St-Etienne-du-Mont
The parish church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont is on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève (Eng. Hill of Saint Genoveva), in the 5th arrondissement of Paris , next to the Lycée Henri IV and the Panthéon . It is an architectural jewel of the city of Paris.
history
As early as the 5th century, the first Christian king of the Frankish Empire, Clovis I , had a basilica consecrated to the apostles Peter and Paul built over a place of worship of Emperor Trajan on the hill outside Paris, far from the populated island of the Seine. An adjoining monastery, the Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève , got its name from St. John, who died on January 3rd around 502 and was buried in the monastery. Genoveva of Paris . A second predecessor of today's church is said to have been built around 1222. Due to the steadily growing population in the vicinity of the university and the streams of pilgrims to the patron saint of Paris, the building of a new parish church was decided in 1492. The abbey, of which remains are preserved in today's Lycée Henri-IV , donated part of their property for this purpose.
Because of the Huguenot Wars , the construction work took a long time and was interrupted several times. Due to the many construction phases, the church has elements from different building historical epochs. Thus, the first built in traditional construction process Choir comes from the French Flamboyant called late Gothic , while the nave already elements of the Renaissance has. In addition to the architecture, these are primarily decorative elements that reflect the Renaissance cult of nature, the use of classical geometric shapes and the use of perspective. The facade was built in one go from 1610 to 1622, that is during the deep Renaissance (restored by Baltard from 1861–68, the sculptures are modern). On February 15, 1626, the church was consecrated by Jean-François de Gondi , the first Archbishop of Paris and uncle of Jean-François Paul de Gondi . The adjacent buildings of the monastery and the parish church formed a geometrically very similar double facade for centuries.
During the French Revolution it was renamed "Temple of Filial Love" and damaged in 1807. It was restored by Victor Baltard in the Second Empire . On January 3, 1857, Auguste Sibour , Archbishop of Paris, who had been in office since 1848, was murdered in the church . The perpetrator was the priest Jean-Louis Verger , who had been removed from office after criticizing the dogma of the immaculate conception .
facade
The Renaissance facade, which was erected in one go from 1610 to 1622, marks the end of the construction work on St. Etienne du Mont. In its urban style of the Catholic reform, it differs significantly in its structure from Gothic facades with their educational-catechetical style. A Greek temple with four Corinthian columns is modeled on street level. The relief in the arch above the entrance shows the martyrdom of St. Stephen , to whom an angel hands the martyr's palm, while sitting on the right, Saul gives his consent to the stoning. Christ is enthroned in his glory in the tympanum. The stone figures of St. Genoveva of Paris (with lamb - not an original symbol) and St. Stephen replace original figures that were destroyed by the French Revolution. The middle level of the facade is in the Roman style and shows in the figures the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary and above the rosette the coat of arms of the founder Heinrich IV. (France) . The pointed end of the facade can symbolically be interpreted as a small pyramid or the direction of the arrow pointing towards the sky.
The only asymmetry of the facade is a small tower on the right side, which has no counterpart on the left. It marks the boundary between the jurisdiction of the monastery on Mount Stephanus and that of the Bishop of Paris.
The height of the bell tower is justified with the desire of the population for less noise pollution. Lower bell towers created a significant level of noise in the narrow streets.
Furnishing
The church is particularly famous for its axis from the main to the transept, its white marble rood screen (made by Biart le pere in 1545 ), its pulpit (designed by Laurent de La Hire Claude Lestocart in 1651) and the organ case from 1631 (the oldest from Paris) known.
The pulpit is a Baroque masterpiece and decorated with ornate carvings. The staircase is decorated with scenes from the life of St. Jerome (Father of the Church) as translator of Holy Scripture and St. Stephen as the first martyr of Christ. Around the pulpit body are the four cardinal virtues (e.g. "strength" - woman with a club, "measure" - woman with a water jug) and the three theological virtues (e.g. "love" - mother with her children, "hope") - woman with anchor). He is supported by Old Testament Samson , who holds a sickle in his right hand.
