St-Etienne (Bar-le-Duc)
Saint-Étienne ( St. Stephan ) is a Roman Catholic church in the upper town of Bar-le-Duc in the style of Flamboyant Gothic with elements of the Renaissance . The sacred building is listed as a monument historique .
history
In 1315 Duke Edouard I built the first collegiate church on St. Peter's Square , which was to be dedicated to St. Peter . It replaced a chapel that had served the high officials of the upper town as a place of prayer. The Bishop of Toul confirmed the foundation of the Church and placed the Church under the patronage of Peter and Paul and St. Stephan. Before it was completed, the building was first damaged in the Hundred Years War , then destroyed in 1438. Supported by Réné I of Anjou , the canons petitioned the Pope, who granted indulgences. Additional donations enabled the construction work to continue. The eastern part of the church was probably completed around 1470, but construction work had to be suspended again as early as 1480 to 1484, as Louis XIV occupied the city. After the withdrawal of the French troops, the construction work continued under Réné II, to whose Duchy of Lorraine the city had fallen. The facade was completed by 1535 and the two western bays built. Several keystones bear the coats of arms of René II and his wife Philippe. Only the north tower was built between 1589 and 1630.
In 1782, the city's other collegiate church, Saint-Maxe, became the parish church and the chapters of the two churches were combined. As a result, the relics of St. Maxe, the remains of the Dukes of Bar and several tombs from the Saint-Maxe church were transferred to the church.
During the French Revolution , the church was badly damaged: the statues of the portal, the windows and the interior were destroyed. The church was closed in 1790 and reopened the following year as the parish church of Saint-Stephane, but between 1793 and 1795 the building no longer had a church function and in 1794 it even served as a prison for a short time.
In the 19th century, the church was repeatedly restored, but also made major changes. In 1809, the central pillar of the main portal was removed. In 1854 a chapel on the south side of the transept was demolished because it was believed that it did not fit in with the overall structure. In 1889 the church was declared a monument historique .
architecture
The church was built on the southern edge of Place Saint-Pierre. The west portal of the church faces the square. It is located in a mighty facade with a north tower with a stone helmet and an open lantern. The tower originally planned for the south was never completed. The richly structured facade with tracery has windows with keel arches and figureless garments . Figurative decorations were only attached to the main portal, but this is no longer preserved. Only the consoles remain. In the tympanum there are two circular coats of arms and a triangular window. The archivolt is surmounted by an eyelash with renaissance jewelry. Behind it is a rose window. A balustrade with Gothic ornamentation lies above and runs over the entire facade. The middle section is rounded off by a triangular gable with a clock. At the nave itself includes transept my short arms and a retracted choir with five-sided final. The windows of the nave, transept and choir have pointed arches and tracery.
The interior of the church is dominated by a wide central nave with narrow side aisles. The south aisle is slightly wider than the north. The vaults of the central and side aisles are the same height and turn the nave into a hall church.
The church has four chapels, three on the south side of the nave, one in the corner between the transept and the north side of the choir. The baptismal font is in the chapel in the south of the facade. The largest chapel is the Stainville family chapel, which the family donated in the 16th century. The lower part of the surrounding wall shows motifs from the Renaissance, above it motifs from the late Gothic period. The chapel is vaulted by a ribbed vault with side ribs. To the east is the small Sainte-Anne chapel belonging to the Font family. The openwork gable shows Renaissance motifs. The window of the chapel was made in the 16th century using the grisaille technique. The lattice of the chapel was built at the end of the 16th / beginning of the 17th century. On the north side of the choir is the small Sainte-Marguerite chapel, which was donated around 1503 by the chapter dean François Brulé. In the chapel there is a grave epitaph of the founder.
Furnishing
The church has more than 70 valuable items of equipment that are under monument protection. In the choir behind the altar there is a crucifixion group "Christ between the two thieves" by Ligier Richier . The wooden sculpture was created by the artist around 1531. One of his most important works is “Le Transi de René de Chalon”, often just called “The Skeleton” for short. Richier created the limestone statue in the 16th century. It originally stood around 1545 in the collegiate church of Saint-Maxe on the tomb of René de Chalon . After the church was destroyed during the French Revolution, the sculpting was moved to Saint-Étienne. The skeleton stands in a splendidly painted niche on a console and looks up at its heart, which it stretches up in its right hand. The work is considered an important work of the Renaissance and was qualified as a Monument historique as early as 1898 . Under the skeleton lies the crypt of the Dukes of Bar.
Another sacred work of art in the church is the “Notre-Dame du Guet” (“Holy Virgin of the Guard”) made of white limestone from the 14th century. The Madonna with Baby Jesus in her arms is by an unknown artist and stands under a stone canopy supported by columns. Both figures wear gilded crowns.
The most important painting is a crucifixion scene from the early 17th century. It shows the crucifixion of Christ. In the background, instead of Jerusalem, the city of Bar-le-Duc was painted. This makes the work of the unknown artist an important historical document that shows the appearance of the city before it was destroyed by the troops of Louis XIV .
In the baptistery there are figures of St. Stephan, St. John and Anna teaching from the 16th century. There is also a relief of St. John and St. Magdalena from the 16th century and stained glass windows from the same period. In the Chapel of the Stainvilles there are two stone statues of St. Rochus and St. Adrian, created by the Flemish sculptor Jean Crocq at the end of the 15th century.
The church has had an organ since at least the 17th century. In 1770/71 Nicolas Dupont created a new instrument for the church, but it was destroyed 23 years later. Between 1809 and 1828, Saint-Étienne received an organ from Jean-François Vautrin and Antoine François Brice Tidelot, who also used parts of the old organ. At the end of the 19th century the organ was changed slightly.
literature
- Jean-Pierre Harbulot et al. a .: Bar-le-Duc: Ville d'art et d'histoire . Serge Domini, Bar-le-Duc 2003, ISBN 2-912645-57-3 .
- Les patrimoines des communes de la Meuse . Flohic Éditions, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-84234-074-4 .
- Laurence Madrelle, Emanuelle Robin: The Stephanskirche . Musée Barrois, Bar-le-Duc 2014.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Saint-Étienne de Bar-le-Duc in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
Coordinates: 48 ° 46 ′ 5.2 " N , 5 ° 9 ′ 34.1" E