St-André (Iguerande)
Coordinates: 46 ° 12 '33.1 " N , 4 ° 4' 40.9" O The Parish and former priory Saint-André d'Iguerande is located in the area of eastern France community Iguerande in Saône et Loire in the Burgundy regionon a hill high above the east bank of the Loire .
According to a description by John Virey from 1890, the Romanesque church of Iguerande was built in the late eleventh century and is one of the most important Romanesque churches in the Brionnais . It has been restored several times, but has retained its purity of lines. The church consecrated to the Apostle Andrew is now under the co- patronage of St. Marcellus (French: Saint-Marcel ), a martyr of the second century.
The former priory church of Saint-André is known for its well-preserved architecture and many interesting sculptures, including a cyclops playing a panpipe . The church building has been recognized as a monument historique since 1913 .
history
The name Iguerande is derived from the Gallic “Awaranda” , which means “a place on the border, marked by a large river”. Iguerande marked the border of two ancient Gallic settlements, that of the Haedu and the Arverni . In 938, a certain Bernard gave a very young convent to the owners of Iguerande, which already had three chapels: Saint-André , Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Saint-Marcel . In 956, the Bishop of completed Macon , Maimbodus (938-958), this foundation to the delivery of the income of the Church of Saint-André to the Benedictine - Cluny Abbey . At this point in time, a small community of monks seems to have established itself on the Saint-André construction site . In the late 10th century, the Saint-André chapel was rebuilt by the monks, who were mainly supported by donations from the neighboring Semur family .
In 1088 it came under the supervision of the Abbey of Cluny, looked after by the prioress of the monastery of Marcigny , and was significantly enlarged by the Benedictine monks not only as a priory church, but above all as a pilgrimage church . It was completed in 1100. Their staggered choir is reminiscent of the Cluny II abbey church , but was already completely vaulted.
The building was completed during the heyday of pilgrimages to the tomb of the Apostle James the Elder in Santiago de Compostela , d. H. in the first half of the 12th century, when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims traveled south across the Pyrenees every year . During this time, mainly monastic communities, like the Benedictines of Cluny, organized the pilgrimage. Four main routes and a network of secondary routes developed in France, on which churches, monasteries, hospices , hostels and also cemeteries were built or expanded. So also was Saint-André d'Iguerande quite important station of the Way of St. James on a side route of the Via Lemovicensis , with the starting point Vezelay , and the Priory of St. James was able to participate with its church extension and the relics shown here at the attracting donations.
When the disputes over Aquitaine between England and France rose after the middle of the 12th century, the pilgrimage declined and the wars of the 13th and 14th centuries. The 20th century, especially the Hundred Years War (1339–1453), brought a dramatic slump. The monasteries with pilgrim churches had to limit themselves to pilgrimages to their own relics, including that of Iguerande. In the thirteenth century, interests were divided between the Iguerande priory and the stately Semur house .
In the Middle Ages Iguerande was on the national border and the borders of the Brionnais, the county of Forez and was a point of contention in many disputes. At that time the parish was still in the situation of the joint administrative level between the Bailiwick of Semur and the Generalitat of Lyon .
The monks left the place for good before 1600. The then small parish church of Saint-Marcel collapsed as a ruin. The prioress of Marcigny then handed over the former priory and pilgrim church of Saint-André to the parish, which now placed its parish church under the patronage of Saint-Marcel again . The monastery had already disappeared before the French Revolution , when the church of Iguerande was a parish church in the diocese of Macon and was again placed under the patronage of Saint-André . Today it sometimes has both names.
In modern times , probably in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 18th century, the south-east side of the church was supported with strong buttresses , as this side obviously threatened to slide in the direction of the sloping slope. At the same time, the wall sections between the buttresses in the lower area were reinforced with steeply sloped masonry. During this time, the south-eastern apsidiole of the relay choir was replaced by a misshapen angular addition to a sacristy .
Building
Dimensions , approx.
Taken from the floor plan and extrapolated, without protrusions from the wall pillar
- Overall length (outside): 34.20 m
- Length of the nave (outside): 17.40 m
- Length of the nave (inside): 16.10 m
- Width of the nave (outside): 13.80 m
- Width of the nave (inside): 11.80 m
- Width central nave (inside): 5.10 m
- Width side aisles (inside): 2.50 m
- Length of transept (outside): 19.40 m
- Outreach transept (outside): 2.80 m
- Width transept (outside): 6.80 m
- Width transept (inside): 4.80 m
- Length of the choir (outside): 10.00 m
Exterior
The plan of the church is not exactly east , but the choir faces northeast. The quarry stone masonry of the walls is an irregular layered masonry made of predominantly small-format orange-colored sandstones in different tones from strong orange, through light orange to almost white, sometimes also weathered gray. The opening frames and pillars consist of large-sized blocks of stone.
