Mende Cathedral
The Cathedral of Mende or the Cathedral of Our Lady and St. Privatus ( French Cathedrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Privat ) is a church in the French city of Mende in Occitania . The cathedral of the diocese of Mende was built next to Mary St. Privatus consecrated by Mende , over whose grave it is said to have been built. The Gothic church was given in 1874 to the rank of minor Basilica and since 1906 as monument historique heritage protected.
history
Bishop Privatus von Mende is said to have died as a martyr during the conquest of the region by the Alemanni in the 3rd century . A church was built over his grave early on, but its location cannot be determined with certainty and does not have to correspond to that of the cathedral. In their place, however, there is evidence of three previous churches from the Carolingian , pre-Romanesque and Romanesque periods. In the 1360s, Pope Urban V decided to build the Gothic cathedral and furnished it with a rich inventory. After his death in 1370 as a result of the Hundred Years War, the building was inactive for a long time. The structure was completed in 1466. As early as 1487, the nave was lengthened by two bays , and the steeples were completed in 1508 and 1512. Mende was conquered by the Protestants in the turmoil of the Huguenot Wars in 1579 and the cathedral was badly damaged in 1581 as part of a protection racket by destroying central supports, only the towers remained intact. Between 1599 and 1605 the reconstruction took place according to the original plans, the new church consecration took place in 1620. The stained glass windows created at that time were destroyed in 1793. A neo-Gothic portal was added to the cathedral in the 19th century .
description
The three-aisled basilica was built in the Gothic style and facing east . On a rectangular floor plan, it is 67 meters long and 30 meters wide. The central nave takes up 12.3 meters, the two side aisles 4.1 meters and the twelve side chapels with the sacristy form two rows, each 4.9 meters wide. The passages to the north and south portal are still located between the chapels. The side aisles merge into the ambulatory around the round apse , from which the two pentagonal chapels Notre-Dame and Saint-Privat extend. The vaults of the central nave, resting on 22 round pillars, rise up to 24 meters, the church towers are 65 and 84 meters high.
The equipment includes the cathedral organs and wood panels from the 17th century, Aubusson - tapestries from the early 18th century, the high altar from the 20th century, a black Madonna and the largest bell of Christianity at the time of their creation with 25 tons of which only the clapper is preserved.
organ
The large organ was built in 1653–1655 by the organ builder André Eustache (Marseille); the organ case was designed by Jean Tiran and built by Christophe Noiratte and Antoine Cabizel. The instrument has been revised and restored several times over the years, most recently in 1986 by the organ builders Jean-Georges and Yves Koenig. It has 35 registers on 3 manual works and a pedal and is a listed building.
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Individual evidence
- ^ Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Privat on gcatholic.org
- ↑ a b Cathedral of Mende in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Baedeker Travel Guide France in the Google book search
- ↑ Information on the organ
- ↑ Information on the organ
Web links
Coordinates: 44 ° 31 '2.3 " N , 3 ° 29' 54.4" E