L'Épine (Marne)

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L'Épine
Coat of arms of L'Épine
L'Épine (France)
L'Épine
region Grand Est
Department Marne
Arrondissement Châlons-en-Champagne
Canton Châlons-en-Champagne-3
Community association Châlons-en-Champagne
Coordinates 48 ° 59 ′  N , 4 ° 28 ′  E Coordinates: 48 ° 59 ′  N , 4 ° 28 ′  E
height 100-171 m
surface 30.51 km 2
Residents 644 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 21 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 51460
INSEE code 51231

Notre-Dame Basilica by L'Épine

L'Épine is a commune in the Marne department in the Grand Est region of France . The place has 644 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017). It is located eight kilometers east of Châlons-en-Champagne and about 45 kilometers southeast of Reims on the former national road N3 (now the D3). The municipality belongs to the canton of Châlons-en-Champagne-3 (until 2015: canton of Marson ).

Population development

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2007 2014
Residents 287 291 321 613 631 648 645 577
Source: Cassini and INSEE

Notre-Dame basilica

The Gothic Basilica of Our Lady was built between 1405 and 1527. It stands on the site of an older Lady Chapel, which had developed into a place of pilgrimage since the beginning of the 13th century. The church benefited from rich donations, such as by the kings Charles VII and Louis XI. With this money, the impressive west facade with its three portals could be built in the second half of the 15th century. The construction of both church towers was completed at the beginning of the 16th century.

One of the side chapels is dedicated to the Apostle James . The brotherhood of pilgrims organized in the 18th century, an annual pilgrimage to L'Épine why the church since 1998 as part of the Camino de Santiago applies in France, the World Heritage Site of UNESCO belongs.

During the French Revolution , the large statues in the portals were dismantled. The top of the northern steeple was demolished in 1789 in order to set up an optical telegraph for the Strasbourg-Paris route. The tower was not rebuilt until 1868. Fortunately, the Chappe brothers who operated the telegraph had stored most of the spire. However, one floor was lost, so that the original height of 55 meters of the southern tower is no longer reached.

The total length of the church is 58.50 m, the nave is 15.50 m wide, the transept 25 m. The vaults have an interior height of 16.60 m. The choir is a polygon with three vaults the size of the nave and an ambulatory into which five chapels are embedded. These end with the transept. The interior is structured by colonnades and triforias and a stone rood screen formed from three arches . In its right arch is the image of Our Lady of L'Épine, the destination of the pilgrimage to L'Épine. The outer facade is decorated with numerous gargoyles and figures. On the great western front, the builders of which were inspired by the great French cathedrals of the 13th century, Victor Hugo writes :

“C 'est une surprise étrange de voir s' épanouir superbement dans ces champs, qui nourrissent à peine quelques coquelicots étiolés, cette splendide fleur de l' architecture gothique. »

"The sight of this wonderful bloom of Gothic architecture, which rises splendidly above a plain that otherwise hardly feeds more than a few puny poppies, arouses alienation."

- Victor Hugo : Le Rhin (1842)

literature

  • Luc Benoist , under his pseudonym Luc-Benoist: Notre Dame de L'Épine , Henri Laurens, Paris 1933.

Web links

Commons : L'Épine (Marne)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files