Le Havre Cathedral
The Notre Dame Cathedral is the Catholic Bishop Church of the Diocese of Le Havre in Le Havre in the Seine-Maritime department and one of the few surviving pre-war buildings downtown.
history
In the 12th century fishermen built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which was no longer preserved in the 15th century. The pastor of the Saint Michel Church (Sankt-Michaels-Kirche) in Ingouville decided in 1520 to build a wooden chapel with a thatched roof after the port was founded. It was often inundated by floods and was destroyed on January 15, 1525 by the "Mâle Marée" (heavy storm surge). A solid church with stone pillars was then built. The services in this church “Notre Dame de Grâce” (Our Lady of Grace) were held by the parish priest and chaplains of Ingouville. In 1540, the construction of a church tower 30 meters high, which was crowned by an octagonal Gothic spire, began. This tower served as a lighthouse as well .
During the Wars of Religion, the city was conquered by the Protestants . In order to defend themselves against the king, they allied themselves with the English. The tower "Notre Dame" served as a fortress against the French army in 1562. In retaliation, the authorities decided to demolish the tower, giving it its current shape.
The construction of the current church was decided in 1575 and was directed by the master mason Nicolas Duchemin. The choir was finished in 1585, the nave without the vault in 1597. King Henry IV granted an annual grant to complete the work. Because of the swampy subsoil, the substructure of the entrance facade had to be renewed. The main part of the church was completed in 1630. The Renaissance and Baroque forms bear witness to the change in architectural style.
The church suffered damage during the siege by the English in July 1694 and later in 1759.
The church was devastated during the French Revolution . It was rededicated to a "Temple of Reason" . Then it served as a feed store. From 1801 the church was used again for worship. The renovation, especially the embellishment of the west facade, was completed in 1830.
During the Second World War , the church was badly damaged by bombing. Most of the church windows were destroyed in August 1941. A bombing in June 1944 and the devastating bombing of the city on September 5 and 6, 1944 completely destroyed five arches of the nave.
The reconstruction was finished in 1974. In 1994 the southern rare ship threatened to collapse because of the swampy subsoil; therefore wooden buttresses were added. The renovation work lasted from 2001 to 2004. The church is at the original floor level and no longer looks elevated next to the houses built on war rubble.
In 1801 the church received an independent parish . In 1998 the bishop decided to convert it to a larger congregation; the church now belongs to the parish of "Saint Yves de la mer".
1974 Pope Paul VI founded the Diocese of Le Havre. The Church of Notre Dame was elevated to a cathedral on December 7, 1974.
Structure and equipment
The main facade was built in the Baroque style from stone from Caen. The width is 27 m. Above the main portal, the gable of which was built in 1827, you can see a statue of the Blessed Virgin with baby Jesus.
The choir, which is provided with paneling made of waxed wood in the classical style and with gold heights, was restored in the early 1990s. Four of the six pictures in the former choir have been found and restored. The depiction of Christ in glory behind the bishop's cathedra is the work of Mrs. Moutle.
The cathedra dates from the 18th century. The eight choir stalls to the right and left were added to the cathedral during World War II.
The statues of the four evangelists are original and date from 1637; Peter and Paul from the 18th century. The six other statues of the apostles between the nave and the choir, which were destroyed during the revolution, were replaced by plaster figures in 1807.
The high altar was made from pewter by Philippe Kaeppelin. The eternal light chandelier made of silver hangs above it.
In the middle of the apse, a modern stained glass window depicts the Blessed Virgin, surrounded by nautical motifs that also adorn the windows on both sides; a work by the glass painter Michel Durand.
The main nave has a length of 63 m and a vault height of 13 m. It is closed by a pointed arch vault, dates from the 17th century and was restored after the last world war.
The chapel of St. Sebastian on the north side contains an altar made of sand-lime stone in the Italian Renaissance style from the 17th century. In the middle is a statue of St. Sebastian, made in the 19th century from paper mache.
The tabernacle with modern doors shows a fish and a basket of bread as a symbol of the wonderful multiplication of bread.
On the left wall there is an inscription in memory of the Raoulin brothers who were murdered in a Protestant conspiracy in March 1599.
The Chapel of the Good Shepherd in the north aisle contains an altar with an altarpiece in the classical style from the 18th century made of colored wood with gilded motifs. The gilded door of the tabernacle depicts the Lamentation of Mary. In the middle of the altarpiece in the niche is the statue of “Notre Dame de Grâce” made of multi-colored wood. It dates from the first quarter of the 17th century. Next to this chapel is a 19th century window depicting King Henry IV's visit to Le Havre in 1603.
In the chapel "du Saint Nom de Marie" (the Holy Name of Mariae) there is an altar in the Rococo style from the 18th century, which is carved from wood, decorated and covered with gold. It is adorned with the painting “Virgin and Child”. It is dated to the year 1836 and is the work of a Polish-born painter. Next to this chapel you can see a window depicting the service for the return of the city to Catholicism in 1563 after Protestant rule.
The Way of the Cross comes from the chapel of the “Normandie” passenger ship . The fourteen stations, each carved from a piece of rosewood, decorate the two aisles and are the work of the artist Gaston Lebourgeois .
Organs
The main organ was a gift from Cardinal Richelieu . It was only slightly damaged during the war, later restored and reopened in 1980. Today's disposition is as follows:
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- Pairing : Pos.-GO, Rec.-GO, Écho-Rec.
There is a choir organ in the chancel.
Bells
There are five bells in the tower:
- Anne-Henriette, 2850 kg, cast in 1822
- Françoise-Alexandrine, 2700 kg, cast in 1822
- Isabelle-Julie, 1800 kg, cast 1870
- NN, consecrated in 1830
- Marguerite Andrée, consecrated in 1956
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Descriptive text of the church. Paroisse St Yves de la Mer, December 2016 (German).
- ↑ a b Notre Dame on unesco.lehavre.fr , accessed on August 21, 2018 (German).
- ↑ The main organ on orgues-Normandie.com , accessed on August 22, 2018
Coordinates: 49 ° 29 ′ 13.2 " N , 0 ° 6 ′ 29.9" E