Notre-Dame (Orcival)
The Notre-Dame church is located in the French commune of Orcival in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne about 40 kilometers southwest of Clermont-Ferrand in the depths of a valley between the Dore and Dôme mountains. It is praised by art historians as one of the most important masterpieces of the Auvergnatian Romanesque . The monumental building with an eastern section in the form of an " Auvergnatian pyramid " towers over the tranquil houses of the formerly picturesque mountain village with its steeply sloping slate roofs. Notre-Dame d'Orcival was built as a pilgrimage church and has remained so to this day. It stands on the plan of a Latin cross, the transept arms of which with its two chapels protrude far beyond the nave, and has an ambulatory choir with a chapel wreath made up of four radial chapels. The nave has a pseudo-basilical elevation, without direct windows in the upper storey, with real stands over the aisles and a central gallery over the narthex . The church is not in the form of a basilica , but was given in 1894 by Pope Leo XIII. awarded the rank of minor basilica .
Historical
As for the other Romanesque churches in the basse (lower) Auvergne, there are almost no source texts about the origins of Orcival. The chapter's archives were looted in the 14th century and what was left was destroyed in the revolution.
There is a legend about the unusual location of this 12th century church , as it is not infrequently handed down in other places of pilgrimage:
At a spring, which is now a few hundred meters away from the church, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to refresh herself. From then on, wonderful healing powers were attributed to the water, which attracted many pilgrims. One day the statue of the Virgin Mary is said to have been found nearby , which is still venerated in Notre-Dame d'Orcival today. The statue was taken to a nearby church, but kept returning to the place where it was found, an unmistakable message that a church should be built here. Construction began, but the walls kept collapsing. In a rage, the builder finally took his hammer, hurled it away, and started a last attempt where it fell. This time the walls held up and have lasted for centuries to this day.
At that time one would certainly have found a more conveniently located building site in the narrow valley of Orcival, without the extreme terrain gradient. The narthex in the west was built into the steep slope, whereas in the east the crypt protrudes far from the adjoining terrain. The conclusion is that the site was chosen according to the legend cited above.
At the end of the 19th century, another source of the spring was discovered below the narthex, which is not supposed to be related to the medicinal spring mentioned above.
In Orcival there was a pilgrimage to the Virgin Mary as early as the 6th century - probably on the site of an earlier Celtic cult site . There, in the 7th century, monks from La Chaise-Dieu built a first church that was destroyed by the Normans towards the end of the 9th century .
Orcival was originally a simple priory , an offshoot of the Benedictine Abbey of La Chaise-Dieu . In 1146 it did not yet exist. It is first mentioned in a bull by Pope Alexander III. , mentioned in 1178 (Chaix, Monumenta pntificia ... p. 378). Its foundation is probably connected to the donation of William VII , Count of Auvergne, and his son, as reparation for Abbot Durandus of La Chaise-Dieu, after the plundering of the abbey they initiated. They donated a fifth of the Orcival church, a quarter of the sacristy and chapels and an oven called “juxta dominum jocularis” next to the minstrel's house.
Since almost no document has survived that could provide information about the dates of the construction of the Notre Dame d'Orcival church, historians have to limit themselves to guesswork in this regard. Its construction site on the site of a previous church was extensive for the point of view of the time, but with the complete cohesion of its architectural style it testifies to a realization in one go, without any interruption.
The monks of La Chaise-Dieu do not seem to be responsible for the financing of the buildings or as sponsors of the pilgrimages. They would certainly not only have left two monks there when they withdrew from the chapter in 1333 without further claims. However, there is some evidence that the Counts of Auvergne were responsible for the main financing of the church building in the first third of the 12th century. They included Orcival as part of their property ownership and had church income by giving a fifth to La Chaise-Dieu.
As is almost always the case with churches of that time, the building was started in the east with the crypt and the choir head, then continued to the west and finished with the narthex after about half a century. Since the pilgrimages increased steadily during this time, the church was probably made accessible to pilgrims in ever larger sections according to the progress of construction.
In one of the sources, the completion of the church is dated to 1166.
The convent buildings of the chapter will have been built together with the church building. No sources are known about their arrangement, size and appearance. Some contours on the masonry of the south wall and inside on the gable wall of the south arm of the transept suggest that the convent buildings were built on the south side of the building.
The pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain began towards the end of the 11th century . Its greatest heyday took place in the first half of the 12th century, when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims moved south every year. The Way of St. James in France was formed from four main routes, accompanied by a network of numerous secondary routes. Numerous new churches, monasteries, hospices, hostels and cemeteries were built along these paths, and existing facilities were expanded to meet the new requirements. For a pilgrim church, above all, large areas of movement were needed for the numerous pilgrims , such as the ambulatory and side aisles , galleries, and as many chapels as possible for the presentation of relics and their veneration.
Together with the other main churches of Auvergne, Orcival was also located on an important secondary route, between the main routes Via Lemovicensis and Via Podiensis , which started out from Nevers and opened up the whole of Auvergne and continued south.
In the 13th century the chapter founded by Bishop Hugh of Tours in 1242 from was Pope for collegiate raised that of 26 canons , even canons called, was formed. That number later decreased, but the pen lasted until the revolution .
When the quarrels between France and England over Aquitaine began after the middle of the 12th century , the pilgrimage declined. The later wars of the 13th and 15th centuries Century, such as the Hundred Years War (1339-1453), brought a dramatic slump and led to an almost complete cessation of the streams of pilgrims to Spain. Accordingly, the chapter of Notre-Dame d'Orcival could no longer partake of the donations from the pilgrims of St. James after the completion of its large pilgrimage church. All that remained for him was the regional pilgrimages.
The priory did not exist long when, in 1333, Pierre d'Aigrefeuille, the former abbot of La Chaise-Dieu and Bishop of Clermont , attached all of its properties to the Saint-Robert de Montferrand priory.
In 1478 a violent earthquake damaged the church, as did that of Notre-Dame du Port , Mozac and Riom . The bell tower was then modified. Louis XI. , King of France from 1461 to 1483, allowed the canons to solicit donations from across the kingdom to pay for the restoration.
When the Auvergne was ravaged by epidemics between 1629 and 1631, the number of pilgrims increased. Several cities took vows in Notre-Dame d'Orcival , such as Thiers in 1629, Clermont-Ferrand and Montluçon in 1631.
During and after the revolution (1789) the chapter was dissolved and the church's furnishings cremated. The convent buildings, as far as any remained from the turmoil of the religious wars, were then sold as common property for demolition. The precious statue of the Virgin Mary was walled up in a wall of the gallery of the narthex in good time and thus spared from looting, as were all the bells. Only the top of the crossing tower with the weather tap , as an expression of church authority, was destroyed at that time, but it was later able to be reconstructed.
