is about twice as high as its width. Yokes one to three and five are illuminated by small round-arched windows, the sixth yoke by a larger window with a pointed arch. All window frames are widened inwards. A round-arched door is left open in the fourth yoke, the direct entrance to the basilica. The head wall of the aisle is flat.
The north-east side aisle owes its present appearance to a rebuilding from the beginning of the 15th century. Over the first two thirds of its length it is vaulted by a continuous barrel, without the former belt arches and pillars of the outer wall. The beginning of a belt arch can still be seen on one of the old pillars under the partition. Only in the last third of the aisle are two old belt arches still preserved, which carry two vault sections. That is probably also the reason why this part of the old grandstand was taken into account during the reconstruction. In the former first yoke a round arched door is left open, in the former second yoke a small round arched window, in yokes five and six there are two larger windows with pointed arches. The top wall is flat, but has an apse-shaped niche.
The surfaces of the walls and the vaults are light, almost white, plastered. Pillars, belt arches, ribs, component and opening edges are bricked from predominantly gray to light gray large-format stone. Within the plastered surfaces of the walls there are remains of former openings made of similar masonry that are flush with the surface.
Basilica, central nave, yoke 1, connection
Basilica, central nave, yoke 1, connection
Basilica, central nave, SW wall, yokes 2 u. 1
Basilica, central nave, SW wall, yoke 2
Basilica, central nave, NE wall yoke 2
Basilica, SW aisle
Basilica, NE aisle
Basilica, Lady Chapel
Facilities
In the "Chapel of Relics" (fr. Chapelle des Reliques) in the former sixth yoke at the end of the south-western aisle of the basilica, the church's precious relics are exhibited. It is a gilded shrine donated by a Belgian family in 1909, in which “three drops of the Precious Blood of Christ” (Fr. Précieux -Sang du Christ ) are presented in a glass tube. In a Monstranz "fragments of the grave Christ" are shown and in another shrine "copy of a crucifixion nail". At the head of the opposite aisle is the “Chapelle Notre-Dame”. There, in a niche in the wall, there is a sculpture of the Queen of Heaven and Our Lady, with the baby Jesus on her arm, probably from the 19th century.
Basilica, reliquary, blood of Christ
Basilica, monstrance, fragments of the tomb of Christ
Basilica, reliquary, copy of crucifixion nail
Basilica, statue Queen of Heaven, 19th century
literature
- Brochure La Collégiale (et Basilique) de Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre Publication de la Paroisse de Neuvy-Cluis, texts de Gérard Guillaume, 2004 (fr.).
- WHC Nomination Documentation (PDF, 88.9 MB!), Application documents for the World Heritage List, here: Section "Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre, Collégiale Saint-Etienne (anciennement collégiale Saint-Jacques)"
Web links
Coordinates: 46 ° 35 ′ 44.2 " N , 1 ° 48 ′ 30.1" E
Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur church in Asquins | Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Vézelay | Sainte-Croix-Notre-Dame | Saint-Etienne cathedral of Bourges | Saint-Etienne Collegiate Church in Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre | Church of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat | Périgueux Cathedral | Cadouin Abbey | Church of Saint-Avit-Sénieur | Former Saint-Jean-Baptiste Cathedral of Bazas | Saint-Sever Abbey . Champagne: Notre-Dame Basilica in L'Épine | Notre-Dame-en-Vaux | Via Turonensis | Via Podiensis | Via Tolosana . Other buildings: Notre-Dame-du-Port (Clermont-Ferrand) | Mont Saint-Michel .