St-André-de-Sorède
The parish church of St-André-de-Sorède (in Catalan Monestir de Sant Andreu de Sureda ) is a former abbey church, located in the eponymous French commune of Saint-André in the region of Occitania , department Pyrenees-Orientales . It is located about 16 kilometers south of Perpignan and about 7 kilometers west of the Mediterranean coast near Argelès-sur-Mer , on the northeastern edge of the Pyrenees.
The representations on the lintel beam of the main portal in the facade of the church achieved particular architectural fame, comparable to the lintel of the Abbey of Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines .
Only the abbey church remains from the former abbey.
history
At the end of the 8th century, the Spanish abbot Miron founded a monastery here, dedicated to St. Andrew and built at the beginning of the 9th century. Already under Miron's successor it received a written confirmation from Ludwig the Pious (778-840), a son and successor of Charlemagne , in 823 , presumably also the immunity privilege and the right to freely elect his abbots, as was the case at the same time the neighboring Abbey of Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines had happened.
Initially under the protection of the Counts of Roussillon , the abbey was repeatedly in competition with this sister abbey. The sources do not provide any information about developments over the next 300 years.
At the time of the annexation of St-Andreas to the mighty Lagrasse Abbey in the Corbières in 1109, St-André seems to be in a bad way. At that time Agnes was Countess of Roussillon, who campaigned for the preservation of the abbey. A building that was under way was inaugurated 12 years later by the Bishop of Elne , when the construction work was certainly not yet completed.
The church, originally only covered with a wooden roof truss, perhaps also with a wooden beam ceiling, was given a barrel vault in the 12th century . The vaulted shells with the belt arches were not erected on the relatively thin outer walls on both sides, but on new sturdy pillars that are raised inside in front of the walls, to which they are kept a short distance.
During the 16th century, the monastery gradually lost its importance and was finally attached to the Benedictine abbey of Sainte-Marie in Arles-sur-Tech , about 35 kilometers to the west, in 1592 .
At the time of the French Revolution in 1789, the last monks had to leave the monastery. All of the abbey's possessions, the cloister and other convent buildings were demolished, sold and some of them were reused in other abbeys in the area. However, the cloister of St-André did not later have the luck of a reconstruction, such as that of the Abbey of St-Génis or the Abbaye Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa .
The abbey church became a parish church.
More historical data
Three different stone layers of the masonry can be seen on the facade. The lowest layer is made of flat brook pebbles placed in rows at an angle to one another in the Roman technique of Opus spicatum in a mortar bed, which can be assigned to the first building from the beginning of the 9th century. It extends roughly to the height of the tympanum of the main portal. The second layer of stone up to the height of the lintel bar consists of predominantly horizontally laid out, roughly hewn quarry stones, mostly of smaller formats, in irregular layered masonry that is known from Arles and St-Genis. It should date from the time when the window framing and the door lintel were created, around 1020. Whether the last layer of stone from the top edge of the window was made of neatly rectangular cut stone in continuous layers, dates from the 11th century or only from the beginning of the 12th century. Century, i.e. during the general new construction phase after the takeover by Lagrasse (1109), is controversial.
The remains of frescoes date from the 12th and 13th centuries, the fragments of a Muslim tombstone from the 12th century.
The fate of the cloister after its demolition
The cloister was dismantled during the French Revolution and reused in the surrounding area. Traces of the former location can still be seen on the north-western outer wall of the abbey church. In the choir of the abbey church and on the tabernacle, parts of the capitals and arches of the cloister were used. Two other arches serve as a substructure for holy water stoups in the churches of Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines and Saint-Jean-Lasseille. Four capitals with columns are used in the Sainte-Colombe de Cabanes chapel north of Saint-Génis. An arch can be found above the portal of the Church of Sorède . Some of the capitals in Saint-Martin-du-Canigou Abbey are likely also from the cloister of Saint-André Abbey.
