St-André (Les Arques)
The Romanesque chapel Saint-André is - next to the church Saint-Laurent - the second main attraction of the small community of Les Arques in Périgord . The chapel was inscribed on the list of historical monuments in 1979.
location
The chapel is about one and a half kilometers west of the village of Les Arques in a forest clearing. To the south of the chapel is the still-used cemetery of the community.
history
As can be seen from the ashlar masonry of the church, the Romanesque chapel dates from the 11th or 12th century. There are several construction phases on the masonry. Formerly it was probably the parish church of a place that has since disappeared. The apse was painted in the 15th century with frescoes in a naive peasant style. In 1954 they were rediscovered and exposed in 1954 by the Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine, who lived in Arques for many years .
architecture
In the west facade of the relatively high building is a small, narrow arched window; there used to be a bell gable which was later integrated into today's gable. The south facade is also kept simple. There is a stepped down, but columnless and capitalless arched portal and two small, high, narrow arched windows with profiled reveals . The processed corner cuboids of the building are twice and three times the size of the stones of the layers of the brickwork. The apse is drawn in opposite the nave . The roof of the apse is covered with small stone slabs ( lauzes ). The covering of the gable roof over the nave consists of roof tiles. The scaffolding holes in which the supporting beams for the floating scaffolding were fitted during construction can be seen in all the outer walls; generally these holes were plugged when the scaffolding was dismantled. The church has a single nave with a barrel vault.
Apse frescoes
The entire apse is painted with frescoes from the 15th century. In the apse calotte, filled with small stars, there is Christ or God the Father as Pantocrator (but without mandorla ) sitting on a rainbow throne and surrounded by the four evangelist symbols . The Annunciation scene can be seen under a surrounding cornice to the left and right of the apse window - on the left the Archangel Gabriel kneels with the 'Good News' on a fluttering banner , on the right Maria kneels with folded hands at a reading or writing desk. The apostles stand on either side , partially damaged; another apostle ( Judas ) was probably not shown. St. Christophorus can be seen on the right pillar ; Opposite him on the left pillar the Christ Child is waiting for his help in crossing the river. The other individual figure on the right pillar is probably the flagellation of Christ . The lower part of the wall surface is painted with three-dimensional rhombuses and triangles.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chapelle Saint-André, Les Arques in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
Web links
Coordinates: 44 ° 36 ′ 6.3 " N , 1 ° 14 ′ 11.6" E