Fleury (Abbey)

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Fleury Abbey - Choir Site
Fleury Abbey - vestibule tower on the access side

The Benedictine abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire or Saint-Benoît-de-Fleury , founded between 630 and 650, became known under the name Fleury, also known as the Abbey of Fleury, Lat .: S. Benedictus ad Ligerim . It is also sometimes referred to in the literature as Fleury sur Loire .

This monastery is located in the village of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire near Sully-sur-Loire on the Loire in France . It was particularly famous in the Middle Ages for its monastery school founded by St. Odo . Odo was abbot at Fleury Monastery from 930 to 942, making it one of the most important centers of the Cluniac movement . In 1798 the monastery school was closed again.

history

  • Around 520 St. Benedict founded the Montecassino monastery north of Naples, where he wrote the monastic rule and died in 547. In 580 the monastery was destroyed by the Lombards, after which the monks left the monastery and the bones of St. Left Benedict under the rubble.
  • Between 630 and 650 monks from Orléans founded the Fleury monastery, one of the first religious orders in Gaul to live according to the Benedictine rule.
  • In 672 the monks from Fleury went to Montecassino to recover the relics of the saint that had been left in the ruins and to transfer them to the banks of the Loire. That was the beginning of a veneration that contributed much to the spread of the Benedictine rule in Western monasticism.
    Sheet mask portal tower
  • In the 8th century, the veneration of St. Benedict in Fleury led to a change from the patronage of Peter to the patronage of the founder of the order, Benedict. The removal of the Benedict relics from his actual grave in Montecassino is shown in the tympanum in the north portal of the church . Both abbeys engaged in decades of dispute over the true remains of the saint. They are now kept in the church crypt .
  • In 1020 the abbot Gauzlin began building a monumental tower, today's portal tower, which, as he himself said, “was to serve as a model for all of Gaul”. The tower is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture.
  • In 1067 Abbot Wilhelm had the crypt with the relics of St. Benedict as well as the Romanesque double choir and the transept built, which were not completed until 1108. The ship was built from 1150 in two sections. Finally the monastery church was consecrated in 1218.
  • Philip I (France) was buried at his own will in 1108 in the monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire . The tomb is still preserved in its origin today as the monastery was not looted during the French Revolution . It is the only remaining original royal tomb of a king of France.
  • Cardinal Richelieu was Commendatar Abbot of Fleury in the 17th century .
  • In 1790 the religious order was dissolved during the French Revolution . The monastery buildings were destroyed, only the monastery church, which in the meantime served as a parish church, escaped this fate. Most of the library holdings went to the Orléans City Library .
  • It was not until 1865 that construction and reopening began. But in 1903 the French religious laws forced the monks to give up the abbey again. From 1865 to 1944 the monks of the monastery La Pierre-Qui-Vire tended the tomb of St. Benedict. Then monastery life could be resumed. Today the Benedictine convent has around 30 monks.

architecture

Old capitals in the vestibule tower
Longhouse
Choir stalls
crypt
North portal

The large and simple pilgrimage church of St. Benoit, decorated with impressive sculptures , is one of the most famous Romanesque buildings in France.

Vestibule tower

The imposing vestibule tower ( narthex ), impressive due to its massive construction, with its mighty and numerous pillars is unique in its kind. On the ground floor, the four pillars without plinths in the middle section divide the room into nine equal-sized quadrangles, surmounted by groin vaults and connected by belt arches . The east side, which was originally the same as the other sides, was changed when it was attached to the nave .

The building has splendid sculptures; Particularly noteworthy are the capitals, richly decorated with stylized plant motifs, animal figures and scenes . A special feature is the Corinthian capital to the left of the main entrance. It bears the inscription UNBERTUS ME FECIT (Unbertus made me) above the abacus and the lion frieze. The preferred location at which it stands suggests that Unbertus was the builder and master stonemason of the tower at the same time.

Choir

The choir of the monastery church, begun in 1062 (the completion of which was not finished until 1218) is one of the most remarkable examples of French Romanesque architecture. It comprises two tiered altar rooms. Behind the main altar of the first sanctuary, consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, rises the wall of the Confessio, which separates the church from the semi-underground crypt. The second, higher altar room complements the architectural arrangement.

The ambulatory with the wreath of four chapels has the same floor plan as the crypt below . The St. The altar consecrated to Benedict is located exactly above the relics of the saint, which are kept in the central pillar of the crypt. The row of columns is surmounted by a blind arcade that runs through both altar rooms and connects them with one another. Bright light streams through the wide windows under the barrel vault.

The capitals of the gallery were made around 1090. The sculptures are not as sublime as those of the Corinthian capitals of the portal tower. They show figures and scenes from the life of St. Benedict. The capitals of the ship from the late 12th century, on the other hand, are richly decorated and finely carved. The three sculpted ensembles come from different eras.

The choir stalls by two artists from Orleans date from 1413. The railing was donated in 1637 by Cardinal Richelieu.

Longhouse

The nave, which is more simple in relation to the chancel, is Romanesque and is spanned by a Gothic vault, the cross ribs of which rest on the Romanesque capitals of the columns of the central nave. The transition between styles is harmonious, taking into account the original proportions.

The gallery was built in 1704. The large shell is a purely decorative element. The organ, restored in 1983, has 35  registers and still contains almost 500 pipes from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The beautiful marble floor in the choir is a Roman work from the 4th or 5th century, which was brought to Fleury in the 11th century to decorate the original church. The reclining figure represents Philip I .; the fourth Capetian king died in 1108 and is buried in the choir.

The interior of the basilica is 73 m long and 17 m wide, the height of the dome is 24 m, that of the sanctuary 18 m, and that of the nave 20 m.

crypt

The crypt houses the relics of St. Benedict, who are venerated here. The connection to the upper church is underlined by nine openings in the wall that separates the crypt from the church. The relics of the saint were venerated through these openings.

The medieval reliquary has disappeared, but the monumental pillar that contained it has been preserved almost unchanged. He makes the bones of St. Benedict to the center of the building, to the foundation stone of the ensemble that rests on it, in which everything flows together. The double ambulatory and the vault of the crypt become wider towards the outside.

North portal

The north aisle is pierced by a Gothic portal, which for a long time was the main entrance for the faithful. The portal, built at the end of the 12th century, was restored in 1996. Christ as a teacher rules the tympanum . He is surrounded by the four evangelists and their symbols. Angels and apostles adorn the arches. The lintel shows in a triptych the relics of St. Benedict of Montecassino after Fleury. Notable among these are six column statues depicting the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament. This lower part of the portal thus represents figures from the Old Testament on which the New Testament is based.

On the back of the lintel inside the restoration work, the approach of decorative sculptures was discovered. On the same horizontal plane, on nine arches, the Mother of God, holding the blessing child on her lap, and two groups of four apostles each are shown. This unfinished Romanesque work probably dates from the middle of the 12th century.

Others

A Latin-Occitan day song has come down to us with the bilingual Alba of Fleury-sur-Loire on the side of a monastery code from the year 1000.

literature

Web links

Commons : Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 47 ° 48 ′ 35.3 "  N , 2 ° 18 ′ 19.9"  E