Building
Dimensions taken from the floor plan and extrapolated
- Overall length (outside): 31.90 m
- Length of transept (outside): 25.00 m
- Width of the ship (outside): 9.80 m
- Width transept (outside): 7.80 m
- Width transept (inside): 6.00 m
- Outreach transept arms: 7.80 m
- Width of nave and choir (inside): 8.00 m
- Width of the vault in the nave (inside): 5.00 m
- Width of ship between piers: 4.60 m
- Length of the choir (inside): 6.50 m
- Width transept chapels: 4.50 m
- Height of ship: 12.00 m
Outward appearance
The nave is covered by a gable roof with an incline of about 25 degrees, which extends from the facade to the east wall of the transept, which encloses the crossing. It is closed off at the ends by gable walls, the sloping verge slopes of the same inclination, which protrude slightly above the roof and are covered by stone slabs. The roof surfaces are covered with gray slate shingles, the lower rows of which protrude slightly on simple, outwardly sloping eaves made of stone and allow the rainwater to drip off freely. The building edges of the nave with crossing are made of large-format smooth stone, which is arranged in alternation between a long and a short stone side for the purpose of bonding with the adjoining masonry made of smaller formats. The east gable edges are an extension of the surface of the east wall of the transept and meet there with the surfaces of the adjoining walls of the choir and the apsidioles of the transept chapels at one point. Not far above the choir ridge, a medium-sized, circular ox-eye is recessed in the gable wall , which is framed by an almost square stone frame. A twin blind arcade is embedded on both sides of this frame, the arch extensions of which lie near the upper edge of the window frame and the lower side on that of the window frame. The blind arches meet in the middle of a corbel, the sculpture of which is heavily weathered. A blind arcade is embedded exactly above the width of the window frame, which is accordingly higher than the neighboring ones. The two arms of the transept adjoin the nave in the fourth yoke, over the long walls of which they protrude far. Their roofs correspond to those of the nave. Their roofs remain well below the eaves of the nave. its gable walls are closed like those of the nave. In the middle of the gable wall of the southern arm there is a small round arched window. In the west wall of the northern arm of the transept, a similar window is cut out roughly in the middle, together with a rectangular door opening below. The former convent buildings were probably connected to the church via this door .
The choir has the same width outside and inside as the nave. Its ground plan is based on a rectangle that is followed by a semicircle. At the connection to the gable wall, its roof initially has the shape of a gable roof, to which a half-conical roof adjoins without a break, both at the same inclination as the other roofs. The eaves are also designed like those of the other roofs. However, directly under the eaves cornice there is an extremely decorative blind arcade frieze made of twin wedge stone arches, the outer ones each standing together on a smooth, angular pillar, which has a kind of undivided capital through a notch at the top. The arches meet in the middle of a corbel, which is structured in the form of a mask, but is considerably weathered.
In the choir apse, three medium-sized round-arched windows are cut out in the middle.
The two transept chapels stand on a semicircular floor plan and are therefore each covered by half a conical roof. The roof and eaves correspond to those of the choir, but without the blind arcade frieze. The apsidioles only have a small arched window in their apex.
facade
The facade of the nave closes it off to the west. Something has already been said about its three different rows of stones in the section "Further historical data".
An architectural celebrity in the facade is the lintel beam in the main portal. It is without a doubt an imitation of a counterpart, the lintel of the Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines abbey , which was created in the early 11th century. It should have originated after 1020. However, it differs in essential points, such as the number of apostles, instead of six there are four here. Instead there were two seraphim , recognizable by the six wings. Christ is no longer sitting here in two mandorels, but in one, which has been clipped clipped at both pointed ends. There is absolutely no inscription here, which is also a decorative element in St-Genis. The arcade arches have almost completely lost their horseshoe shape and are approaching the Romanesque semicircular shape. The almost three times deep engraving speaks for the much later emergence of the relief . The figures achieve more physicality, in which the path has been taken from a stone drawing to a sculpture that creates volume. It is clear that the seraphim and the medallions with the evangelist symbols on the window frame, which show more physicality, were created by the hand of the master of St-Genis. In any case, both the lintel and the window frame are among the oldest evidence of a newly emerged Christian monumental sculpture.
Similar to the lintel beam of St-Genis, a theophany (divine apparition) is also shown here. Christ is enthroned in the middle, framed by a pearl-covered glory in the shape of a mandorla, the upper and lower tips of which are cut off from the outer edge of the bar. This interrupts the framing of the lintel with a wide band of decorative plant structures made of bas-relief.
