Notre-Dame-du-Lac (Le Thor)
The Romanesque parish church of Notre-Dame-du-Lac is centrally located in the town of Le Thor in the west of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region , five kilometers west of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and about 20 Kilometers east of Avignon . It is considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of Romanesque architecture in Provence and was inspired by antiquity.
history
The construction of the Romanesque church is dated to the late 12th century. The Gothic ribbed vault of the nave was probably built instead of the originally planned barrel vault .
Due to financial problems during the construction period, a bell tower was initially not built. Today's relatively small bell tower over the crossing was built a few centuries later.
In the Middle Ages, Notre-Dame-du-Lac was under the care of the Saint-André abbey in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon .
In 1840 the church was inscribed on the list of historical monuments .
Building
Dimensions without buttresses: taken from the floor plan and extrapolated
- Overall length: 39.25 m, interior length: 37.25 m
- Outside width of the ship: 14.00 m, inside width of the ship: 11.00 m
- Choir width outside: 10.65 m
Outward appearance
similarities
Notre-Dame-du-Lac is said to have similarities with the Church of St-Restitut (Saint-Restitut) , the priory near Val des Nymphes La Garde-Adhemar, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame des Doms in Avignon , the chapel of St. Quenin in Vaison la Romaine and the Notre-Dame d'Aubune chapel in Beaumes-de-Venise .
location
The massive looking building seals off the spacious Place de l'Église in an east-west direction, to which it presents its entire south side. On the north side the river Sorgue spreads like a lake around an island, which obviously led to the name "du-Lac" (see aerial photo under web links). Otherwise there is no known lake in the vicinity that could have contributed to the nickname "du Lac".
structure
The church has a single nave and is divided into three equally wide bays and a slightly wider crossing, to which the choir apse adjoins. The division into yokes and crossing takes place on the outside on each side by five unusually strong, sharp-edged buttresses.
top, roof
The nave is covered in yokes one to three by a pitched roof of almost 30 degrees, which is covered with gray stone slabs in continuous layers. The lower panels protrude slightly over the mighty, multi-profiled eaves cornice, which in turn protrudes far and is supported by rows of strong corbels, the visible edges of which are rounded. This eaves formation extends over the crossing. It is led horizontally around the corner a short distance at the ends of the building. The sloping verges of the west facade are designed similar to the eaves.
Bell tower
The octagonal bell tower, which was built in later centuries, rises above the almost square crossing. The four vertical walls, in the form of symmetrical trapezoids, of the octagonal tower base, which is closed on all sides, are flush with the surface of the outer walls of the crossing. The east wall of the base emerges from the east wall of the church without a break. The sloping trapezoidal edges are connected to each other with triangular masonry surfaces. The base is completed on the top with a circumferential cantilever profile.
Two octagonal tower floors with windows on all sides rise above the base. The lower one is only slightly smaller than the base and therefore appears very wide and low. On its edges there are three-quarter round columns, which are probably also equipped with profiled bases by capitals carved with masks. These are covered by a rounded transom profile that has been led around the entire tower. In each of the eight sides, two slender round-arched openings are recessed, the edges of which are broken up into round profiles. A small carved gargoyle is arranged between the opening arches. The second and last tower floor recedes much further on all sides compared to the one below. Here, too, the edges are again equipped with columns, but these are equipped with floral carved capitals and angular bases. Above it are widely spreading and often profiled fighters who have again been led completely around the tower and serve as eaves cornice here. In each of the eight sides a round arched less slender sound arcade is embedded, the edges of which are resolved in slender round profiles. They can be recognized as such by the horizontal sound strips. Above the eaves cornice, the tower is crowned by a steep helmet in the form of an octagonal pyramid, the edges of which are marked by slender round bars. The ridge was crowned by a metallic ball on a stem that opened up like a flower. There is a simple metal cross on the ball.
facade
The towering facade shows the outer dimensions of the nave. The masonry of this gable wall extends from floor level without any caesura to below the sloping verges of the gable roof. It is flanked by one of the abovementioned buttresses, which slightly recede towards the facade edge.
