Rauzet Monastery
| Grammontenser Priory Rauzet | |
|---|---|
 View from the southeast |
|
| location |
 Franceregion Nouvelle-Aquitaine department Charente |
| Lies in the diocese | Diocese of Angoulême |
| Coordinates: | 45 ° 30 '41 " N , 0 ° 23' 39" E |
| founding year | around 1165 |
| Year of dissolution / annulment |
1771 |
| Mother monastery | Grandmont Abbey ( Haute-Vienne Department ) |
|
Daughter monasteries |
no |
The Rauzet monastery is a former Grammontese priory in the commune of Combiers in the Charente department , Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France . It is located around 23 kilometers southeast of Angoulême and eight kilometers north-northwest of Mareuil (as the crow flies). The former priory buildings have been recognized as a monument historique since 1992 .
Geography and access
The monastery Rauzet is located in the hamlet of the same name Rauzet (also spelled Rozet ), which belongs to the municipality of Combiers . Its west wing borders directly on the D 41 from Combiers to Rougnac . It is 3 kilometers to Combiers in the southeast and a little over 4 kilometers to Rougnac in the northwest. At the southern entrance of the hamlet, the D 163 branches off to the west, which connects to the D 87 from La Rochebeaucourt-et-Argentine to Rougnac. The monastery is located 152 meters above sea level and forms part of a clearing that opens to the southwest in the Forêt Domaniale de la Mothe-Clédou . The Ruisseau de Rauzet runs through this clearing , a small watercourse that joins a stream south of the monastery with a stream coming from the north-north-west and then flows off to the Nizonne to the south-south-east. The geological subsoil of the monastery consists of flat sediments from Upper Canton . These are quite resistant, silicified sandstones (detritic littoral facies of the Upper Canton) that were used as filler stones in the construction of the monastery.
history
The founding of the Rauzet Monastery dates back to 1165. However, construction probably only began around 1180. In 1317 it was merged with the Grammontens monastery Ravaud in the Charente. An affiliation with the nearby Cistercian monastery Grosbot is suspected, but has not been proven. In 1596 it was connected to the village church of Combiers. The convent buildings were destroyed during the Huguenot Wars . Already in 1712, before the dissolution of the Order of the Grammontese in 1772 by Pope Clement XIV , the monastery was in a desolate state.
In 1970 the apse calotte collapsed . In 1986 an association for the protection, renovation and partial reconstruction of the facility ( ASEG Rauzet ) was founded. Renovation work took place between 1991 and 2009. Various excavations were also carried out between 1993 and 1998.
Buildings and plant
The main component of the Rauzet Monastery is the 6.5-wide and 27.9-meter-long hall church . As is usual with Grammontens monasteries, the church is located in the north of the complex and faces east. The nave has a pointed barrel vault and closes to the east with a semicircular apse . The church looks relatively high and is girded inside by a striped cornice below the vault. A sloping, high arched window is let into the west facade. The apse is filled with three high arched windows that illuminate the sacral area. The walls were built with large ashlar stones. The limestones are worked with parallel, very regular, oblique shearings. As is often the case with Grammontens' churches, the apse was enlarged here too. A step separates the choir and apse. In the south wall of the choir there are two piscinas , opposite in the north wall there is a high armarium .
The slightly ogival door, flanked by columns , is located at the northwest end of the north wall. The slightly wider monk's door in the south wall of the choir has a lintel with a recessed surface as a tympanum . The east wing once connected directly to the cemetery corridor , from which the approach of the barrel vault can still be seen, to the east part of the south wall of the choir. Here an arched piscina is embedded in the choir wall. In addition to the two torn wall connections, these are the only remains of the former two-story east wing. All rooms have been destroyed and even the foundations were damaged by agriculture. The preserved wall approaches impressively demonstrate the medieval construction technology with large ashlar stones on the outside and fillings on the inside. Not much of the south wing has survived either, only the foundations of the kitchen have been preserved and the refectory has been destroyed. There is now a house on the foundations of the kitchen. The west wing was replaced by a barn belonging to the residential building, which in its floor plan only retained the course of the west wall, in which the foundations of the west wing are assumed. The cloister is also no longer preserved. Post holes in the south wall of the choir indicate a former monopitch roof corridor. The wall crack on the north wall could have been the supporting wall of a vestibule, which was supported by wooden pillars on the sides.
evaluation
The Rauzet monastery, as can be assumed based on certain stylistic elements, was built around 1180. It is of average size and shows the high quality of grammontensic structures. The proportions chosen for the church are very perfect. Its simplicity distinguishes its style from the architecturally and sculpturally rich building traditions in the Charente.
The monastery had - in accordance with the poverty rule of the order, which was very strictly practiced here - no outside property (mills and the like). The monastery was run by a so-called conversationalist , so that the monks , who had been released from material concerns, could only pursue their spiritual activities. An important rule among the Grammontensers was hospitality and so the monastery, located on a side route of the Way of St. James , accepted numerous pilgrims - also in anticipation of donations .
See also
literature
- Fougerat, Michel: Les celles grandmontaines - Rauzet, Charente . In: Cah. Gra. 2 . 1995.
- Hutchison, Carole: Prieuré de Rauzet, rapport de fouilles . 1998.
- Larigauderie-Beijeaud, Martine: Recherche sur les prieurés grandmontains de Charente - Architecture et histoire . Limoges 1994.
Web links
- Birgitt Legrand: About the monastery complexes of the Grammontenser. (PDF; 28.5 MB) Dissertation, 2006
Individual evidence
- ↑ Église de Rozet ou de Rauzet, Combiers in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Jules Martin-Buchey: Géographie historique et communale de la Charente . Ed .: édité par l'auteur. Châteauneuf, S. 422 (1914-1917; réimpr. Bruno Sépulchre, Paris 1984).