Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours (Nancy)
The church Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours is a Catholic church in Nancy . It is under monument protection as a monument historique .
history
On January 5, 1477, the Lorraine Duke René II and his allies defeated the Burgundian Duke Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy . In 1484 a monk was given permission to build a hermitage and a Chapel of Our Lady on the former battlefield south of the city as thanks for the victory over the Burgundians.
From 1609 the Paulaner Order looked after the chapel, which developed into a well-known place of pilgrimage during this time due to the Thirty Years' War , the plague and famine. In 1629 the chapel therefore had to be enlarged and enlarged again and again in the following decades.
In 1737 the former Polish King Stanislas I. Leszczynski became Duke of Lorraine. As part of the comprehensive urban development measures, the chapel was also demolished and replaced by a church, which he had also chosen to be the family's Church of the Holy Sepulcher and which was therefore magnificently furnished. Stanislas commissioned the architect Emmanuel Héré with the plans and execution. The foundation stone was laid on August 14, 1738 by the Bishop of Toul. In 1741 the church building was completed. After his death in 1766, the duke was buried in the church.
During the French Revolution , the mausoleums were removed from the church and placed in a museum. The coffins in the crypt were overturned and the corpses were buried in a corner in earth. But the church escaped complete destruction by revolutionary troops. In 1806 the choir was restored, a year later the tombs were put back in the church and the graves were restored.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours became a branch church of Saint-Pierre and in 1841 the chapel of an old people's home for monks of the diocese. It was not until 1844 that the church became a parish church again. The Benedictine abbot Morel had the building restored in 1862 and the choir enlarged. Pope Pius IX gave the church a diadem with a Lorraine cross held by two angels symbolizing France and Lorraine.
Architecture and equipment
The high and narrow church building is externally strongly structured. The eastern long side is pierced by five high round arched windows, over which smaller segmented arched windows sit. Mighty buttresses stand between the window axes, and a cornice above the lower windows also structures the building. The main facade in the Rococo style is crowned by a two-story bell tower as a gable. A tail gable connects the structure and the tower, and flame vases sit on the corners. The facade itself is structured by four semicircular columns that support a mighty architrave. In the center of the first floor there is a large arched portal with a high window above it. To the right and left of it are large niches with figures. Windows with segmental arches sit above them.
The interior of the hall church is one of the rare examples of the Rococo style in France. The polychrome statues of saints, who are particularly venerated in Poland, are particularly expressive. They adorn the pillars of the nave: on the left are John Nepomuk (depicted as a distant relative of the King of Poland), Mary, Franz Xavier and the Archangel Michael. On the right side are Franz von Paola , Antonius von Padua , Kajetan von Thiene and Joseph von Nazareth . The creators are unknown. In a chapel there is a statue of the Virgin Mary from 1505, which was created by the ducal court sculptor Mansuy Gauvin .
The narrow hall is around 18 meters high. Belt arches separate the four barrel vaults with stitch caps . These are richly decorated with colorful stucco, frescoes and paintings. The stucco work is by Louis and Nicolas Manciaux. The vaults were painted in 1742 by the painter Joseph Gilles . The representations show the Annunciation, the Ascension and the Immaculate Conception. The frescoes testify to the cultural diversity of the Enlightenment.
The retracted choir with a three-sided end is surmounted by a domed vault.
The pulpit is lavish and filigree. It rests on a four-legged stand in the Louis quinze style with the symbols of the evangelists. The motifs of the pulpit show reliefs with Christ surrounded by the apostles and the three evangelists Matthew, Mark and John. A Golgotha scene is shown on the back.
A wrought iron gate at the entrance from the vestibule to the hall and between the hall and choir was attributed to Jean Lamour. The Louis-quinze-style confessionals are decorated with intricate carvings and date from 1889. They were made in the workshops of Eugène Vallin and Victor Huel .
The stained glass windows of the choir are made by the Metz glass painter Charles-Laurent Maréchal and show the wedding of Mary and depictions of Jesus in the temple. The bright windows of the nave date from 1904 and were created by the glass painter Joseph Janin. Each window displays a medallion depicting a scene from the history of the church.
The entrance hall and two small chapels to the right and left of it are located under the organ loft, which is separated from the nave by three arches.
Graves
Cenotaph for Katharina Opalińska
The first grave monument in the church was erected in 1749 after the death of Stanislas' wife Katharina Opalińska . Duke Stanislas commissioned Nicolas Sébastien Adam to design the tomb. The queen is shown kneeling in front of an angel on a black sarcophagus. A pyramid rises behind it. A golden eagle spreads its wings in front of the sarcophagus. On the base, two medallions flank a plaque with an inscription praising the Duchess's virtues.
Cenotaph for Maximilien Ossolinski
In 1756 the tomb of the Polish aristocrat Franciszek Maksymilian Ossoliński was erected in the chapel to the left of the entrance by Nicolas Sébastien Adam. Since 1807 it has stood next to the tomb of Katharina Opalińska. The sculptor depicts the Count in white marble, wearing the cloak of the Knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit . Two angels watch over a silver ax, the insignia of the Duke of Lorraine.
Cenotaph for Stanislas I. Leszczynski
Stanislas died at Lunéville Castle on February 23, 1766 at the age of 88 . Louis XV had the sculptor Claude-Louis Vassé make a cenotaph . The tomb was completed by Vassé's pupil Félix Lecomte . The tomb is modeled on that of Opalińska.
Cenotaph for Marie Leszczynska
A cenotaph was also erected by Vassé for Stanislas' daughter. Maria Leszczyńska was the wife of Louis XV. Queen of France. She died on June 24, 1768. Her heart was buried in the church on September 23. The small cenotaph made of white marble consists of a high base with an inscription. On it stand two angels, who lightly cover a medallion with the face of the queen and remain in mourning.
organ
The original organ case was removed in 1989. It was built in 1858 by the organ builder Cuvillier. The builder used an old retable with the portrait of Mary from the 18th century as decoration for the case. The instrument has been stored and is unusable. On the initiative of the pastor, an unfinished organ was purchased in 2013, which Victor Gonzalez had built in 1954 for the Saint-Louis church in Vincennes. The new organ was placed out of sight in two niches behind the pillars of the organ gallery and was revised by Bernard Dargassies in February 2014. It was inaugurated on March 30, 2014 with a concert.
literature
- Nicolas Morel: Pélerinage de Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours: notice historique et descriptive . Vagner, Nancy 1846
- Léon Jérôme: L'Église et le pèlerinage de Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours à Nancy . Nancy, 1934
- Gérard Voreaux, Jean-Charles Taillandier: Joseph Gilles, dit Provençal (1679–1749), Peintre lorrain du XVIIIe siècle, notable de Vandoeuvre . Ville de Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy 2007, ISBN 978-2-9529107-0-5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry no. PA00106108 in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ a b Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours , Nancy Tourist Office
- ↑ De Saint-Louis au mausolée des Lesczinski , Narthrex, 23 September 2014
Coordinates: 48 ° 40 ′ 36 " N , 6 ° 11 ′ 58" E