Arras Cathedral
The Cathedral of Arras ( Cathédrale Notre-Dame -et- Saint-Vaast d'Arras ) in the northern French city of Arras in the Pas-de-Calais since 1801 Episcopal Church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arras . It was built in the last quarter of the 18th century on Gothic foundations as the abbey church of the Saint-Vaast Abbey , with its extensive convent buildings - now a museum - it forms an impressive ensemble.
history
At the beginning of the 18th century, the medieval monastery buildings of Saint-Vaast were so dilapidated - and the financial situation of the abbey so favorable - that a completely new building was started. Around the middle of the century, the castle-like convent building with two longitudinal and three transverse wings was built according to plans by Jean-François Labbé , the architect of Louis XV.
In 1778 work began on the new abbey church designed by Pierre Contant d'Ivry . In the course of the revolution , however, the Benedictine abbey was dissolved and the church remained unfinished. Since the historic cathedral of Arras was destroyed in the revolutionary turmoil , Napoleon made the abbey church of Saint-Vaast available as a new cathedral to the newly circumscribed diocese of Arras in execution of the Concordat of 1801 . Hugues de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais , Bishop of Arras 1802-1851, had it completed and consecrated it to the title of the Assumption ( Notre-Dame de l'Assomption ).
During the First World War , three quarters of the cathedral was destroyed along with the old town of Arras. Reconstruction began in 1920 and was completed with the solemn rededication on May 13, 1934. In May 1944, the cathedral was again damaged by a bomb hit.
architecture
The 18th century cathedral was built on the foundations of its Gothic predecessor and shows its proportions. It is a three-aisled basilica on a cross plan with an ambulatory choir . Even the buttress was renewed. However, the wall shapes and especially the facades are late baroque - classicistic .
The interior is designed entirely according to the classical ideal of antiquity, with the transparency and clarity of a Greek temple architecture. The spatial effect is underlined by the restrained but high-quality furnishings, which mostly come from the second half of the 18th and the first of the 19th century, but also include baroque and modern parts.
Furnishing
After the restoration of the war-ruined cathedral in 1934 eight-than-life statues of saints were erected on the two side aisle walls around 1875 for the Panthéon in Paris created and in the course of its final profanation had been removed from it.
They are (from west to east):
- in the south aisle
- in the north aisle
- Eligius of Noyon by Antonin Mercier
- Dionysius of Paris by Jean-Joseph Perraud
- Martin of Tours , started by Paul Cabet , completed by Just Becquet
- Germanus of Auxerre with the young Genoveva by Henri Chapu
organ
Until 2009 there was a large organ on the west gallery , which was built in 1964 by the organ builder André Roethinger . The instrument had 74 registers (113 rows of pipes) on four manual works and a pedal . The playing and stop actions were electric.
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Individual evidence
- ↑ This and the following information from www.patrimoine-histoire.fr
- ↑ Information on the Roethinger organ (French)
Web links
- History and description (website of the diocese, French)
- Image documentation of the interior
Coordinates: 50 ° 17 ′ 35.1 ″ N , 2 ° 46 ′ 29.1 ″ E