Sées Cathedral

Notre-Dame Cathedral of Sées

View of the choir room

South rose window

The Cathedral of Sées is a Gothic church consecrated to the Virgin Mary (Notre-Dame) in the northern French municipality of Sées (also Séez ), on the southern border of Normandy to the Pays de la Loire . It is the bishopric of the diocese of Sées . Most of it was built in the 13th century and has since been largely renewed due to construction errors. It has been recognized as a monument historique since 1875 .

history

The previous Romanesque building was set on fire by King Henry II of England in 1174 . This church was consecrated to Saints Gervasius and Protasius and primarily served to keep the relics of the saints. The transfer of the bones is celebrated on December 13th.

The reconstruction in the years after 1210 as a Gothic cathedral should be carried out quickly and not incur high costs. The foundations were not brought down to the solid ground. The consequences of this decision made the building unstable and threatened the cathedral for centuries. The three-story nave was built at the beginning of the 13th century, and the choir and crossing were completed in the late 13th century . The consecration took place in 1310. The facade was built in the 14th century, but has since changed a lot.

The cathedral suffered damage during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). In 1516 it was feared that the towers might collapse, so heavy buttress walls were built against the facade, the basement of the towers disappeared over time behind a massive supporting wall. Nevertheless, the vaults of the nave collapsed soon afterwards . During the Huguenot Wars (1562–1598) the building was again affected, but it was not until 1740 that the endangered choir began to be secured.

At the beginning of the 19th century, numerous columns on the exterior were replaced in cast iron and painted stone-colored. The paint peeled off and the dark tone of the iron stands in stark contrast to the stone today. Since 1849, the whole building was slowly placed on new, deeper foundations. In the years 1850–52 the south transept was renewed, the north underpinned and provided with new foundations until 1880. Then the choir was completely dismantled and rebuilt on new foundations. The foundations of the aisle walls followed at the beginning of the 20th century. The cathedral was saved in this way, but the retaining walls on the towers, facade and choir still bear witness to an endangered past.

meaning

The approximately 83.60 m long, 9.10 m wide but only 24 m high central nave shows the sharp, hard lines and the rich ornamentation of the Norman Gothic; the lack of a lantern tower , however, brings the cathedral closer to the buildings of the Île-de-France than to the other Norman cathedrals. The choir and its still preserved windows are influenced by the rich splendor of the late High Gothic .

organ

View of the organ prospect

The organ was built in 1743 by the organ builder Claude Parisot with 29 registers on four manuals and a pedal . The organ case was built by Jacques Chapelain based on the model of an organ case in Mondaye Abbey. In 1882 the instrument was completely reorganized by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll after interim changes . Today it has 32 registers on three manuals and a pedal.

I positive C – g 3 Bourdon 8th' Salicional 8th' Prestant 4 ′ Duplicate 2 ′ Tierce 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Plein Jeu V Cromorne 8th'

II Grand Orgue C-g 3 Bourdon 16 ′ Bourdon 8th' Montre 8th' Flûte à fuseau 8th' Flûte à cheminée 4 ′ Prestant 4 ′ Nazard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Duplicate 2 ′ Tierce 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Fittings V. Cymbals IV Bombard 16 ′ Trumpets 8th' Clairon 4 ′

III Récit expressif C – g 3 Flûte harmonique 8th' Viole de gambe 8th' Voix céleste 8th' Flûte octaviante 4 ′ Dessus Cornet V Trumpets 8th' Basson-Hautbois 8th' Voix humaine 8th' tremolo

Pedale C – f 1 Contrebasse 16 ′ Soubasse 16 ′ Bourdon 8th' Basse ouverte 8th' Flute 4 ′ Bombard 16 ′ Trumpets 8th' Clairon 4 ′

literature

• Werner Schäfke: Normandy . Cologne [1981] 7th edition 1990. (DuMont Art Travel Guide), p. 295, fig. 85, 87.
• Christine Olde-Choukair: Le chœur de la cathédrale de Sées et l'influence du style rayonnant. in: L'architecture normande au Moyen Âge: les étapes de la création. Volume 2, Luneray, Éditions Charles Corlet / Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2001, p. 159ff, ISBN 2-84133-017-6 .

Web links

Commons : Cathedral of Sées  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Cathedral website , Diocèse de Séez (fr)
• Notre-Dame Cathedral, Sées, Normandy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sées - Cathedral in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
2. ↑ Histoire de la Cathédrale ( Memento of the original from August 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Diocèse de Séez (fr)
3. ↑ Information on the organ

Coordinates: 48 ° 36 '19.3 "  N , 0 ° 10' 20.8"  E