Long house with facade
The nave on a rectangular floor plan is covered by a shared saddle roof without offsets with an incline of about 30 degrees, which is covered with red hollow bricks in Roman format, also known as monk-nun bricks . The lower rows of the roofing protrude over strong cornices , the visible edges of which are broken with a wide hollow . The cornice rests on a row of cantilever consoles that are rounded on the underside and simply sculpted.
The inner division into three naves and three yokes can already be seen on the outer structure with buttresses . The lateral north-west wall still has the original buttresses, which are rectangular in cross-section and which taper slightly above the first third of their height. With their steeply sloping tops, they reach just below the eaves. The outer pillar as an extension of the facade wall reaches the eaves height. In the middle between the pillars and at the height of the upper half of the wall, there is a slender, arched window with strongly flared walls . The third yoke is narrowed by the addition of a staircase with a spiral staircase , which can be used to access the roof space via the transverse barrel of the transept and from there to the crossing bell tower . In this yoke there is also a small side portal, perhaps a direct connection to the former convent buildings of the monastery.
The side south-east wall has the same structure with pillars and windows. However, in modern times the two central buttresses have been considerably reinforced, both in terms of width and, above all, in their projection. The outer sides of the pillars are steeply sloping all the way up and jut out a little further in the lower third. Between the pillars, the wall sections below the windows were also reinforced with additional masonry, which is steeply sloped downwards. This measure was carried out here, as well as on the transept and in the choir area, because cracks were presumably found that had indicated that the south-eastern walls had slipped off towards the nearby slope. The structure of the south-western facade reflects the three-aisled layout of the nave. As an extension of the lateral outer walls and the partition walls, there are rectangular buttresses in cross section over the entire height, which have base protrusions almost half a meter high. The outer pillars are significantly wider than the inner ones and reach up to the eaves height , the inner pillars a little further up. Between the inner pillars, i.e. in the area of the central nave, the entire height of the facade wall protrudes outwards by around 30 centimeters. The sloping upper sides of the facade wall protrude almost half a meter above the roof. They are covered by sturdy panels, the cantilevered visible edges of which are broken with a groove similar to the eaves. The gable ridge is crowned by a stone trefoil or Lazarus cross, the lower arm of which is slightly longer than the others.
The rectangular opening of the main portal is enclosed by an archivolt . A semicircular, slightly stilted arch made of a strong half round rod stands on two columns set back from the wall, which are equipped with vegetable-carved capitals , profiled fighters and simple bases on plinths . Behind the arch there is another setback with an unstructured tympanum . At the height of the fighters, a round profile with a serrated lower edge completes the arched field. The horizontal lintel stands on two somewhat stronger pillars, which are equipped like the neighboring ones. The archivolt arch is covered by a cantilever profile with a serrated inner edge. Clearly above the struts of the outer columns, the profile swings horizontally to the side and is guided up to the buttresses. A slim, arched window with flared walls opens up just above the aforementioned cantilever profile . In the late hours of the afternoon, this window gives the central nave the only direct light.
Transept with crossing tower
The gable walls of the transept stand almost three meters in front of the outer walls of the nave and have more simply profiled and thinner covers such as those of the facade wall and their height above the roof surfaces. The gable roofs of the transept arms have the same roofing, roof pitch, eaves formation and their height as those of the nave. On the top of the gable of the south-eastern arm of the transept stands a simple stone Latin cross made of round arms. The buttresses on the gable wall of the northwestern arm of the transept correspond roughly to those of the adjacent nave wall, as does the window between the buttresses. The same also applies to the south-eastern gable wall opposite. However, the buttresses are even more expansive and massive. Here, however, an additional wall section was dispensed with.
A nearly square two-storey crossing tower rises above the pitched roofs of the adjoining parts of the building , exactly the width of the outer width of the transept arms. The storeys are divided by a wide cantilever profile that is a good meter above the ridge of the nave roof. Just below the cantilever profile, a round-arched opening into the bell chamber is cut out on three sides of the tower, apart from the southwest side. On the choir side of the tower alone, there is a slightly smaller round arched window a little below that opens into the crossing vault. The inner floor division does not correspond to the outer one. Immediately on the cantilever profile, there are two sound arcades on each side of the tower , which are separated from one another by a wide wall pillar.
An outer, rounded wedge arch, which stands at its beginnings on fighter profiles, is followed by an archivolt made of a curved round bar, which stands on pillars set back from the wall, which are equipped with vegetable carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. A twin arcade opens up in the archivolt, the sharp-edged arches of which stand on the outside on transom profiles over sharp-edged reveals . The two arches stand together on the inside on a pair of columns arranged one behind the other, which is equipped like the others.
