Auxerre Cathedral
The Saint-Étienne cathedral in Auxerre in the Yonne department in Burgundy is a major work of Burgundian Gothic. Since 1823 it has been co- cathedral of the Archdiocese of Sens-Auxerre .
Building history and building description
overview
The cathedral is located in the center of the old town on a hill overlooking the Yonne. Saint-Étienne was started in 1215, around the same time as Reims and Amiens , but then went through several construction phases. The facade dates from the late 13th century, the north tower was built into the 16th century. This late Gothic display area shows the strong tendency at the time to cover all open areas with faded tracery.
It is crucial that the Burgundian cathedral does not seek the same increase in size of the arcade zone as the cathedrals in northern France do. The Burgundian sacred building strives for an attitude that is more familiar to human proportions. The double-shell principle has been implemented particularly consistently here. The corridor goes through behind the services, so that the supporting system of the building is set as a separate level in front of the room layer behind and the adjacent window area. The upper aisle goes back to the wall systems of the three large cathedrals of the upper Rhône Valley, Lausanne, Geneva and Lyon, in whose construction huts the Gothic style prevailed shortly before 1200.
In the choir we find the same applied even more consistently. Here tendencies become clear that amount to allowing the idea of the scaffolding actively striving upwards to exist as a separate system independent of the outer wall, as an architectural idea, as it were, detached from any structural function, i.e. as a pure work of art.
The previous buildings
The current Gothic cathedral is the fifth building on this site. Instead of the first church, Bishop Amâtre (around 386–418) built a new, larger building. Bishop Desiderius (603–621) added an apse to this church, which was adorned with a gold base mosaic based on the model of that of Syagrius in Autun. This building was completely destroyed by fire at the end of the 9th century. The third building was built under Bishop Herifried (887–909). It too was destroyed by fire in 1023, as was a large part of the city. Bishop Hugo von Châlon then built a Romanesque cathedral, which was consecrated in 1057. The choir, which was surrounded by two flanking towers, was supported by the crypt that still exists today, which compensates for the sloping terrain towards the river.
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The Gothic building
The construction of the current cathedral began in 1215 under Bishop Guillaume von Seignelay. In 1235, after the episcopate of Henri de Villeneuve (1220–1234), the main building of the choir was completed and the stained glass windows could be moved by 1250. Around this time, construction of the facade began in the west, but progress was slow. At the end of the 13th century, consolidation work on the choir was necessary. Around 1300 the construction of the southern arm of the transept began, whose sculpture portal, dedicated to the church patron St. Stephanus , dates from around 1320. The demolition of the old Romanesque nave, which had to give way to the new Gothic building, happened at the beginning of the 14th century. The nave was built from around 1320–1350, and the side chapels of the aisles were built from 1345–55. But the unfavorable times, especially the Hundred Years War , delayed the completion of the south aisle until 1378. The glazing of the nave was done between 1390 and 1410. In 1403 the cathedral chapter commissioned the carpenter Odon Gauthier with the doors for the west facade. At the beginning of the 15th century, the north transept and the towers had not yet begun. First of all, the north transept was tackled, the figure decoration of which from around 1415 is dedicated to the saints of the church of Auxerre, St. Germanus, St. Pelerinus and St. Amâtre. But only under Bishop Jean III. Baillet (1477-1513) the north transverse arm was completed. In 1478 the nave center nave was vaulted and in 1500 work began on the north tower. The second floor was completed in 1525 under Bishop Francois I de Dinteville, his nephew Francois II completed the tower in 1543. In 1528 the north transept rose was glazed by master Germain Michel, in 1550 the south transept rose and the west facade were glazed by Guillaume Cornouaille. The south tower was never completed.
In 1567 the Huguenots plundered the city and the cathedral, which made repairs necessary, especially on the choir glazing. In 1764 the renaissance rood screen built under Bishop Francois I. de Dinteville was demolished and replaced by a choir grille. The French Revolution caused innumerable damage to the building and its equipment. The goldsmith's work was melted down, the church was transformed into a temple of reason, and the important statue of the suffering Stephen on the high altar only escaped destruction because it was turned into a suffering Marat in the bathroom . In 1840 Prosper Mérimée put the cathedral under a preservation order. Extensive restoration work took place throughout the 19th century. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc restored the crypt from 1844 to 1848, the architect Pièplu undertook the repair of the main building from 1866 onwards. A new restoration campaign has been underway since 2001.
crypt
The crypt of St-Étienne dates back to the previous building from around 1030. Due to the sloping terrain towards the Yonne, it has outside windows despite its low floor level. Due to its room layout with the main room, gallery and apex chapel, it is an important example of the development of the crypt as a structural form. The clear architectural structure through wall templates and groin vaults with belt and partition arches also make it a major work of early Romanesque architecture . The crypt has important frescoes in the apex chapel. A very unusual fresco comes from the middle of the 12th century: "Christ on a white horse", surrounded by four angels, also on horses. The formal basis of this scene is a large jeweled cross that defines the entire surface of the picture. The thematic idea of the "angel rider" ultimately goes back to stories from the Apocalypse of John, where such beings are portrayed. But the image of the “riding emperor” may also have played a role here, which was very popular at the time and can be transferred to Christ here. This kind of representation with Christ rider on a horse - and not on a donkey - is extremely rare. On the apse calotte of the chapel there is another wall painting, a Maiestas Domini from the end of the 13th century.
Cathedral treasure
The cathedral treasure contains various medieval illuminated manuscripts, ivory carvings, goldsmiths and a collection of reliquary shrines with Limog enamel .
organ
In the cathedral of Auxerre there is an organ from the Oberthur workshop. It was built in 1986 and has 47 sounding stops on four manuals and pedal .
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From 1953 to 1960 Jacques Berthier was the cathedral's organist .
Dimensions
- External length approx. 100 m
- Façade width approx. 40 m
- Height of the north tower 68 m
- Interior length 98 m
- Vault height in the choir 30 m
- Vault height side aisles 13 m
- Width of the central nave in the choir 12 m
literature
- Otto Demus (text), Max Hirmer (illustrations): Romanesque wall painting . Hirmer, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7774-5960-7 (unchanged reprint of the Munich edition 1968).
- Norbert Nussbaum: German church architecture of the Gothic. Development and designs . Dumont, Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-7701-1415-9 .
- Ulrich Knop: Histoire de la restauration du chœur de la cathédrale Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre . Dissertation, University of Stuttgart 2003 ( elib.uni-stuttgart.de ; PDF; 5.7 MB).
- Christian Sapin (ed.): Saint-Etienne d'Auxerre. La seconde vie d'une cathédrale. 7 ans de recherches pluridisciplinaires et internationales . Picard, Paris 2011. ISBN 978-2-7084-0918-7 .
- Stefan King: Building research at the Saint-Étienne cathedral in Auxerre - the roof structures of the main aisles . In: architectura. Journal for History and Architecture , Volume 41 (2011, published 2012), Issue 2, pp. 113–140, ISSN 0044-863X .
- Heike Hansen: Example Auxerre - a chronology of the five portals. In: Bauwelt , vol. 96 (2005), ed. 40/41, pp. 27–31, ISSN 0005-6855 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nussbaum, p. 29.
- ↑ Labbe: Nova Biblitheca manuscriptorum, t.II, p.423; Cité par Anatole de Charmasse dans le: Prieuré Saint-Racho-lez-Autun, p.2. Mémoire de la Sociét Eduenne, tX., According to Wikipedia
- ↑ Demus, pp. 145-146.
- ^ Description of the organ
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 47 '52 " N , 3 ° 34' 21.9" E