In the 19th century, the Marian pilgrimages took on significantly larger proportions, so that necessary repairs and renovations were financially made possible. The restorers were given little opportunity to intervene on a large scale, as the substance had surprisingly withstood the atrocities quite well over the centuries. The church was given in 1894 by Pope Leo XIII. the honorary title of Basilica minor .
From 1951 to 1965, the church and crypt were cleaned of the centuries-old soot and the choir was redesigned. In the last few years the outside of the building has been cleaned and restored according to modern monument preservation criteria.
Building
Dimensions approx (taken from the floor plan and extrapolated)
- Overall length outside (including chapels): 46.60 m
- Outside width of the nave (without wall templates): 16.30 m
- Width of the nave outside (with wall templates): 17.30 m
- Length of the transept outside (without pillar templates): 27.20 m
- Length of outer nave, transept to facade: 23.70 m
- Outside transept width (without wall templates): 8.45 m
- Transept overhang to the nave: 5.80 m
- Longhouse length inside: 21.00 m
- Inside width of the nave: 14.20 m
- Central nave width between partitions: 6.40 m
- Inside transept length: 27.40 m
- Depth choir (crossing to outer wall): 12.10 m
- Central nave height inside: 17.40 m
- Inside height of the crossing dome (at the top): 21.40 m
Like almost all Romanesque churches, Notre-Dame d'Orcival has its choir head facing east, towards the rising sun, a symbol of Christ. For this purpose, the builders did not shy away from undertaking complex terrain modeling, such as various excavations of the rocky subsoil, on the other hand the necessary embankments and leveling. The massive facade wall in the west disappears about a third of its height in the mountainside. The stream running to the east was largely diverted. The stone material andesite , a light gray volcanic stone, could be mined on the spot. This could easily be worked on by the stonemasons with their tools. The visible bricks of the masonry are painstakingly trimmed with admirable care and accuracy. The stone surfaces are covered with inclined, fern-frond-like grooves that have been cut outwards along the central axis at an acute angle on both sides. This method is typical of stone processing in the Auvergne. On the masonry of the church, especially on the outside of the blind arcade arches of the south nave wall and inside on the girdle arches of the south aisle, one can discover engraved stonemasons' marks that bear witness to the efforts of the humble craftsmen. The signatures, which are often repeated on the whole building, support the assumption that the building was erected and completed without any interruptions in time
Stonemason signatures
Outward appearance
The masonry consists predominantly of large-format stone made of gray andesite, in regular layers. However, some parts of the wall are also made of small-format natural stones of different colors in irregular layered masonry.
Longhouse
The nave stands on an elongated rectangular floor plan, which shows a vertical division into four bays and a narthex and a horizontal division into two floors. It is covered by a flat (about 20 degrees) inclined gable roof, without any graduation, which is covered with gray slate. The rafters of the roof truss end on expansive eaves cornice panels, the visible edges of which are decorated with a roller frieze . They are supported by chipboard bricks , the special sculpture of which is widespread in the Auvergne Romanesque. Originally, the lower slate cantilevered over the eaves to allow the rainwater to drip off freely. Since this construction has often led to moisture damage to the bases of the outer walls, modern semicircular hanging gutters made of copper sheet were installed here in the course of renovation work, through which the rainwater is drained into vertical downpipes in a controlled manner. The gable roof meets the massif barlong above the crossing on the east side and continues below into the eaves of the transept. At the west end, the roof hits an unusually high (two to three meters) rising gable wall of the facade, which is covered with slightly cantilevered stone slabs at a steeper slope (over 30 degrees) so that it ends above the gable edges on horizontal transom slabs. According to the sources, the gable wall, which protrudes far above the roof surface, should have protected the roof against western weather influences.
The south wall of the nave is divided horizontally into about two thirds of its height, by an offset of the outer wall surfaces that is inclined towards the outside by about 45 degrees. Inside, this corresponds to the horizontal division into the side aisles and their stands, which are separated from the ceiling. The vertical structure of the ground floor begins in the west with a largely closed section that protrudes slightly over the outside of the subsequent blind arcades. It's about one and a half times as wide as these arcades. Behind it are the narthex and the massive west wall. A medium-sized round-arched window is cut out in this wall, the apex of the arch is almost at the same height as that of the main portal in the 2nd yoke. The further area, up to the transept, is structured by four high and equally wide, deep blind arcades. The outer vertices of their round, slightly stilted wedge stone arches come under the edge of the above-mentioned setback, which stand on pillar templates that are rectangular in plan, the arches of which are marked by transom profiles on the reveals. The blind arcades correspond to the inner division into yokes one to four.
Blacksmithing at the main portal
In the arcade niches of yokes one, three and four, a slender, round-arched window is cut out, the arches of which are just above the height of the arcade warriors. The wedge arches are covered on the outside by cantilever profiles with a simple roller frieze, which pivot horizontally outwards at the height of the arches and hit the pillars. In yoke two, which contains the main portal, there is no window, but the same wedge arch with the same cladding. One can see from the wall bond that a former semicircular window hatch was subsequently bricked up under the Keilstein arch. The apex of the arched portal opening is roughly level with the neighboring window parapets. It is covered by a wedge arch, which is covered by a layered cantilever profile, which swings a short distance horizontally at the level of the arches of the door opening. At the main portal, the outer area joins the inner floor level with one step, rises towards the narthex and falls towards the transept.
This portal is called the Gate of Saint John and has remarkably preserved wrought iron hinges. They are decorated with scrollwork of various shapes.
In the arcade of the fourth yoke you can see a former wicket door on the left edge in the masonry, which was later walled up flush with the wall. The same blind arcade, with its eastern reveal, extends a short distance into the wall of the transept arm. This is due to the fact that a single arch structure was used for all arcades, and a new, somewhat narrower structure has been omitted here.
At various points in the masonry at different heights, some contours of connections to attachments that were removed later can be seen. In the arcades of bays one and three, between the windows and the pillars, grooves that were inclined about 45 degrees and later closed grooves can be observed, which may have been connections to sloping ceilings. In the Keilsteinbogen of the arcade of the 2nd yoke there is a short piece of such a groove. In the arcades of yokes three and four you can see a common groove in the form of a semicircular arch, which suggests the former connection of such a vault.