In the middle of the facade, the large rectangular west portal with a two-winged door opens four steps above ground level. It is enclosed by an archivolt that is set back into the wall on all sides. This consists of very slim, slightly upwardly tapering white columns on the sides, which are equipped with floral carved capitals, high profiled fighters and bases. The very high, sharp-edged plinths under the bases suggest that the columns will be reused. Behind the pillars, wall strips protrude laterally into the doorway, the narrow visible sides of which are decorated with plant ornaments and the reveal side is profiled with vertical grooves. The fighter profile above the capitals also continues above. In the middle of the doorway, another white column was installed free-standing and also recessed, significantly thicker and longer than the one on the side but similarly equipped. The chapter features vegetable sculpture as well as that of masks. A relatively narrow lintel beam, also white, rests on the joists of the door reveals and the central column. This carries a smooth, semicircular arch field flush with the surface. This is covered by the archivolt arch protruding flush with the wall, which stands on both sides of the struts of the side capitals. Its outside is decorated with a small, elongated floral motif that is repeated at short intervals, radiating. This decorative strip is accompanied by slim profiles on both sides.
The archivolt of the portal is initially flanked flush with the facade by a half-meter-wide wall strip that is decorated with vertical fluting of different lengths . These stand on plinths at the level of those under the side pillars and end on the upper edge of the fighter. Immediately next to them are semicircular columns with significantly larger diameters. They reach from floor level with their fighters to well above the arched apex of the archivolt. They are equipped with carved capitals, profiled warriors and bases on plinths. The left capital shows vegetal decoration, the right figural decoration with eagles holding their wings spread. The column shafts are decorated with strong fluting. In the upper two thirds of the column on the left, these spiral around the shaft, underneath they cross each other. On the right column, the flutes run in a zigzag shape around the shaft. The transom profiles of the columns are connected to each other with an almost identical cornice profile. On the pillars there is a structure in the form of verges of a gable roof, with a slope of just over 30 degrees. The shape of the profound motifs, which are repeated at short intervals, is complicated, comparable to the planed chipboard bricks. Short roll profile pieces are supported by equally wide plant compartments and kept at a distance, in two rows. Each of these rows is accompanied by a narrow band with rectangular depressions and a triangular cross-section. On the outside, the "verges" are flat.
There is a special motif in the arch of the archivolt. Depicted is a right hand open to the viewer with the index and middle fingers stretched out upwards as if in an oath or a gesture of blessing from Christ. The hand is surrounded by a decorated circular band framed by a rosette of leaves.
A circular ox-eye is cut out roughly in the middle between the ridge of the portal and that of the ship . Its walls are greatly expanded and profiled several times. Just below that, two slender, arched windows are cut out, the walls of which are strongly set back. Your arches are covered at a distance by decorative cantilever profiles that bend a short piece horizontally at their arches. Just above the round window there is a group of three deep, arched wall niches. The middle one is larger than the one on the sides, the reveal edges are set back, and its arch is slightly pointed.
On the ridge of the gable roof, directly above the gable wall, there is a small stone cross in a little-known shape. Not far behind, a free-standing wall rises across the direction of the ridge, with a round arched passage, the arches of which are marked with fighters. The top of the wall is sloping towards the roof and sloping towards both sides and covered with stone slabs.
West portal, eagle capital
West portal, floral capital
West portal, gesture of blessing
Long sides
The south and north sides of the church are divided by five unusually strong, sharp-edged buttresses, the sloping tops of which reach up to under the corbels of the eaves. The upper two meter high sections of the pillars recede slightly on three sides, and large rectangular niches are set in their fronts.
On the south side, in the bays one to three at the height of these niches, a slender, arched window is cut out in the middle. Their reveals are resolved in broad setbacks. In these archivolts are set that are about half as wide as the setbacks. They consist of small columns at the sides, which are equipped with carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. They are significantly shorter than the window height, so that the setbacks under the bases are slightly higher than the window parapets. Sharp-edged wedge arches are flush with the surface on your fighter. These are covered by narrow cantilever profiles that bend horizontally a little at their arches.
In the wall section of the crossing, a large circular ox-eye is recessed at the level of the remaining windows, the walls of which are profiled several times.