Just a short distance above the outer arches of the sound arcades, the upper floor ends with an eaves formation that corresponds to that of the ships. The tower is covered by a very gently sloping pyramid roof , which is again covered with red hollow tiles. The pyramid ridge is crowned by a simple Latin cross made of metal.
Relay choir
The short aisles of the Chorjoch are covered by a common gable roof, as in the nave, which is, however, significantly lower. The eaves formation and roofing and their inclination again correspond to those of the ships. In the outer walls of the aisles of the Chorjoch, the windows have the shape and size of those of the ships, but at a significantly lower altitude. The entire width of the choir yoke and the chapel yokes are separated from the apses of the choir and the chapels by a common gable wall . Its northwest end turns into a buttress. This gable wall towers above the common saddle roof of the choir bay. Its middle section protrudes a little further up the width of the choir. The sloping upper sides of the gable wall are covered with expansive panels with profiled visible edges, which are supported by cantilever brackets. Its gable ridge is crowned by a stone four-petalled flower rosette, the petals of which are held together by a large circular ring.
The choir apse and the north-western chapel apse have floor plans composed of short rectangles and semicircles. We are accordingly covered by short pitched roofs, connected to the half conical roofs . The roof of the chapel apse remains under that of the choir apse, which itself is well below that of the choir bay. The roofing and eaves design correspond to those of the other roofs. The choir apse is divided by two buttresses into three curved wall sections, the sloping upper sides of which end a little below the eaves. Round-arched windows are cut out in the middle of the wall sections, as is the case in the apse apse of the north-western chapel. The former apse of the south-eastern chapel has been replaced in modern times by a much shorter closed apse to which the angular extension of a sacristy was added, which is covered with a pent roof. A round-arched window is cut out in its north-eastern wall. Together with this extension, the buttress on the side wall of the south-eastern chapel was enlarged considerably and its wall in the lower area was reinforced and steeply sloped.
Interior
The interior of the church appears very dark (French: obscur ) because there is almost no direct window exposure in the central nave, in the crossing and in the choir bay .
Longhouse
The nave stands on a rectangular floor plan, which is divided into three aisles by strong partition walls. The central nave is about twice as wide as the side aisles. Arcades divide the length of the nave into three almost equally wide bays.
The partition walls stand on slightly stilted, sharp-edged round arches, which stand on semicircular old services, which are equipped with mostly plant-based carved capitals, wide-spreading profiled fighters, profiled bases on angular plinths and plinths. They are hidden in front of the pillar cores, which are square in cross section and whose dimensions are slightly wider than the thickness of the partition wall. As a result, the pillar cores protrude just as slightly from the partition walls above the protruding transom and are continued upwards as flat wall piers, where they merge into the belt arches. In the first yoke, the services are displayed on the west wall on corresponding pillars. These services are missing on the cores of the crossing piers, which are cruciform in cross-section, and the septum arches of the third yoke are instead on transom profiles. The yoke-dividing arcades of the central nave consist of slightly stilted belt arches the width of the pillar cores, the edges of which are broken off with strong, right-angled setbacks. They support the barrel vault , the approaches of which are a good deal above the ends of the arch because of the stilts. The arches are supported by semicircular services, which are superimposed on the flat wall pillars and the pillar cores and are equipped similar to the services of the partition arcades. The transom profiles are led around the sides of the wall templates.
The surfaces of the barrel vaults emerge from the wall surfaces without a break and show a structure that resembles that of the board formwork of a concrete vault. The builders may not have placed the stones of the vault shell dry on the vault formwork as is usually the case and only filled the joints with mortar, but first applied a layer of mortar to the formwork, into which the vault stones were placed. After removing the wooden formwork, this structure would have remained. Subsequent plastering of the vault surfaces could thus be dispensed with.
Northwest aisle
northwest Aisle to the rear
Central nave, northwest wall to the rear
South-east aisle to the front
The side aisle yokes are covered by groin vaults , the main components of which are arranged just above the apex of the partition arcades. On the central nave side, their ridges merge further down into the corners of the pier cores and on the outer walls they disappear at the height of the belt arches in the angles between the wall and the wall pillars. The sharp-edged belt arches are stilted on one hip. They stand with their stilts on the pillars of the partition wall on semicircular services that correspond to those of the partition arcades. On the outer wall, the arches stand on pillars without stilts, the width of which corresponds to that of the pier cores.