On the upper floor of the south wall, five groups of three and one group of two are embedded in blinds, which stand up on the above-mentioned, continuous setback. The three arcades of yokes 2 and 3 are somewhat wider than those of yokes 1 and four and the narthex. The dazzle markings consist of three and two merging wedge stone arches, which stand on four and three pillars, which are equipped with vegetable carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. They are separated by rectangular pillars, over which the transom profiles of the capitals pass. The wedge stone arches are covered on the outside by simple cantilever profiles, the outer ones reaching down to the transom profiles. The wall surface above the wedge stone arches are flush with those of the pillar templates and extend under the eaves cornice panels. In each of the middle arcades of the groups of three, a slit-like round arched window is left open, in the case of the group of two in the east.
The north wall of the nave has a structure similar to the one on the south, but does without a number of decorations. Above all, it remains with the rough division into the two floors and the four bays with a narthex. The four large blind arcades each have one of the arched window openings, as they are known from across the street. There is no door. The windows have no overlap profiles. Only the pillars of the blind arcades are separated from the arches by transom profiles. There are no blinds over the horizontal offset of the north wall. The six slot-like windows are cut out in a flat wall surface. There are no more windows in the closed wall surface at the west end of the ground floor either. At the east end of this storey, however, a small addition of a more recent sacristy has been created over yokes three and four, which just reaches the end of the north arm of the transept, and with its pent roof remains under the parapets of the church windows.
The nave actually has no west facade or even a western entrance, mainly because it disappears into the mountainside for about a third of its height. The rest of it is hardly visible due to the nearby development of a village house. In the upper area of the facade gable wall, just below the inner vault connection, a wall niche is embedded in the form of a lying rectangle, which is divided into two almost square niches by a wall pillar. The upper reveal is supported by chipboard bricks. A slender, arched window is cut out in each of the niche backgrounds, the wedge-shaped arch of which is covered on the outside by a simple cantilever profile that swings horizontally in short pieces at the level of the arches. On both sides of the large niche, at the level of the inner half-barrel vaults of the galleries, a small round-arched window is cut out, the wedge-shaped arch of which is covered as above. At the height of the current site level, a small single-wing door is cut out off-center to the south, which leads to the gallery above the narthex.
Transept with crossing and massive barlong
The transept arms protrude on both sides with 5.80 meters each well over the width of the nave. They are covered by gently sloping gable roofs, the eaves of which are exactly at the level of the longhouse eaves, the gutters of which merge into one another. The roof covering corresponds to that of the nave. On the inside, it strikes against the outer walls of the massif barlong, which are raised as an extension of the nave's outer walls, and on the outside against the gable walls of the transept arms, which are raised a short distance above the roof surfaces. These gable walls are stiffened on both sides of the component edges with slightly indented buttresses with a rectangular plan, which reach up to just below the chipboard crags and are steeply sloping there. The sloping tops of the gable walls are covered with cantilevered panels. Their outer visible edges are decorated with simple roller friezes. They end on fighters led horizontally around the wall ends, who are also decorated. Exactly at the height of the eaves cornices are horizontal mock-ups of the eaves cornices, with multiple roller friezes on chipboard bricks that extend to the outer edges of the buttresses on the gable side.
The wall field between the two buttresses is divided horizontally in about two thirds of its height with a slightly sloping back offset, almost at the depth of the buttresses. The ground floor is decorated with a high twin blind arcade, the outer wedge stone arch apex of which extends below the setback. The slightly stilted round arches stand together on a semicircular old service, which is equipped with a vegetable-carved capital, profiled fighter and base. The arches are marked on the reveal side with transom profiles. In each of the western arcades there is a round-arched side door, the door leaves of which have hinges similar to those of the main portal. The outer area of the portal on the south side is five steps below the inner floor. In the rectangular wall field above the recess, two arched windows are cut out, which are about as wide as those of the nave, but a little lower. Your parapets are a stone layer above the setback. Your wedge arches are covered on the outside by a cantilever profile, which pivot horizontally outwards at the level of the arches and are guided on the outside up to the buttresses.
A flat relief is applied to the wide section of wall between the windows, but it has nothing to do with a sundial. The Roman numerals I to XII are engraved around a double circular ring. The inner circular ring is filled with a twelve-pointed sun, whose tapering rays each point to one of the digits. The outer circular ring is surrounded by four angel heads with laterally spread wings, which can be recognized as the four blowing winds from the fans flowing out of their mouths. They face each other diagonally. At the top of the outer circle is a wooden two-story throne, on the upper seat of which sits the crowned Mother of God, who holds up the baby Jesus with her left hand. Under the throne, a kneeling angel seems to be supporting the lower seat with both hands.
The representation could have the following meaning: The four winds are the four cardinal points and in iconography they like to symbolize the "earthly world", which is tied into a temporal sequence, the course of the day, 12 months, which are repeated over and over in contrast to the eternity of the supernatural -metaphysical world, symbolized by the triangle in which Mary is here with the Son of God. Whether this interpretation is valid, one would have to know more about the context of the relief.
In the gable of the southern arm of the transept, a large Latin cross with broad arms is mounted just above the mock eaves , the edges of which are framed by strong cantilever profiles. The inner surfaces of the cross are covered by so-called incrustations , which are stone mosaics made up of mostly white and black stone slabs, combined to form various geometric patterns. Their origins are by no means oriental, but Gallo-Roman or early Christian . Here there are rosettes in circles made of black, white and gray material. Such incrustations can be found in almost all churches in the Auvergne. Under the capped ridge of the gable field, a strange structure protrudes from a fan of leaves growing out of a cantilever profile. It could be a mask, maybe. Above it is a stylized paw cross (?), The arms of which are fanned out and held by a circular disk. In the center there is a small circular ring with a Lazarus cross, also called a clover leaf cross. In the triangular cross arms, leaf fans from which buds or pine cones sprout are shown. (compare the paw cross of Notre-Dame-du-Port de Clermont-Ferrand )
Chains of prisoners hang in both arcades of the south arm of the transept. In a script from the 18th century it says: “The main facade of this church is very beautiful. There you can see numerous shackles and chains that, thanks to the intercession of Mary, were released as a memorial to her gratitude and the power of her divine deliverer. This is where the name comes from: "The Holy Virgin of Shackles", as Our Lady, venerated in this church, is often called " . (Chardon, La Dévotion ... à N.-D. D'Orcival, 1769, p. 15)
Only a few decorative elements can be found on the gable wall of the northern arm of the transept, such as the mock eaves cornice, the cantilever profile above the windows, the large blind arcades with their carved capital and the wrought iron door hinges.