The last buttress on the south side is set back a little further than the first from the corner of the building. The reason for this is that with the construction of the Romanesque nave, this pillar was widened in the lower area in order to accommodate a small room, perhaps a sacristy.
lobby
In the third yoke on the south side, a wide south portal has been cut out in its middle, which is used as the main portal, in front of which a vestibule has been created, the gable roof ridge of which is approximately at the height of the window parapets of the ship. Its width arose from the width of the pillars on both sides of the third yoke including the space in between. Inside the vestibule, the pillars were then widened inward and deepened to the south. As with the west portal, the portal has an archivolt that has been set back in a wall. Its columns are equipped with capitals carved from plants, profiled fighters and bases. Behind the pillars, wall strips extend into the portal opening, the surfaces of which are decorated with scales and groove patterns and covered on the top by the extensions of the capitals. On the latter is an angular arcade arch, the decoration of which is similar to that of the west portal. Here, too, a smooth central column divides the portal opening, which is crowned by a high, vegetable-carved capital. A rather flat lintel beam rests on the side wall templates, smooth on the underside and profiled on the front. The arched area was obviously decorated in the baroque era and contains a Madonna with her child. The space of the vestibule is covered by a Gothic ribbed vault, which still has some remains of the colored paint. The side walls are flat and have no decor. Stone benches are arranged at the lower edge of the walls, which are extended to the outside as the base of the columns.
The outer opening into the vestibule is framed by triple archivolts, which are significantly higher and wider than those of the portal. The rectangular pillars of the central archivolt are divided into round profiles on three sides and equipped with capitals carved out of plants, finely decorated transom profiles and profiled bases. On the inside there is an archivolt made of slender columns with similar fittings. The outer archivolt again has thick semicircular columns, the shafts of which are decorated with scales and spirally twisted fluting. Their capitals again show eagles with outspread wings. Their fighters are decorated again, like the medium archivolt. The bundle of archivolt sheets, which is tiered at least seven times, is extremely delicately decorated with plant and geometric motifs. Not far above the apex of the outer archivolt arch are the verges of the vestibule roof, which roughly correspond to those of the ship.
North face
The north wall of the ship is roughly equally divided by buttresses. However, there are no windows that illuminate the ship. In the lower area of the Vierungsjoch, between the pillars, there is a more recent room, presumably a sacristy. It is covered by a monopitch roof whose eaves consist of a stepped cornice on corbels.
Choir head
The choir head is essentially the large polygonal choir apse in front of the east wall of the nave, over which the bell tower rises. While the polygon is usually composed of five wall sections, there are seven here. This multifaceted refraction, in conjunction with the tall, graceful pilasters on the edges, creates an energetic upward striving that is not known from other Provençal choirs. Le Thor has the most differentiated choir design of all churches in Provence.
The pilasters are furrowed by four vertical channels and crowned by a floral decorated capital, the profiled spire of which is bent in the middle according to the polygon edges. These each carry two profiled arches, each standing together on a corbel, in the form of an animal mask. In three wall sections between the pilasters, a slender, arched window with widened walls is cut out in the upper half of each. Their wedge arches are covered by narrow cantilever profiles. The smooth wall sections above the arches are closed on the top with a serrated profile. Above it protrudes a multi-profiled eaves cornice on which the lower stone slabs of the roofing rest. The roof of the choir apse has the shape of a half fourteen-sided pyramid, the edges of which are marked with three-quarter round profiles, corresponding to the polygon. These meet in the ridge under a semicircular disc on which human busts are depicted.
Choir apse
Choir apse
Choir apse, blind arches
First of the choir apse
Interior
The interior turns out to be a surprising hybrid: on the one hand, it shows the main features of Provencal Romanesque - single-aisle, multi-tiered wall pillars, windowless north wall - on the other hand, the use of ribbed vaults is completely out of the ordinary. This is unique in the Romanesque style of Provence and can only be explained from the building history. Thereafter, the church was built at a time when the Cistercians had made Burgundian style elements at home in Provence. But apart from this "modern" component, the building is firmly in the Provencal tradition. You can see how persistently the South clung to what has been handed down. When Le Thor was built, the first phase of Gothic architecture had been completed in the Île de France , and the foundation stone for the second generation of cathedral Gothic had already been laid in Chartres .