Christ with a cross nimbus and a full beard sits frontally on an invisible stool. He holds the closed book of life in his left hand, which he rests on his left thigh. His erect right hand gives the gesture of blessing . His bare feet stand on the lower edge of the beam. The robe is decoratively puckered in many folds. Christ is flanked by the letters Alpa and Omega on the background of the mandorla. He does not rise to heaven on his own, but is carried floating upwards with outstretched arms by the angels flanking the mandorla.
These are each followed by three blind arcades, whose beaded arches are only slightly horseshoe-shaped and stand on squat column shafts that are equipped with vegetable-carved capitals , spider plates, profiled bases and angular plinths . The background of the arcade niches between the arcades and the figures jump back considerably compared to the outside of the arcades, which enables the stonemason to create the profound sculpture. All heads are significantly smaller than the inner arch contour of the arcades, which also contributes to this.
The two seraphim follow the hovering angels in the inner arcades. Their front two wings cross each other in front of their bodies, their middle wings spread wide and protrude a little in front of the pillars. The rear wings rise behind the heads and encircle them, reminiscent of Nimben . This is followed by two arcades each in which four apostles stand or sit. Their heads are backed by circular nimbs. Your hands all have different gestures. On the far left, Petrus the eldest is obviously sitting on a chair, which can be recognized by the beard, the balding bald head and the propped head.
In the main portal, the aforementioned lintel covers the rectangular portal opening, the soffits of which are made of large-format stone, on which it rests a good twenty centimeters. Above it rises a semicircular blind arch made of wedge stones , the inner width of which is only a few centimeters shorter than the lintel. This is encompassed by a simple cantilever profile made of an outer angular profile and an inner tooth profile with right-angled teeth and spaces of equal width. The cantilever profile bends horizontally a little outwards at the arches. In the middle of the arch is a kind of Greek cross, the size of which corresponds to the inner arch height. The four arms are unusually wide and their length is slightly shorter than the width. It is framed on all sides by three slim, angular profiles. In the middle of the cross is a circular ring, the outer circumference of which touches the inner corners of the cross. It is decorated with a row of small medallions . In the center of the cross arms are smaller circular rings with inner flower rosettes . The inside of the large circular ring has the well-known symbol of Christ made up of the letters P and X. Between the side arms of the X are the Greek letters Alpha and Omega. The background of the blind arch is filled with quarry stone masonry that corresponds to that of the surrounding wall.
A large rectangular window opens at a good distance above the portal, which ends with the "parapet" of the blind arch relief above. It was once enclosed on the sides and below by a wide frame made of light marble, which protrudes somewhat from the wall surface, but which is no longer completely preserved today. Snow-white ashlar stones of different formats peek out from behind the frame, which have been inserted flush with the wall. The frame has an angular U-shaped cross-section, the edges of which protrude slightly. These are equipped with rows of small rosettes, which are enclosed by double rings, which are connected to one another with short, pearl-tipped ribbons. The wider, central, recessed zone is filled with a bas-relief of vegetal decoration, which has similarities with the edge of the lintel beam. The top two ends of the frame each end with a larger rosette. In the left you can see an angel with outspread wings, hovering over the waves of a body of water. On the right is a large, crouching bird with its head turned backwards, presumably an eagle. These two rosettes, like those on the lower frame, were probably added later. A horizontal recess has been made in the lower frame, which allows the outer half of the frame recess to be retained. A wide stone beam was let into it over the entire length, from which four large rosettes protrude, which extend up to the edge of the beam, but leave a little space below. On the far left you can see a winged lion with its head turned backwards. On the far right is a winged bull with its head turned towards the viewer. Together with the representations on the upper ends of the frame, these are the four evangelist symbols: the angel (or human) at the top left, symbolizing Matthew, at the top right the eagle, John, at the bottom left the lion, Mark and at the bottom right the bull, Luke. The inner rosettes both show the same representation. You can see two heads facing horizontally outwards, each blowing downwards into a horn. In the upper area of the rosette there are possibly curved wings, which could indicate angels. Angels blowing trumpets are sometimes depicted in scenes from the Last Judgment. The rosettes are held at a distance by three seraphim standing upright. Their front wings cross each other in front of their bodies, their middle wings are spread upwards laterally behind their bodies, and their rear wings above are arched around their heads. The remaining backgrounds of the rosettes and seraphim show remains of a plant decoration in bas-relief.