The crossing disappears almost completely in or under the so-called massif barlong , from which you can best get an overview if you go at least to its altitude on the opposite side of the valley. Viewed from the outside, the Massif barlong begins at the height of the eaves of the nave, transept and choir, which are equally high, and ends with the pent roof ridges of the rooms raised to the side of the crossing as an extension of the aisles. These parts grasp the upper crossing area with the octagonal tower sock like a vice. It is noticeable that the surfaces of the east and west walls of the transept arms, the massif barlong and the east and west octagonal sides of the transept bell tower merge flush with each other, whereas the east wall of the transept protrudes a little from these walls. This projection is beveled outwards like a roof at the level of the inner dome edge. There is no such protrusion on the western opposite side and the western wall of the crossing runs flush with the surrounding walls.
On the south, east and west sides of the massif barlong, uniformly high blind arches with arcade widths of the same size and connected in different numbers extend on a cantilevered cornice. On the central protruding crossing wall is a five-arched arcature made of wedge-shaped arches, which stand on six columns and are equipped with simply carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. The wedge stone arches are covered on the outside by cantilever profiles, which swing horizontally outward on the capitals and are led over other components and edges to the next arcatures. The central arcature is flanked by two-arched arcatures, the same size and shape as the neighboring ones. On the north and south sides there is again a five-arch arcature, as on the eastern crossing wall. On the west wall of the massif barlong, which is largely covered by the gable roof of the nave, there is only a two-arched arcade near the corner of the building component, the overhanging profiles and cantilevered cornices on the underside ending just behind the last arcade. In the arcatures of the massif barlong , slender, round-arched windows are cut out, which illuminate the enclosed spaces directly but also indirectly. In the central arcade on the east side there are two windows, in the two flanking it two windows each, on the north and east side there are again two, on the west side two by two windows. All in all, there are fourteen window openings that intensively illuminate the central rooms.
The side parts of the massif barlong are covered by flat sloping pent roofs and are covered like the roof of the nave. Their ridges connect just below the cantilever profile that completes the tower base on its north and south octagon sides. The eaves on the north and south sides are similar to those of the other roofs. On the top of the monopitch roofs, the sloping sides of the tower create small triangular roof areas that are reminiscent of hipped roofs, with joins on the east and west sides. A medium-sized round-arched niche with a semicircular floor plan is embedded under each of these, the outwardly sloping parapet of which connects to the cantilevered cornice that closes the crossing wall. These niches do not exist on the opposite western side. Rather, a shaft-like structure is built onto the west wall of the tower base in the middle of the roof, in which a staircase leads up to the bell chamber.
On the east walls of the transept, the choir apses of the transept chapels in the form of halved cylinders are attached over almost the entire width of the wall sections between the buttresses and the walls of the choir bay. The roofs of their gently sloping half-conical roofs remain just below the height of the large blind arcades on the transept gable walls. They are covered with gray slate, like all the roofs of the church. Their eaves design also resemble the others made of eaves cornice with roll frieze on chipboard bricks. However, gutters were not used here. The shape and height of the broad base is taken over from the transept, the top, made of strong semicircular bar profiles, is three-fold. The northern transept chapel has a significantly higher plinth, almost as high as that of the adjoining radial chapel and with a flat top. Two three-quarter round columns divide the apse wall into three sections. They extend from their base on the upper two round steps up to the lower edge of the corbels and are surrounded by a transom profile, which continues over the wall sections of the apse. In the central section there is a small, slender, round-arched window, the wedge-shaped arch of which is covered on the outside by a cantilever profile with a simple roller frieze, which swings horizontally at the level of the arches and from there over the columns to the transept walls. Centered above the transept chapels, a round arched window is recessed in the east walls of the transept arms, the same size and height as the windows of the transept gable walls. Just like this, it is covered by the same cantilever profile, which swings horizontally outwards at the level of the arches and is led up to the buttress and the wall of the choir bay. This profile is interrupted again on the way by the lower edge of a small rectangular window.
The two-storey bell tower rises up from the barely visible tower base with almost the same outline. Its architecture was changed after the violent earthquake of 1478. At that time there were still well-preserved bell towers that could have been taken as models, such as that of Saint-Saturnin. The two floors are the same height and all octagon sides are designed almost uniformly. On each of the eight corners there are three-quarters round slender columns, which are separated by carved capitals at the level of the floor division and end at the top under corbels with the same. Immediately on the cantilevered cornices are large blind arcades with pointed round arches. Their wedge arches are covered on the outside with cantilever profiles that are in direct contact with the corner pillars on transom profiles. The inner reveal edges of the arches are broken on the first floor with covings into which spherical stone beads are inserted at different intervals. On the floor above these edges are broken up into round bars. The wedge stone arches stand on short pieces of wall and on pillars with simply designed capitals and profiled fighters. These are led outwards over the corner pillars and their columns. In the niche background of the large arcade, pairs of small, round-arched arcades are cut out, the wedge-shaped arches of which stand on three pillars equipped as above. They can be recognized as sound arcades through the inclined sound lamellas. The arch stones are covered by cantilever profiles. Their inner edges are sharp-edged on the first floor, broken with covings on the upper floor, into which stone beads are embedded. The top of the second storey is closed off by eaves cornice slabs on chipboard bricks, as can be found on the other roofs.
The wooden spire was rebuilt after its further destruction in the turmoil of the revolution. It is covered with small-format gray slates. Its shape is not reminiscent of Romanesque spiers. Its lower section has the shape of an octagonal truncated pyramid with an inclination of about 45 degrees. This merges into a steeply inclined octagonal pyramid, which has a horizontal flare about halfway up and is crowned by a metal ball at the top. On it stands a delicate metal cross with smaller balls at the ends of the arms. On top of that, a weathercock turns into the wind.
Choir head
Of the eastern borders of all the main Auvergnatian churches, that of Notre-Dame d'Orcival is the barest: the material is raw, the decoration simple. Nevertheless, the enormous mass of gray rock does not leave a heavy or clumsy impression. The builders succeeded admirably in loosening up the individual structures and subordinating them to an ascending rhythm that decreases towards the top until it culminates in the bell tower towering skywards. The arrangement corresponds to that of the other main churches in Romanesque Limagne : four wreath chapels enclose the slightly elevated ambulatory, followed by the magnificent rounding of the choir apse, which leans against the massive barlong above which the bell tower rises . The appropriate term “Auvergnatian pyramid” was coined for the entire structure.
