Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption (La Guerche-de-Bretagne)

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Parish Church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption
Bell tower

The Catholic parish church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption in La Guerche-de-Bretagne , a town in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in the French region of Brittany , was originally built as a chapel of the castle of the Lords of La Guerche. Until the French Revolution , it served as a church of 1,206 founded Kanonikerstifts . The church has magnificent choir stalls and stained glass windows from the Renaissance . In 1913, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin was added to the list of architectural monuments in France as a Monument historique . In 1951 it was elevated to a minor basilica .

history

As early as 1185, there is evidence of a chapel near the castle of La Guerche, which was dedicated to Our Lady (Notre-Dame). In 1206 Wilhelm III, Lord of La Guerche, set up a canon there. After his death in 1223 he was buried in the church choir .

In the 15th century the monastery came into the possession of the Lords of Alençon . They had a new choir built, in which elaborately carved choir stalls were built around 1520 . In the early 16th century, the two side aisles were added, of which only the southern one with its stained glass windows from the Renaissance is preserved. In 1563, during the Huguenot Wars , the church - and especially its windows - suffered severe damage.

During the French Revolution the collegiate monastery was abolished and since 1791 the church has been used as a parish church. In the middle of the 19th century the north aisle was rebuilt with six side chapels.

architecture

inner space

On the west facade rises the 67 meter high bell tower by the architect Arthur Regnault from the second half of the 19th century. The basement of the tower serves as a portal vestibule.

The gables of the six side chapels are lined up on the south side. Four chapels and the sacristy with the Katharinenkapelle on the upper floor were built with the south aisle in the first half of the 16th century. When the south aisle was extended in 1872, a further chapel was added to the west facade, in which a window from the 16th century was built. Most of the pinnacles on the buttresses were renewed around 1840.

In the southern corner of the choir stands the old bell tower covered with a slate roof, the substructure of which goes back to the Romanesque castle chapel from the 12th century. The chapel on the ground floor of the tower is covered with a ribbed vault, the ribs of which rest on Romanesque consoles . A hagioscope has been preserved in the chapel , a wall breakthrough that allowed a view of the altar from outside.

Leaded glass window

Renaissance window

Around 1865, the preserved panes of the Renaissance windows were combined in four windows in the south aisle by the Échappé glass painting workshop in Nantes . The panes date from the late 15th century and the second quarter of the 16th century.

  • Window 8: Annunciation and Coronation of Mary
Annunciation and Coronation of Mary

The window is dated with the year 1536. It is framed by impressive Renaissance architecture. Mary kneels on the left lancet and the archangel Gabriel hovers on the right lancet , announcing the birth of Jesus. The founder of the window, Yves Mahyeuc, Dominican and Bishop of Rennes , who is accompanied by his patron saint , St. Ivo , kneels under Gabriel . The window was restored in 1889 by Charles Champigneulle's stained glass workshop in Paris.

  • Coronation of Mary
  • Maria
  • Archangel Gabriel
  • Window 10: Coronation of Mary
Coronation of Mary
Coronation of Mary

The window was assembled from various fragments from the 15th to 17th centuries. The scene of the coronation of Mary by the Holy Trinity is surrounded by the evangelist symbols , which are no longer completely preserved. The Archangel Michael can be seen on the left middle pane . The heads and the Madonna and Child as well as the lower right pane with the depiction of God the Father come from other windows.

  • Window 12: Last Judgment
Last Judgment

In the upper part of the window Jesus is depicted as the judge of the world. Below you can see the Archangel Michael with the soul scales in his hand, to the left of him Mary and to the right John the Baptist . On the column on the right column is the year 1537, on the left side the year 1915 can be read, probably the date of a later restoration.

  • archangel Michael
  • Christ
  • Window 14: Root Jesse
Root Jesse

The fragments depicting the Jesse root date from the 16th century. Donors are depicted in the fields below, on the left Johann I , Duke of Alençon, and on the right a donor wearing an elaborate bonnet. The three people on the middle pane represent the Apostle James the Elder , St. George and possibly St. Ambrose . On the lower panes, a kneeling monk with a banner is depicted as the founder, behind him the Archangel Michael, who is the Soul balance holds. In the outer panes you can see angels who also hold banners in their hands.

  • Johann I, Duke of Alençon
  • Founder

19th century window

Between 1865 and 1867 Armand Paris-Réby, who succeeded René Échappé's glass painting workshop in Nantes, designed numerous new windows. Other windows from the 1880s and 1890s come from the Lecomte et Colin stained glass in Rennes .

  • Instruction of Mary and Saint Joseph, Armand Paris-Réby window from 1865

  • Saint Helena and handing over the keys to Peter, window by Armand Paris-Réby from 1865

  • Last Supper, window by Lecomte et Colin from 1889

  • Heart of Jesus, window by Lecomte et Colin from 1895

Choir stalls

Praying monk
Praying monk
  • The choir stalls date from between 1520 and 1530. Of the original twelve seats on both sides, only nine are preserved today, two of the four cheeks still exist. The evangelist Mark and his symbol , the lion, are depicted on one cheek , including a woman holding the crown of thorns in her hands. The evangelist Matthew is depicted on the other cheek .

The back walls are decorated with fine arabesques, depictions of animals, naked people and sometimes with rough scenes. The misericords are carved with people and heads, and biblical scenes such as the fall of man or the expulsion from paradise are depicted. A relief shows Joshua and Caleb with the bunch of calebs .

  • Back wall

  • Back wall

  • Back wall

  • Fool's head

  • Fall of Man

  • Expulsion from Paradise

  • Veal grape

Further equipment

  • The pulpit dates from the 17th / 18th centuries. Century.
  • In the church, the reclining figure of the founder of the collegiate foundation, Wilhelm III. by La Guerche, kept.

literature

  • Françoise Gatouillat, Michel Hérold: Les vitraux de Bretagne . Corpus Vitrearum France - Récensement VII, Presses universitaires de Rennes, Rennes 2005, ISBN 2-7535-0151-3 , pp. 238-240.
  • Roger Blot: La Guerche-de-Bretagne. Église Notre-Dame . Leaflet, Rennes 2009.

Web links

Commons : Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption (La Guerche-de-Bretagne)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Renaissance window in Base Palissy of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  2. ↑ Choir stalls in the Base Palissy of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  3. ↑ Pulpit in Base Palissy of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  4. ^ Reclining figure of Wilhelm III. from La Guerche in the Base Palissy of the French Ministry of Culture (French)

Coordinates: 47 ° 56 '31.2 "  N , 1 ° 13' 47.4"  W.