Notre-Dame (Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux)
The Cathedral Notre-Dame in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux , a French commune in the department of Drôme in the region Auvergne Rhône-Alpes , was the bishop's seat of the former diocese of Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux . The church was built in the 12th century and is an example of Romanesque architecture in Provence .
history
The name Saint-Paul is reminiscent of a saint who was born in Reims in the Champagne region and who succeeded St. Torquatus became Bishop of Tricastin and who was buried in the cathedral after his death in 412. Nothing has survived from this first church. Also from the cathedral mentioned in 852, which Mary and St. Paul was consecrated , there were no more traces after the invasions of the Teutons, the Saracens and the Hungarians.
The construction of today's church started around 1120. First the choir and the transept were built. By 1180 the nave and a large part of the carved decoration and the vaulting were completed .
The church was badly damaged during the Wars of Religion . As a result of the Concordat of 1801 , the Diocese of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux was dissolved and divided between the Archdiocese of Avignon and the Diocese of Valence . In 1840 the church was as a protected monument in the list of Monuments historiques added.
architecture
Exterior construction
The church stands free in the middle of the place. The church is built from regularly hewn and carefully joined blocks, which, as in the interior, have numerous stonemason's marks. Some stones are provided with reliefs on which intertwined circles, mythical creatures, marksmen, riders with hunting horns or groups of people are depicted.
The west facade is broken up by three oculi and two arched windows. Fluted pilasters and half-columns surround the portal , the arches of which are decorated with egg rods , heads and acanthus leaves. The porch of the south portal with its ribbed vault dates from the 15th century. The tympanum depicting the Magi was destroyed during the Wars of Religion.
The outer walls of the chorus circumscribe a pentagon whose edges of massive pillars with Akanthus capitals are reinforced. The two side, semicircular apses are unadorned and only broken through by a central arched window. Under the roof approach runs a cornice of stone slabs with ornamental reliefs , the sculpted on corbels rest.
The bell tower, which was built in the 17th century, rises above the southern arm of the transept.
inner space
The interior has three naves and is divided into three bays . It carries a barrel vault that is underpinned by belt arches . These rest on pilasters and fluted half-columns with capitals, which in turn are supported by mighty pillars with pilasters.
The transept protrudes well beyond the width of the nave. An octagonal dome over trumpets rises above the crossing . It was built during the renovation work in the middle of the 19th century. The last yoke of the nave is provided with a blend triforium that opens into three niches.
The wall of the main apse, which is semicircular inside, is structured by blind arcades on narrow columns with arcanthus capitals. They serve as a support for the flat ribs that support the semi-dome.
A cornice with a frieze of acanthus leaves and an egg stick or a simple dew band runs between the arcade zone and the upper storey . Underneath, carved in stone, unfolds a curtain with elaborate folds, which is pulled up on strings by people standing sideways.
Wall paintings from the Gothic period were uncovered on some pillars . In 1897, fragments of a floor mosaic depicting the city of Jerusalem were discovered in the choir from the parsonage of the previous church .
literature
- Guy Barruol, Jean-Maurice Rouquette: Routes through the Romanesque Provence . Echter Verlag , Würzburg 1993, ISBN 3-429-01506-5 , pp. 92-93.
- Jean-Maurice Rouquette: Provence novels I . Zodiaque, 2nd edition, La Pierre-qui-Vire 1980, pp. 70-122. (without ISBN)
- Thorsten Droste : Dauphiné and Haute-Provence. Discovery trips between the Rhône and the Alps, from Lyon to the Verdon Gorge . DuMont , Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-7701-2408-1 , pp. 91-92.
Web links
- Lieux Sacrés / Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (French text)
- Ancienne cathédrale de Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
Coordinates: 44 ° 20 ′ 56.8 " N , 4 ° 46 ′ 2.8" E