Originally, each “floor” had its own independent roof. Behind each wreath chapel, gables rose above the wall, against which the half-conical roofs of the apses connected on the outside. On the inside, radially arranged gable roofs tapering towards the choir were connected, which divided the surrounding monopitch roof of the gallery in the transverse direction. The roof covering was originally a covering with hollow tiles in Roman format, also called monk-nun tiles . See also photo of the choir head of Notre-Dame-du-Port de Clermont-Ferrand . The variety of different shapes, heights, and connections of the roof coverings in a relatively small space repeatedly led to leaks and water ingress in the early years, as has happened in other churches in the region. In the 17th century, for example, the constructions were simplified to contain them. The gables and the radial gable roofs have been removed. Instead, the pent roof surfaces of the corridor were inclined a little more and combined with the half-conical roofs of the chapels at their eaves. At the same time the bricks were exchanged for slates from the neighboring Roche Tuilière .
The center and highest part of the choir head is the choir, which still towers far above the access, consisting of a rectangular choir bay with a flat sloping gable roof, to which the semicircular choir apse with a half-conical roof connects, the roof surfaces merging into one another without a break. In other churches of this type, a separating gable wall is known at this point, which may also tower above the roof here. Right-angled buttresses remain on the floor plan of the choir wall in the north and south, the only ones in this component. Externally, they extend from the ridge of the pitched roof to under the eaves of the choir. The roof, like the others, is covered with gray slate, the eaves are designed as in the transept chapels. The gable roof ridge is crowned by a stone roof ridge in the form of intertwined spirals.
In the rounding of the choir apse, four round-arched windows are recessed in a radial arrangement in the axes of the chapels, the arches of which are arranged just above the ridge of the surrounding monopitch roof. The lower part of the window disappears under this roof. However, so that their entire height can be used to illuminate the choir room, glass surfaces that are inclined across the width have probably been built into the roof surfaces in the modern era. The wedge stone arches of the windows are covered on the outside by a cantilever profile with a simple roller frieze, which swings horizontally outwards at the level of the arches and is led just above the pent roof ridge to the next arch and then around the entire choir to the transept wall. The curved apse wall is enclosed approximately halfway up between the aforementioned profile and the lower edge of the corbels of the choir eaves with the same profile that ends at the two buttresses. The area above the profile consists of masonry that is also raised between the corbels. Two different design structures have been used alternately between the two horizontal cantilever profiles. Between the wedge arches of the windows, three lying rectangles have been separated with vertical cantilever profiles, in which niches of the same size recede. These are in turn divided into two fields with three columns. They are equipped with simply carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. This motif is borrowed from Roman antiquity. Outside the main churches, the motif can only be found once more in the not far away, round cemetery chapel Chambon-sur-Lac . The remaining four sections, each above the wedge-shaped arches of the windows, are filled with incrustations, made up of a pink diagonal grid that divides small square fields that are laid out with alternating black and white panels.
The choir is completely enclosed by the flat sloping pent roof of the ambulatory. Its eaves, which emerge between the roofs of the radial chapels, are designed like that of the choir. The four radial chapels have the shape of halved cylinders and are aligned radially to the center of the choir apse. Their eaves, which are similar to those of the gallery, come up against the outer wall just below the corbels of the gallery. The height of the roofs of their half conical roofs of the chapels slightly exceed the eaves height of the corridor. Behind these roofs, the roof coverings merge into one another in small areas. A cantilever profile with a simple roller frieze runs directly below the planed chipboard.
The base of the southern crown chapel is lower than that of the southern transept chapel and is also at a lower height. It has the same rounded three steps. The rounded outer wall is divided into three almost identical wall sections by four buttresses, which extend below the aforementioned cantilever profile and are steeply sloping outwards there. The pillars have almost square cross-sections, those of the outer pillars only about half the width. The last ones are chamfered at the top on both sides. Between the pillars in the upper half of the wall there are slender, round-arched windows, the wedge-shaped arches of which are covered on the outside by cantilever profiles with a simple roller frieze, which pivot horizontally outwards at the level of the arches and run over the inner buttresses. The northern wreath chapel is almost the same size and design. Only the height of its outer base marks the height of the choir floor or the crypt ceiling. It is covered horizontally on the top with slightly protruding panels, the edge of which is rounded. The inner crown chapels are roughly the same shape and size, including their windows, as the outer ones. Their bases correspond to that of the northern wreath chapel. Your walls are also divided into three sections. However, the inner angular pillars have been replaced by three-quarter round pillars, which extend from the high plinth to under the eaves cornice, they are equipped with carved capitals, profiled pillars and bases. The latter stand on right-angled, outwardly steeply sloping plinths . In the five sections of the outer wall of the ambulatory, significantly larger round-arched, slender windows are cut out, which are decorated with the same cantilever profiles with a simple roller frieze as in the chapel windows. Squat, arched windows, which are responsible for illuminating the crypt, have been cut out under the three central gallery windows.
Interior
More than any other epoch, the Romanesque is a monumental art. It is above all the creation of the stonemasons , above all the masonry stands for it. But it is also an art of Christian faith permeated with spirituality , the secret of which is the distribution of light around pure forms. The play of light and shadow is wonderfully diverse in Notre-Dame d'Orcival. The midday light in particular brings out the Romanesque splendor. Almost all walls, pillars, templates, columns, arches and bases are made of stone-transparent material, whereas all barrel and groin vaults, domes and domes are clad with smooth plaster. The masonry consists predominantly of large-format stone made of gray andesite, in regular layers. However, some parts of the wall are also made of small-format natural stones of different colors in irregular layered masonry.
Longhouse and narthex
The nave stands together with the narthex on the ground plan of an elongated rectangle and is divided by two partitions into three naves, roughly in a ratio of one to two to one and in transverse direction into four bays , which are preceded at the west end by the narthex, which is about as wide is like the yokes. Although the narthex is spatially connected to the nave, it has an independent structure. It is enclosed by huge U-shaped walls, the west wall is 3.90 meters and the side walls 1.60 meters thick. In other main churches in Auvergne, walls of similar thickness support the westwork with two corner towers. It is possible that the church's planners originally thought of the realization of such a westwork and later abandoned their intention. Nevertheless, the sturdy walls were useful when viewed as a bulwark against the adjacent mountainside.