In the transept wall, a round arched, slightly stilted arcade opens up in its entire width, which is roughly equipped like the central nave arcade. Their fighters, however, are about a meter higher than those of the partition arcades. This creates a relatively large arch field in the upper wall area. In the side aisles of the same wall, arched arcades made of sharp-edged pillars and arches open up almost across the entire width. Their combatant profiles are at the level of the combatants in the adjacent partition arcades.
The main rectangular portal opens in the southwest wall of the central nave, which is covered by a recessed, slightly stilted, semicircular and unstructured tympanum. In the middle of the upper half of the wall a round arched window with flared walls is left open. In the afternoon the sun shines through the window and the open portal and bathes the nave in a golden light. The ends of the side aisles are completely closed. In the lateral outer walls of the aisles, a round-arched window with widened walls is recessed in each yoke just below the arches of the vaults. In the third yoke there is a rectangular single-winged side portal on the northwest side.
Transept with crossing
The one-piece transept arms stand on slightly rectangular floor plans and are covered with barrel vaults in the transverse direction to the ship, which merge from the walls without a break and have structures like the central nave vaults. In the gable walls, high under the vaults, a round-arched window is cut out, which represents the former light of the transept arms. Exactly opposite the arcade openings to the aisles, an identical arcade opens into the transept chapels in the north-east walls of the transept. The chapel bays are like the side aisle bays, but are much lower, covered with groin vaults. A round-arched window is cut out in each of the outer walls, just below the arches of the vaults. The north-western chapel is closed by the original apse, which is covered by a short piece of barrel vault, to which a half-domed dome is attached. In the apse apse there is a small arched window with widened walls. The south-eastern transept chapel is closed off by a modern apse without windows.
The crossing pillar cores have cruciform cross-sections. The crossing arcades are as large and equipped as the arcade to the central nave described above. The services of the arcade to the choir, the so-called triumphal arch, do not reach down to the floor. They end about halfway up the other services with profiled semicircular consoles. The apex of the octagonal crossing dome on trumpets is slightly higher than the apex height of the central nave vault . The trumpets are located just above the height of the apex of the arcades. The usual opening in the dome center, for vertical transport of bells, has been omitted here, or it has been closed later. In the north-eastern crossing wall, a small arched window is cut out at dome height, which allows only little light to penetrate into the crossing dome.
Choir head
The original choir head from a staggered choir with a central choir consisting of yoke and apse, which was flanked by two transept chapels staggered in plan and height, has been significantly disrupted in modern times on the southeast side, namely by removing the original chapel apse, the has been replaced by the addition of a sacristy. The choir bay consists of a "central nave" with two "side aisles", which are vaulted like the nave, but are arranged much lower. The latter also applies to the side arcade openings in the partition walls that connect the “central nave” with the “side aisles”.
The choir apse stands on a floor plan consisting of a narrow rectangle, which is connected to a semicircle. Accordingly, it is covered by a narrow barrel vault to which half a dome is attached. The apse is enclosed by a blind arch on a circumferential wall plinth around one meter high. Five arcades of equal size consist of wedge-shaped arches, each of which stands in pairs on smooth columns. These are equipped with capitals carved out of plants, profiled fighters and bases on angular plinths. The central arcade is separated from the next two, very slender arcades, the small arches of which stand on the spars of the larger arcades. In the central arcade and in the two next but one, small arched window openings are left out, the reveals of which are slightly widened inward. A rectangular doorway to the sacristy has been placed in the south-eastern arcade. The two outer arcades are painted with remains of frescoes depicting the apostles Peter and Paul.
Capitals
Most of the capitals are decorated with vegetal foliage. In the north-west aisle, however, there is a capital with an unusual pair of creatures: a cyclops playing panpipes and a cattle-like creature who probably plays the harp (see web links 1 and 2). Music-making monsters and demons are common themes in Romanesque sculpture and were intended to depict the evil of non-sacred music. The figurative sculptures on the bases of the services are also unusual. They are rather rustic in style, as are other capitals with the head of a calf, the head of a demon and a second calf's head, which for some inexplicable reason is shown reversed.
Capital with lion sculpture
Capital, leaf structure
Capitals of the partition arcade
literature
- Thorsten Droste : Burgundy. Monasteries, castles, historic cities and the culture of viticulture in the heart of France. 3rd updated edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-7701-4166-0 , pp. 168–169.
Web links
- St-André (Iguerande). In: Structurae
- Saint-André d'Iguerande - photos + brief information (French)
- Saint-André d'Iguerande - photos + information (French)
- Saint-André d'Iguerande - photos + information (French)
- Saint-André d'Iguerande - Photos and information (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Église, Iguerande in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Iguerande Church.
- ↑ Description de l'église d'Iguerande.
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ Description de l'église d'Iguerande.