The smooth angular lintel bar of the window is higher than that of the door lintel and rests on both sides of the window frame. The ends of the beam are rounded and should therefore fit exactly under the approaches of the semicircular, flush-surface wedge arch. However, this was not quite achieved. The areas below and above the arch are lined with stones that match those of the surrounding area.
Above the window but still under the gable, a frieze of twin blind arcades spreads out, the five backgrounds of which are clearly set back from the wall surface. The frieze ends with a wider masonry pilaster in front of the facade edges. The equally wide background fields are divided by four slender pilasters made from the masonry of the upper wall. On each of these there are two twin arches that meet together on a corbel, the sculpture of which is considerably weathered. This blind arch frieze, like the others on the east gable and on the choir eaves, goes back to Lombard origins. In three of the five niche backgrounds there is an almost square recess in the middle, which presumably served as a support for scaffolding beams.
At a height about midway between the apex of the portal arch and the lower window frame and at a distance of about a third of the width of the facade, large corbels are set in, the figurative sculptures of which depict four-legged predators, perhaps lions, with their sides facing the center of the wall. The one on the left tames a snake that he tries to devour head first, the body of which winds beneath him, the one on the right bends over the body of a crouched four-legged creature whose head he clasps with a paw, teeth bared.
Right at the top of the gable wall, just below the ridge, three wide, angular corbels are embedded at the same height and at a small distance, which in turn are supported by less projecting corbels. Your task is unclear.
Bell wall
On the southern outer wall of the church, around the third yoke, a rather high bell wall was built, the wall thickness of which it takes over. Its length is significantly shortened in its upper area. The resulting sloping, steep tops of the lower wall are slightly rounded. The shortened section of the wall is only led up a short distance and covered there by a hipped roof with a stone cross. Its wide, angular eaves cornice is supported by inwardly rounded corbels. Not far below, there are two round-arched passages in which the bells can swing freely. There is a rectangular wall opening in the lower wall area. The bell wall was probably built in the baroque era.
Interior
Longhouse
The inner masonry of the outer walls consists of the same stones as the two lower stone layers of the outer facade.
The renovations in the early 12th century turned the originally single-nave hall church into a kind of hall church . The previously wood-covered unit room would not statically have allowed a stone vault in its entire width because of its relatively thin walls. Usually the walls were then reinforced or supported with external buttresses. Instead, it was preferred to install a stone barrel with a smaller span than the nave, which essentially rests on its own new supporting pillars. This created a kind of "three-aisled" church interior, the "side aisles" of which, however, with too little width and height, did not allow the development of an independent space. It was typical of the country that there was obviously a fear of visually destroying the exterior, flat masonry by making struts and supports visible, as in the Gothic style that was not yet known there . Instead, they have been relocated "invisibly" inside. In St-André, the so-called Languedocian special Gothic has been prepared: a single room with side chapels open to the nave between inner pillars. Today's ship is divided into three bays and a small front bay, which are divided by three free-standing angular pillars and the belt arches of the barrel vault . The pillars stand on approximately 2.50 meter high bases, which are widened on the ship side and which are enclosed on three sides by transom profiles . On the base of the ship, there are semicircular services that reach up to the base of the belt arches. They are equipped with carved capitals, transom profiles, bases and angular plinths. The semicircular belt arches have rectangular cross-sections. The arcades between the third yoke and the crossing differ from the previous ones in that the two pillars are raised directly in front of the existing pillars and cannot keep any distance from the wall there.
The inner vaults of the barrel are roughly in the axis of the pillars. They are additionally supported in the yokes by wide semicircular arches that stretch from pillar to pillar along the outer walls. Their arches are also marked with fighter profiles. Shortly below, the area between the wall and the pillar is covered with a semicircular arch. This means that the area above these arches is massively filled and thus includes the older outer wall in the derivation of the vault loads and shear forces . The arches drawn in in front of the walls also contribute to this. In the case of the pillars near the facade, the openings behind the pillars only begin at the level of the upper edge of the base. Between these pillars and the facade wall, semicircular arches are incorporated not far below the upper edge of the plinth. From this upper edge the passage begins, which extends up to the height of the vault attachment. It is believed that a gallery was built into the narrow front yoke on the west wall.