A special feature of the Orcival narthex is that, due to the lack of an entrance portal, it does not fulfill the function of a vestibule that leads from outside into the main room for the assembly of the faithful. The nave of this church is accessed via the south-facing main portal in the second yoke. If you look at the west wall from the nave, you first think you can see a central arched portal on the lower floor of the narthex. Only on closer inspection do you see a deep, arched wall niche that leads to the optical illusion. Perhaps the builder originally intended to arrange a portal here and then to reach this via a steep outer staircase, as with the Church of Notre-Dame-du-Port de Clermont-Ferrand . In a longitudinal section through the church building there is an underground cavity behind today's baptistery, which confirms the assumption of such a former access. (see web links, 3rd line)
Today, the narthex in the area of the central nave above the gallery lacks the originally existing wall up to the top of the vault. The large arcade opening that exists today over the parapet of the upper floor to the final sharp-edged belt arch was largely closed. Three differently shaped openings were cut out in this wall section. On the somewhat higher, closed gallery parapet stood a triple arcade, the width of today's arcade, with slender, round-arched openings that were separated by two columns and equipped with carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. A piece above it was a squat, round-arched arcade opening, the beginnings of which were marked by transom profiles, which were only a short distance above the arcade parapet. In the remaining wall field above the arch a small twin arcade opening was let, the round arches of which rose on a column, with the same protruding equipment. Such a wall can be found in Notre-Dame-du-Port de Clermont-Ferrand (see picture), or in the priory church of Saint-Nectaire (Puy-de-Dôme) .
The arched arcade opening under the gallery ceiling is in any case the original one. Its arch merges without a caesura into the gusset of the ribbed vault behind it. Your Keilsteinbogen stands on two old services in front of the pillars, which are equipped with carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. The central vault is separated from the groin vaults covering the side aisles of the narthex by belt arches. Above this there is another mezzanine floor, which is covered with one of the groin vaults that are continued through from the side aisles. In the walls between the high aisles and the narthex, slender, round-arched arcades are recessed on the lower floor, the apex of which is at the height of the apex of the central nave arcade. Their services and their equipment correspond to those of the central nave arcade. Above that, just below the vault, there is a twin arcade opening with sharp-edged arches that stand together on a small column that is equipped with a sculpted capital, a profiled fighter and a base. The upper floor of the narthex reaches up to under the barrel vault, which has the same shape and height as that of the central nave. Above the two mezzanine floors as an extension of the aisles there is a third floor, which is an extension of the side stands and is covered by the same half barrel vault. This peculiarity of Notre-Dame d'Orcival is rated in a source as an indication that no towers were planned above these rooms.
The openings in the walls between the central gallery and the narthex aisles are roughly the same as those in the partitions of the central nave. At the level of the gallery there are large arcade openings that correspond to the neighboring arches of the partition arcades that stand on short pillars. At the height of the side stands there are the same twin arcades as with the Biforias .
In the west wall of the narthex, a round-arched niche is embedded on the ground floor, the depth of which corresponds to about two thirds of the wall thickness. It reminds of the spring sanctuary found here and essentially serves the baptismal rite (see section inventory / equipment). A door is let into the west wall of the two side aisles of the narthex, providing access to the spiral staircase that leads up to the mezzanine, the gallery and the side stands.
The narthex is illuminated on the ground floor through a single arched window in the south wall, the walls of which are widened inward. On the upper floor there are two such neighboring windows that are cut out high up in the vaulted area in the west wall. They were closed for a long time and only reopened in 2009 as part of extensive restoration work
The central nave between the narthex and crossing is covered by a continuous barrel vault without girders , the apex of which is about 17.4 meters above the ground. Their curvature merges into the surfaces of the partition walls without a caesura. The vault approaches are around 14.20 meters. The side aisles are covered by ribbed vaults, the gussets facing the central nave merge into the arcade arches of the partition walls without a break. Their vertices are 8.95 meters above ground. Its vaulted fields are separated by sharp-edged belt arches, which stand at the level of their arches on the pillar cores, which are overlaid in front of the old services, which are equipped with vegetable carved capitals, profiled warriors and bases. The arcades of the partition walls are designed in a similar way, the spars of which reach the same height as those of the aisles. The cores of the pillars of the partition wall have sharp edges towards the central nave and up to the fighters and merge into the partition walls without any caesuras. Towards the side aisles, they are rounded so that their cores simulate semicircular cross-sections. The pillars between the second and third yoke are an exception. They have square cores with sharp edges on all sides. On its central nave side, three-quarters of the round old services are attached, which reach up to the vaults, and are equipped with simply carved capitals and profiled fighters and bases. Their task is interpreted in the sources as a support for a transverse wooden beam, which is said to have served to hang a large chandelier in the middle of the nave. The services on the outer walls of the side aisles are underlaid by low-rise wall pillars the width of the pillar cores of the partition walls. Their bases stand on continuous plinths that are almost 50 centimeters high and deep. The pillars and their services stand on angular pedestals of the same height.
As with all churches of this type, the barrel vault of the central nave is supported by half barrel vaults over real stands of the side aisles. These vaults are separated by arcades between the yokes. From the central nave, biforias open to the stands, centered above the arcade arches of the partition walls, the parapets of which are arranged a little above the apex of the arcades. Its sharp-edged round arches, which are equipped with carved capitals, profiled warriors and bases, reach with their apexes just below the vaults. The approaches of their outer arches are marked by fighter profiles.
The east wall of the nave is opened into the crossing in the central nave via a large arcade. Their arch approaches are approximately at the level of the bi-ori parapets. Its sharp-edged Keilsteinbogen stands on old services, the square pillar cores are hidden in front. They are equipped with vegetable carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. In the remaining wall panel above, a triple sarkatur is cut out, which stand on two columns, which are equipped like those of the biforias. The east ends of the aisles are closed with arcades that correspond to those of the yoke dividing. This also applies to the east end of the stands, but with a low parapet, as in the biforias.
Transept with crossing and massive barlong
The crossing is enclosed on all sides by an arcade that corresponds to that of the east wall of the nave. The four crossing piers all have the same cross-section of pillar core with sharp edges and four old services. The same triplet markings as those on the west side are cut out above the arcades on the north and south sides. On the other hand, there are two individual round-arched window openings on the east side, which stand on the outside in the five-arched dazzle of the massif barlong . Just above the outer apex of these windows is the lower edge of the crossing dome, which here does not have a clear circular shape, but rather that of an octagon, with shorter and longer sides alternating, but whose corners are rounded. The longer octagonal sides of the dome stand on the walls surrounding the crossing. The shorter ones are supported by trumpets with a triangular floor plan , which essentially consist of wedge-shaped arches, inwardly curved structures and triangular panels. The crossing dome arches over the edge of the dome without any visible ridges. It is broken in the center by a circular opening, which is intended to be used for vertical transport of bells, equipment and building materials.
