Angouleme Cathedral
The St. Pierre Cathedral in Angoulême in the Charente department in western France ( Nouvelle-Aquitaine region ) is a sacred building erected between 1105 and 1128 in the late Romanesque style . This cathedral , which was built in a very short time, is a typical example of the Aquitanian domed church.
It is the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Angoulême . The cultural monument was classified as a monument historique in 1840 .
architecture
facade
In contrast to the usual church construction, construction of the cathedral began with the erection of the facade. Among the Romanesque works of its kind in France, it shows the greatest size and richest decoration. However, it suffered from a restoration carried out by Paul Abadie in 1866–1875 . These wrote Marcel Durliat , a renowned connoisseur of Romanesque art in France: "Paul Abadie has the west facade treated the same irreverent [like the interior]. Abadie cut here with splendid unabashedness, completed it there, reconstructed a central portal that was unknown to him, and especially made the whole thing top-heavy with a completely unsuitable crowning. "
The facade is a multi-storey display wall, divided into several rows by a five-fold arch arrangement, with figurative and ornamental sculptures that are extraordinarily rich even for western French customs . It can be dated to 1115–1136, however, during this period there was a change in the facade design (Brauer). In the iconography of its 75 figures, elements of the Ascension of Christ are combined with standard motifs of the Maiestas Domini and the Last Judgment . The apocalyptic Last Judgment was often depicted on the west facades of medieval churches, i.e. where the judgment was actually held.
The central motif of the entire picture program is Christ in the mandorla in the uppermost zone above the central window , surrounded by the evangelist symbols (eagle - John, winged person - Matthew, lion - Mark, winged bull - Luke). Below are six angels, four smaller ones in the middle, who turn their gaze upwards to Christ and the apostles, and two larger ones on the sides who look downwards. Four arch fields next to it each frame two pairs of figures, which cannot be interpreted with certainty, who look up to the judge of the world in excited movement (originally apostles from a depiction of the Ascension [Rupprecht] or blessed ones from the Last Judgment [Droste]?). In 12 inner arcades of the two rows to the side of the window, Our Lady and 11 apostles (?) Are grouped together, while next to them, in the four outer arches, two devils and two tormented sinners stand for the damned of the Last Judgment. Below are two high reliefs , the Saints George and Martin on horseback, they were, like the Portaltympanon and above the Fassadenbekrönung with gables and turrets, arbitrarily added Abadie. The arched fields above the lateral mock portals, on the other hand, belong to the original Romanesque inventory; they once again represent the assembly of the apostles. The richly ornamentally decorated frieze in the capital zone below contains a repeatedly controversial equestrian battle scene, which either goes back to the Chanson de Roland , or to Crusades refers or more generally symbolizes the struggle between good and evil.
View from the east of the choir head
Cathedral in the cityscape
Cathedral in the cityscape
Equestrian fight from the Roland song (?)
Tympanum of the arcade to the right of the portal. St. Peter with two other apostles. Around 1110–1120.
inner space
The nave is made up of three consecutive with cupolas vaulted Jochen together, typical of this region design, the most important after the construction of this group in Périgueux is called the "Périgord-school." These domed churches have no aisles and no ambulatory, but often have domes over the transepts.
It is partly assumed that here in the Périgord the otherwise common barrel vault was abandoned or not used at all because the builders did not know how to support it. This attitude may have been preceded by negative experiences with collapsed vaults as in Cluny III - but this attempt at an explanation seems very unlikely, since the domes used here require a higher degree of architectural skills.
Another theory, however, suspects - since these buildings of the "Périgord School" were built shortly after the First Crusade - that they are based on Eastern models, but not Islamic but Byzantine ones . The layout of this building goes back to the former Apostle Church in Constantinople , which Justinian I had built as an imperial mausoleum . This Apostle Church was also the model for the construction of St. Mark's Church in Venice, which began in 1063 . Whether Angoulême and the neighboring Périgueux were directly inspired by Byzantium or only by Venice can no longer be decided today.
And the Byzantine model - if that is what it was - was not simply copied, but decisively modified in several ways. The floor plan has the shape of the Greek cross , which clearly suggests Byzantine influence. In contrast, the longitudinal arrangement of a single-aisled structure is not Byzantine. In the Byzantine region, the aisles of such domed churches are also vaulted to support the domes of the central nave. Here in France massive walls and pillars take on this task. As a result, the interiors appear less full of light than in the east.
The organization of the nave as a succession of domed rooms means that the three individual room parts have a much higher degree of independence than in a nave with a continuous barrel as a vault. In principle, the support of the large dome looks similar to that of a crossing tower , which means that strong pillars at the four corners have to absorb the pressure of the vault. The wall in between seems to be clamped in, the space is determined by these dome units and the pronounced longitudinal extension that we know from many other churches does not develop.
The clean, almost clinical impression of this church is a result of the restoration in the 19th century, which Paul Abadie also carried out. This renovation also includes the entire complex of choir and crossing with their oversized dome.
Cathedral floor plan
Elevation of the cathedral
Burial place of Bishop Girard II, who built the cathedral
View of the choir room
organ
The first organ was built in the years 1781–1783 by the organ builder Simon-Pierre Miocque (Paris). This instrument has been rebuilt and expanded several times. Today the instrument has 55 stops on three manuals and a pedal with electro-pneumatic stop action .
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literature
- Marcel Durliat : Romanesque Art. Freiburg-Basel-Vienna 1983.
- Viviane Minne – Sève: Romanesque cathedrals and art treasures in France. Eltville 1991, p. 74.
- Günther Binding : Architectural Form Theory. Darmstadt 1980, p. 171.
- Nikolaus Pevsner : European architecture from the beginning to the present. Munich 1973, p. 116.
- Raymond Oursel, Henri Stierlin (Ed.): Romanik (= Architecture of the World. Volume 15), p. 17 and p. 60.
- Ernst Adam: Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque. Frankfurt 1968, p. 132.
- Thorsten Droste: The Poitou. Cologne 1984, pp. 287-290.
- Tilmann Breuer : The facade of Angoulême Cathedral. Dissertation Munich 1956.
- Rupprecht, Romanesque sculpture in France, Munich 1975, pp. 88–89, figs. 68–73.
- Newer French literature is quoted in the corresponding article on French Wikipedia, but could not be taken into account here.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marcel Durliat, p. 485
- ↑ Rupprecht, p. 88
- ↑ Christ is not depicted enthroned, but floating; the number of apostles is 11, not 12 as in the Last Judgment.
- ↑ Evangelist symbols
- ↑ Resurrected and Damned. On the theological background to this synopsis of ascensio and descensio cf. Acts 1:11: This Jesus, who took you up into heaven, will come again just as you saw him go up into heaven.
- ↑ More information about the organ
Web links
Coordinates: 45 ° 38 ′ 56.5 ″ N , 0 ° 9 ′ 5.7 ″ E