Basilica of St-Nazaire-St-Celse (Carcassonne)
The former cathedral and today's basilica of St-Nazaire and St-Celse in Carcassonne is one of the most important sacred buildings in the south of France. The town and church were on a branch line of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela ( Via Tolosana ).
location
The medieval church building with a Romanesque and a Gothic part stands at the highest point and thus at the same time in the center of the Cité of Carcassonne .
history
It is believed that the episcopal church of the diocese of Carcassonne , founded in 533, could have stood here as early as the time of the Visigoth ruler Theodoric I , but no later than in the 6th century , which was replaced by a Carolingian church in the 8th or 9th century . In June 1096 Pope Urban II visited the city and blessed the stones intended for the new Romanesque building; this new building - the current nave - was probably completed around the middle of the 12th century. After the vice-county of Carcassonne was annexed to the French crown, a new construction of the east part ( choir and transept ) in the style of northern French Gothic was tackled in the years 1269–1330 ; It can be assumed that the nave should also be renewed, but this did not happen during the turmoil of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and the Huguenot Wars (1562–1598), which also had a negative impact on the number of pilgrims to St. James.
As part of the Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and Pius VII , the French bishoprics were reorganized. The bishopric of Carcassonne was moved to the medieval building of Saint-Michel in the populous lower town ( ville-basse ) (see: Carcassonne Cathedral ). As early as 1840, the former Carcassonne Cathedral was recognized as a monument historique . In the middle of the 19th century, the west facade, the north portal and all the gargoyles of the church were completely reconstructed by Viollet-le-Duc . Because of its historical importance, the church of St-Nazaire and St-Celse was built by Pope Leo XIII. raised to the rank of basilica minor in 1898 .
architecture
Exterior construction
The relatively low Romanesque nave and the high Gothic choir section with its buttresses can already be clearly distinguished from one another in the exterior . The Gothic bishop's chapel is still preserved on the south side; however, the previously existing cloister has disappeared. On both sides of the church, the aisles were extended by two late Gothic chapels adjoining the transept. The different vaults of the nave ( barrel vault ) and the transept or choir ( ribbed vault ) can be clearly seen in the floor plan . The Romanesque portal - largely renewed in the 19th century - with its round archivolt arches and its undesigned tympanum plate is located on the north side of the church.
inner space
When entering the church, the clear lines of the three-aisled - and therefore rather unusual for the southern French sense of space - are impressive; this is then also used by some researchers with cluniac , i.e. H. associated with northern French building traditions - an idea that is supported by the tapered barrel vault of the central nave. The girdle arches , which are also sharpened, rest on bricked half-columns, which are alternately placed in front of square pillars or on thick - also bricked - round pillars. The capitals or fighter plates do not show any figurative representations, but only abstract vegetable forms and geometric ornaments ( block friezes etc.). The narrow side aisles have semicircular barrel vaults - also with belt arches.
The six bays of the nave lead to the broad and light-flooded Gothic transept and the central apse . The entire area between the buttresses on the east side of the church is windowed in the upper part and adorned with tracery in the lower area - here, too, the church construction ties in with northern French models (e.g. Sainte-Chapelle in Paris). There was no space for a parlor choir, as the French King Louis IX. only allowed three and a half meters of public street space to be built over. The two rose windows in the transept are designed slightly differently - on the one on the south side, the lateral and upper gussets are also clear, which indicates that it was created a few years later.
Furnishing
- Some of the windows - especially those in the apse - still have their original glazing from the 14th and 16th centuries; the choir apex window shows scenes from the Passion of Christ .
- A medieval stone slab in relief exhibited in the north transept shows impressive scenes of a siege - possibly from the time of the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229).
- The front side of a bishop's grave from 1266 shows the small reclining figure ( gisant ) of the deceased and a mourning group. Angels come from heaven with incense barrels, others carry the soul of the dead - represented as a small figure - to heaven.
- Another bishop's grave can be found in one of the side chapels: Bishop Pierre de Rochefort (1300–1321) stands upright between two archdeacons.
- The equipment also includes an organ, the middle part of which probably dates from the middle of the 17th century, making it one of the oldest church organs in the Midi . A few years before the French Revolution , Jean-Pierre Cavaillé added more parts.
organ
The organ was built in 1679 by the organ builder Jean de Joyeuse (Ardennes) in an existing organ case. The instrument initially had 24 stops on two manuals and pedal , and an independent echo mechanism. In the years 1772 to 1775 the instrument was restored and expanded by the organ builder Jean-Pierre Cavaillé (Gaillac), in particular the Rückpositiv (Positif de Dos). In the years 1900 to 1904 the instrument was revised and expanded again by the organ builder Michel Roger (Carcassonne), and most recently in the years 1982 to 1985 by the organ builder Barthélémy Formentelli. Today it has 40 registers on four manuals and a pedal. The playing and stop actions are mechanical.
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- Pair : I / II, III / II, II / P, III / P
Pointed barrel vault in the central nave (Romanesque)
North transept and choir (high Gothic)
Choir area and apse (high Gothic)
Bishop's tomb (1266)
Individual evidence
Web links
- Former Carcassonne Cathedral - Photos + Info ( Memento of October 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Former Cathedral of Carcassonne - Photos and information (English)
- Former cathedral of Carcassonne - photos, drawings + brief information (French)
- Carcassonne - map of the Cité, photos + brief information
Coordinates: 43 ° 12 ′ 19.2 " N , 2 ° 21 ′ 46.7" E