The transept arms stand on a slightly rectangular floor plan and are covered by barrel vaults in the transverse direction of the church's longitudinal axis. The dome vaults merge into the wall surfaces without a break. In the corners of the gable walls, almost square pillar templates are incorporated. The transept arms are bordered on the four sides by arcades made of sharp-edged round arches, which protrude from the arch like belt arches on the underside, and stand on pillars at right angles in the plan. Their arch approaches are marked with fighter profiles. The gable walls are divided into three height sections. In the lower one there is a round arched opening of a side portal near the west corner. Shortly above this, a triple blind arcature has been cut out that does not quite extend across the width of the wall. The outer arcades are covered by round arches, the inner one by a roof-like lintel. The arches and lintel stand on pillars that are equipped with carved capitals, fighters and bases on plinths . In the western arcade in the southern arm of the transept, a doorway was once left open, which is now walled up. This indicates that a two-story convent building was attached to this gable wall. It was probably the immediate access to the Chapter monks' dormitory . Two large round-arched windows are cut out above the blind arcade, the walls of which are widened inwards.
Chapel apses with semicircular apses are embedded in the east walls of the transept arms, which are extended by a short rectangle. On the vertical edges of the reveal of the slender arcade openings, setbacks are worked into the young ministries who carry the wedge arches and are equipped with capitals, fighters and bases. In the axis of the chapel there is a small arched window with inwardly widened walls. Their vertical edges are again resolved in setbacks with columns that are equipped as above. In the same transept wall, a round arched window with inwardly widened walls is cut out.
Between the crossing and the transept arms and in the extension of the aisles, there are sections of space to which usually no special attention is paid. Of particular regional importance, however, are the sections of the room, which are raised further upwards and up over the dome and, together with the upper part of the square crossing and the octagonal tower base, form the so-called massif barlong , a peculiarity of the Auvergnatian Romanesque. The four candle arches on the side of the crossing and the strong windowing of the Massif barlong contribute to this positive peculiarity .
Gallery transept with crossing and massive barlong
Massif barlong
Crossing from ambulatory
Side portal, southern arm of the transept
Southern transept chapel
Parlor choir with chapel wreath
The architecture of the house of God also culminates here in the central chancel, the choir, the design of which aims to draw the attention of the faithful to the altar as the sacred place, the holy of holies. This is not least due to the size and complexity of the entire complex, including the handling and chapel wreath and its particularly splendid decoration, much more abundant than in the central nave, as well as the large number of windows. The central nave has seven windows, the transept fourteen and the choir twenty-two, an increase that is both symbolic and aesthetic: the altar symbolizes Christ, the light of the world. The figure and leaf capitals, carved with the utmost care, are particularly evident because their architectural surroundings are simply restrained.
Five-step stairs lead up from the transept to the raised choir and its access across the entire width. A three-step staircase leads to the wreath chapels from the gallery.
The seven 7.45 meter high arcades of the choir apse are cut into the semicircular walls with sharp edges. They have carefully considered slight differences in their spacing. The middle one is slightly wider than its neighbors, the outer ones are the widest. The arcade arches of the choir are very slender and strongly stilted, which means that their arch approaches only begin a good distance above their supports, the radially aligned profiled transom plates. These belong to the magnificent, predominantly plant-based carved capitals on slender columns with profiled bases. Just as with central nave arcades, the arcade arches are also the front arches of the gusset behind the groin of the groin of the gallery. The seven arcades of the choir apse are joined on each side by a round arched, non-stilted arcade the width of the choir bay. Their sharp-edged arches stand on the outer pillars of the apse and on the old services on the crossing pillars.
Above the arcades of the choir apse, which are lined up in a semicircle, the gussets between the arcade arches are filled flush with brickwork up to their outer apex and completely covered with a narrow layer of wall. The sloping parapets of the windows, described below, end on this layer, between which a piece of normal masonry layer is built up in front of the rising pillars. In the area of the choir bay, the rising straight side walls, in which there are no windows, protrude flush above the arcade arches.
Behind the closed wall area between the apse arcades and window parapets are the connections of the gallery vault and its roofing. The pent roof ridges connected here are even in the middle of the window height, but they do not cover the lower window area, as a piece of glass roof was installed there.
A semicircular nine-arched arcature stands above the narrow layer of wall that closes the lower floor, five of which are open arcades and four are blind arcades. Arched windows with inwardly widened walls and steeply sloping parapets open up in the five arcades. The blind arcades stand in front of wall pillars that are curved in plan, which stand behind the aforementioned pieces of wall layer and which at the same time form window reveals. The width of the window arcade arch corresponds to that of the lower central arcade arch. The middle window is in the center of the choir, the outer windows are arranged above the outer gallery arches, the other two windows each exactly in the middle between the other three windows or centered above the two third columns from the outside. Just next to the pillar edges are pillars equipped with carved capitals and profiled fighters. On top of them stand the arcade arches of the windows, which merge into the drapery arches without a caesura, and the much smaller blind arcade arches.
Above this arcature with large and small arches, the semicircular wall surface of the choir apse merges without a caesura into its semicircular dome of the choir apse. The choir bay, between the triumphal arch and the apse dome, is vaulted with a round barrel, which is slightly higher and wider than the apse vault. The closed side walls of the choir bay merge into the barrel vault.
The hallway of the choir in the form of a half circular ring is covered with a cleverly designed groin vault, which is supported by the arcades of the choir apse and the outer walls of the hallway, the latter supported by the columns standing free there in front of the walls, with carved capitals and profiled fighters and Bases equipped and standing on pedestals a good meter high. Slightly curved ridges were created in the individual trapezoidal vault segments. In the case of the striker plates on the outer walls, it was not neglected to shape them according to the curvature of the passage. Above this, the vault framing is stilted according to the apse arcades. The three large windows of the rounded hallway with inwardly widened walls are flanked by slender columns in the setbacks. They are equipped like the other pillars and stand on significantly higher plinths at parapet height. The two windows in the first choir bay, at the entrance to the gallery, are flanked on both sides with twin columns, equipped like the other columns, but with common strut plates and standing on high plinths. There are sharp-edged belt arches on each of them.
The four wreath chapels are slightly larger than the transept chapels and each consist of a semicircular apse with a rectangular extension and a corresponding vault made of a dome and a short barrel. In each of the apse walls three round arched windows are left open, with inwardly widened walls and steeply sloping parapets. They are connected to one another by an arcature standing on a wall plinth around the apse with slender columns with the familiar full equipment.
Gallery choir head
Southern ambulatory
Northern ambulatory
Wreath chapel
Arcature over choir gallery
A total of 63 capitals crown just as many columns and columns in the choir head. Amazingly, only one of them has a sculpture of a biblical motif. It seems to be hidden under the northern arcade at the entrance to the choir. The symbolic capital represents the heavenly Jerusalem symbolized by the church. The location was chosen with care. Angels keep watch in front of the city of God, each carrying a lance. One of them blows a horn on the Last Judgment.