ship
The ship extends from the west wall to the crossing and is divided into three equally wide bays. The divisions are taken over by pointed, sharp-edged belt arches , which stand on templates of the same cross-section, which stand in the middle of the ship in front of mighty four-fold stepped pillars. The arch approaches of the templates and gradations are marked by fighter profiles. On the pillars between yoke 3 and the crossing there are similar transom profiles at a good half height. The yokes are covered by ribbed vaults, the angular ribs of which stand on the inner setbacks of the aforementioned pillars. The pointed arches of the walls consist of double setbacks that stand on the two outer setbacks of the pillars. In each of the shield arches of the south wall, a slender, arched window is cut out in the middle. There are no windows on the north side. In the first yoke, a gallery ceiling is stretched over the entire base of the yoke, which has diagonal ridges on the underside. A flat arch is stretched across the entire width of the eastern edge of the ceiling, with a flat threshold above the ceiling on which a metal protective fence is erected. The gallery does not have an organ. It is accessed via a staircase in the southwest pillar. In the west wall above the gallery, the group of three windows known from the outside is left out, consisting of an ox-eye and two slender, arched windows, all with widened walls. The rectangular west portal is cut out exactly in the middle below the gallery ceiling. In the third yoke, the rectangular south portal is cut out in the middle of the south wall, which is used as the main portal.
Ship, north side
Ship, south side
Ship, ribbed vault
Ship, gallery and facade wall
pulpit
Crossing
Even if the outer buttresses have the same distance from one another, the inner width of the crossing yoke is slightly larger than the yokes of the ship. However, the crossing and the trumpet cap that covers it are not exactly square. The belt arch between yoke three and the crossing and the pillars on which it stands correspond exactly to the pillars of the ship. However, this does not apply to the shield arches with three setbacks instead of two, as in the nave, and also not for the pillars next to the triumphal arch of the choir apse, which have only three setbacks instead of four as in the nave. The lower edge of the octagonal dome is just above the height of the arched apex of the ship. The octagonal sides opposite the quadrangles are delimited by the trumpet compartments in the quadrangles. The dome consists of eight triangular vaulted gussets that are rounded at the top and are supported by three-quarter round profiles. These meet in the crown of the vault on a stone ring with an ox's eye. In the middle of the shield arch of the south wall there is a large ox-eye cut out with a slightly widened garment. In this wall there are two door openings at the bottom. One opens up the small space within the buttress, the other leads to an outer door and a spiral staircase that leads up to the bell tower. A door was chiselled into the opposite north wall, which opens up another adjoining room, presumably today's sacristy.
Crossing, south wall
Crossing, north face
Crossing, trumpet dome
Crossing, dome apex
Choir head
The choir head consists of the semicircular choir apse in the east wall of the crossing. The triumphal arch consists laterally of the external setbacks of the three-tiered pillars of the crossing. Its arch approaches are marked by fighter profiles. Above it stands the sharp-edged, pointed wedge arch, flush with the surface of the crossing wall. A slim cantilever profile runs horizontally around the apse at the height of the above-mentioned transepts, which is finely decorated and which also marks the vaulting of the dome. It must be pointed out that the apse is polygonal on the outside and its arch is neatly rounded on the inside. A wide strip of a serrated profile runs under the vault, which is already known from the exterior of the apse below the eaves. A wider strip of the wall masonry of the apse curvature runs under this strip. This is supported by a row of seven small, weakly profiled blind arches. Their arch approaches stand in front of the outer wall on smooth, slender columns, which are equipped with floral carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases on angular plinths. Halfway up the columns there are simply profiled capitals. The column bases stand on a pedestal that runs around the apse, almost two meters high. In the background of the seven spaces, the masonry behind the columns appears to be polygonally bent again. In the upper half of three wall sections, slender, arched windows are recessed, the walls of which are widened.
The apse is covered by a neatly rounded half cupola which is divided into wedge-shaped arched sections by three round profiles. The boundaries of the dome are set back by square profiles behind the wedge-shaped arch of the triumphal arch. All profiles stand on bases and small capitals at the height of the vaults. In the crown of the vault you come across an incomplete circular ring made of stone, which is particularly lavishly decorated on the underside. The inner opening of the circular ring is enclosed by a narrow circular ring with a Latin inscription all around. In the circle you can see the right side of the body of a Lamb of God who has turned his head backwards. A pole topped with a paw cross curls up from under his body. Five eagles radiate out around the stone circle with outstretched wings, their heads resting on the stone ring. The sculptures of the eagle and the Lamb of God in the circular ring seem to be made of metal.
literature
- Thorsten Droste : DuMont art travel guide: Provence . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7701-1727-1 , p. 248 .
- Thorsten Droste : DuMont art travel guide: Provence . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-7701-3927-5 , p. 203-204 .
Web links
Coordinates: 43 ° 55 ′ 47.6 " N , 4 ° 59 ′ 41.3" E