In the southern outer wall there is a small round arched window in yokes one and three, not far below the vaults.
The already familiar rectangular main portal and above it the rectangular window above which the ship is flooded by the late afternoon sun are cut out in the facade wall. The window has an inwardly widened round arched reveal. The portal is covered by a lintel and a semicircular arched niche with a wedge arch.
Ship, south wall, yoke 1
Ship, pillar south wall with frescoes
Ship, north pillar
Ship, south pillar yoke 1
Ship, southern pillar, yoke 2 u. 3
Transept and crossing
The crossing is covered by a barrel vault, which is roughly an extension of the ship's vault, its span is only slightly larger. To transfer the vault loads, a new wall was built in front of the old walls of the crossing with their lower arched arcade openings in the upper area, on which the vault rests. This walling is supported by a higher arcade arch. The transept arms each stand on a slightly rectangular floor plan that is vaulted across the ship. Its spans are only slightly larger than that of the ship. In the north arm of the transept, a round-arched window is cut out in the west wall, under which there is also an outer door. That was probably the connecting door between the church and the convent buildings. In the south arm of the transept, a small round arched window is cut out in the gable wall and a door to the sacristy is in the west wall.
Choir head and transept chapels
The choir stands on the plan of a rectangle, which is followed by a semicircle. The choir bay has the same width as the old nave and is covered by a barrel vault that emerges from the wall surfaces without a break. The apse is covered by half a dome , which also emerges from the semicircular walls. The choir bay and apse are separated by an arcade made of a rectangular belt arch that stands on semicircular services, which are equipped with carved capitals, angular spars, profiled bases and angular plinths. In the apse there are three arched windows, of which the middle one is slightly lower.
The choir is closely flanked by the semicircular apsidioles of the transept chapels, which are covered by half domed domes that emerge seamlessly from the walls. In the apex of both chapels there is a small round arched window.
Crossing and choir
from crossing in north transept arm and choir
Transept chapel
Choir
Choir, northern area
Sacristy extension
In the corner between the southern arm of the transept and the nave, a small extension has been built in modern times, which contains the sacristy. A door connects them to the south arm of the transept and a second door to the outside.
Furnishing
The most important piece of equipment is the marble altar in the choir . Outwardly, it belongs to the tradition of the Narbonne table altars, which have been a renowned export product of the archbishop's city since the 9th century. On closer inspection, however, the decorations show stylistic echoes of the Cordobesian style. It is the same length as the lintel of the main portal (2.18 m) and shows parallels with its tendril decoration. The theory gave rise to the fact that the lintel was originally intended as a marble retable for the altar table.
Immediately to the right of the main portal is a holy water font with a very archaic sculpture in two registers. Like the baptismal font in St-Jean in Perpignan , it is probably a Visigoth work.
In a separate chapel, fragments of a Muslim marble tombstone dating from the turn of the eleventh to the twelfth centuries are exhibited. It is prism-shaped and decorated with bas-reliefs and Arabic inscriptions from the Koran. Its dimensions are 60 × 23.5 centimeters. This type of tombstone was widely used in the Middle Ages in the oriental countries, throughout North Africa and in the Iberian Peninsula. Such relics can also be found in Languedoc Roussillon.
See also
literature
- Rolf Legler: DuMont art travel guide: Languedoc Roussillon . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1988, ISBN 3-7701-1151-6 , p. 251-252 .
- Marcel Durliat : Romanesque Roussillon . Echter Verlag, Würzburg 1988, ISBN 3-429-01163-9 , pp. 323-325 and 96-97 .
Web links
Individual evidence
Individual references refer to historical data, developments and connections. Architectures, their integration into the environment, outdoor facilities, artistic works of art and the like are evidenced by photos and graphics.
- ^ Rolf Legler: Languedoc Roussillon, DuMont Art Travel Guide 1988 , pp. 251–252
- ↑ a b c d Rolf Legler: Languedoc Roussillon, DuMont Art Travel Guide 1988 , p. 252
- ^ Rolf Legler: Languedoc Roussillon, DuMont Art Travel Guide 1988 , p. 253
Coordinates: 42 ° 33 '9 " N , 2 ° 58' 15.9" E