The others are mostly wonderful capitals, decorated with a variety of foliage, and sometimes with birds. It cannot be explained why there are no other figurative representations around the choir, since the churches of Notre-Dame du Port, Issoire and Mozat have very remarkable iconographic programs. Only a few capitals in the ambulatory are carved with figures that are not uncommon in the Auvergne, such as centaurs , sirens , birds, griffins and fish. It is about more or less Christianized scenes from antiquity . The figures are often framed by neat tendrils, which puts the decorative intention in the foreground. To the right of the south-eastern wreath chapel is a column with a disturbing, enigmatic motif on its capital. A devil figure rides on a goat. Another devil faces two soldiers, one of whom is terrified and protects himself with his shield and a spear, and the second kneels on the ground behind his shield.
In the arcades of the choir apse there is a capital on which two pelicans tear their chests open to let their blood drip onto the boys standing between them. Since the sculptors of the Romanesque only knew the pelican bird from tradition, it is repeatedly depicted as an eagle, including here. According to the Physiologus (2nd century), the pelican parents kill their young, regret the act and then mourn them for three days. After the third day, the mother tears open her chest area, her blood drips on the dead boys and brings them back to life. For Christians this became a symbol of the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ . Another capital in a chapel depicts two sheep-carriers, men who each carry a lost sheep across their shoulder. Not far away, another capital shows a person riding on a large fish.
Gallery capitals
Pelicans
Devil rides buck
Devil with 2 soldiers
Man rides fish
crypt
A curved staircase leads down from each of the transept arms into the crypt. Their ground plan is almost identical to that of the choir head, the choir, the ambulatory and the radial chapels. Eight mighty columns, which appear squat due to the low ceiling height, correspond to those of the choir apse. In addition, there are four equal columns arranged in a square in the semicircle they form. Instead of capitals, the columns are closed on the top by square transom plates. As on the ground floor, the group of columns surrounds a semicircular walkway and on the west side an area that corresponds to the first choir bay with the outer walkways. Four radially aligned apses are embedded in the semicircular curved outer wall.
On the west side, three niches about half a yoke-width deep are embedded, which are separated by two room-high walls in which rectangular openings are made, each of which is divided in the middle by a small column with a capital, spar and base. On the back wall of the niches there were originally passages high up under the steps of the stairs to the choir. The three niches are the so-called Martyrion , in which the relics could be securely locked but viewed through bars. Even with the crypt locked, the believers could get visual contact with them through the passages in the stairs, which were illuminated by candlelight.
The Krypa is covered by a network of groin vaults, some of which are stilted, which are supported on the 12 columns and on the surrounding walls. Individual sections are covered with large stone slabs, for example across from the windows between the chapels. As on the ground floor, these arched windows are slightly larger than the small ones that are only found in the chapel axes. Their robes are widened inward.
Gallery crypt
Martyrion, partition
Eastern contact
Courtyard vault
Handling window
Church furnishings (selection)
The Romanesque Madonna of Orcival , also called Vierge en Majesté , was placed on a pedestal behind the monolithic altar erected in 1958 in the center of the choir apse. Since it had been walled up in a wall of the gallery of the narthex in time for the devastation of the revolution, it escaped the systematic destruction of all church furnishings . Only the hands were added in the 17th century.
It is the only enthroned Madonna figure in the Auvergne made of walnut that has retained its gold leaf setting. The armrests of the throne are of particularly high artistic quality and are among the best preserved parts. They show excellent imitations of ancient gems , with reliefs of bulls, horses and human heads.
The faces are not gold leaf, but colored. Despite its frontal view, the stern face has strangely asymmetrical features. Seen from her left side she looks a bit peasant, from the right, however, she looks like a genteel lady. The boy Jesus holds the book of the Gospels and sits on his mother's knees. Iconographically, the sculpture corresponds to the type Sedes sapientiae , Mary as the throne of divine wisdom.
The masterpiece is dated to the year 1170 and is about as old as the church building afterwards. It is 74 centimeters high, including the base. In 1960, as part of a restoration, coarse copper cladding was removed, which over the years had replaced the gold and silver, so that the Madonna of Orcival has now returned to its original appearance.
The central baptismal niche in the west wall of the narthex is reminiscent of the spring shrine found here and essentially serves the baptismal rite . In the middle there is a stone baptismal font on a column. Behind it, a semicircular water basin is embedded in the wall, above which the head of an ox (?) Protrudes, which lets water flow out of its mouth. In a small wall niche just below the curve of the niche stands the sculpture of the baptized Jesus in the waves of the Jordan , above him the dove of the Holy Spirit . Two angels flank the pigeon and hold a banner with the inscription CELUI CI EST MON FILS BIEN AIME, translated: “This is my beloved son”.
A baroque altar (16th to 18th centuries) has stood on the gallery of the narthex since 1898.
The crowned Mother of God in the martyrdom of the crypt carries the baby Jesus in her arm and a book in her left hand. It probably dates from the 15th century, but both heads are probably later additions. Also in the crypt is a baroque, colored Pietà , which is reminiscent of Bernini in its formal language .
Also on display is a so-called "host dove" , set in gold and with enameled cells , as used in the high Middle Ages to store hosts .
The western French city of Limoges developed into an outstanding center for enamel art in the 12th century, and the church utensils produced there found distribution throughout Europe. Enameled "host doves" were a specialty of the Limoges workshops. Around two dozen such workpieces have been preserved in churches and museums. The Salzburg dove made of gold-plated copper has a recess under a hinged lid on its back for storing hosts. As a symbol of the Holy Spirit, it originally hung freely floating above the altar. Some of these colorful treasures stood in a base surrounded by city walls with towers as a reference to the Heavenly Jerusalem . (Reinhard Gratz)
A crucifix , probably from the 17th / 18th centuries. Century, hangs in the central nave on the south pillar between the second and third yoke. The body is colored.
Gallery inventory / equipment
Standing Madonna and Child
Pietà
Waiter pigeon
crucifix
Choir window with the lion of St. Mark
Choir window with Agnus Dei
Choir window with the bull of the Evangelist Luke
Crowns from the church treasury
literature
- Ulrich Rosenbaum: Auvergne and Massif Central. 4th edition. DuMont, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7701-1111-7 , pp. 85-87.
- Bernard Craplet: Romansh Auvergne. Echter Verlag , Würzburg 1992, ISBN 3-429-01463-8 , pp. 51-60.
Web links
- Photos from Notre-Dame d'Orcival
- More photos of Notre-Dame d'Orcival
- Description of the church, with plans and photos, in French and English
- Paroisse Notre-Dame d'Orcival on the website of the Archdiocese of Clermont
Coordinates: 45 ° 40 ′ 59 ″ N , 2 ° 50 ′ 30 ″ E