The rood screen of St-Étienne-du-Mont is the only preserved one in Paris and one of the few in France that has not given way to changes in liturgical understanding. It is believed that due to the change in the liturgy only a rear wall of the rood screen was removed, but that the parishioners otherwise wanted to hold onto their rood screen. It consists of a Gothic structure with a typical Renaissance decor. The instruments of the Passion of Christ, which the two angels held in their hands in the round arch, were replaced by victory palm and victory wreath during the French Revolution. Because these are also similar to Christian symbols, they were left in place.
The Pinaigrier glass painting workshop was involved in furnishing the nave . The church houses the reliquary of St. Genoveva of Paris, created in the 19th century . The modern sarcophagus imitates the medieval design language and encloses a preserved part of the real sarcophagus of the Sainte-Geneviève.
Of numerous ex voto gifts as thanks to St. Genoveva are the two large paintings from the 17th century between the rood screen and the shrine of St. Genoveva received. They show important representatives of the Parisian bourgeoisie, once in answer to their prayers for the end of a drought and another time for the end of the excessive rain.
The pictorial program of the stained glass windows around the shrine of St. Genoveva shows on the one hand the no longer preserved double façade of the monastery and parish church in a procession and on the other hand important stations of St. Genoveva (proselytizing, calling, consecration, dream, feeding the poor, protection from the Huns, accepting a religious sister, death).
Joris-Karl Huysmans described the church in his work En route (1895) as one of the most beautiful churches in France.
Personalities
Over the centuries various saints and blessed have preached in St. Etienne du Mont: Ignatius of Loyola , Vincent of Paul , John Paul II .
The French composer Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986) was the organist of this church for over 50 years from 1930 to 1986. During his lifetime he was known as one of the great improvisers of the French organ school, he is mainly valued for his sacred music and organ works. Thierry Escaich has been titular organist here since 1997 .
The remains of the playwright Jean Racine , the physicist Blaise Pascal and Blaise de Vigenère also rest in this church . Jean Paul Marat was buried in the cemetery in 1795 , and this was his third grave (after the Couvent des Cordeliers and the Panthéon ).
organ
In 1630, Pierre le Pescheur built the first organ for the church, the case of which is still preserved today. It was later expanded by François-Henri Clicquot (1777) and Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1863 and 1873). It underwent another change in 1956 according to plans by Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986) by Beuchet- Debierre . She received a remote plant in the southern stair tower, which Duruflé paid for due to financial problems in the city of Paris. Small changes were made in 1975 and 1991 by Gonzalez and Dargassies. Since then it has 89 stops on four manuals and pedal ; the registers of the Récit and the Echo are "expressive", i. H. housed in swelling chambers. The actions are electric, the disposition is as follows:
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Your titular organists were:
- 1653-1661: L. Couperin
- 1824-1853: Gabriel Gauthier
- 1853–1888: Louis Lebel
- 1888-1894: Georges Syme
- 1894-1924: Alexandre Dantot
- 1924: Rémy Clavers
- 1924-1929: Gaston Singéry
- 1930–1986: Maurice Duruflé
- 1953–1997: Marie-Madeleine Duruflé
- 1989–1992: Sarah Soularue -Terwilleger
- 1992-1996: Hervé Morin
- since 1997: Thierry Escaich
- since 1997: Vincent Warnier
Data
- 6th century: Construction of the first chapel over the grave of St. Genoveva of Paris († 502), from which the Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève developed.
- 13th century: A new parish church is built north of the monastery
- 1491: construction of the bell tower begins
- 1537: construction of the chancel begins
- 1545: Construction of the galleries begins
- 1580: Construction of the nave vaults and the transepts begin
- 1624: completion of the bell tower
- 1807: Partial destruction of the church
See also
- Miracle des Billettes window
Web links
- Église Saint-Etienne-du-Mont in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- St-Etienne-du-Mont. In: Structurae
- L'Internaute Magazine: Diaporama (fr.)
Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′ 47.5 " N , 2 ° 20 ′ 52.8" E