St-Eutrope (Saintes)
The former priory church of Saint-Eutrope is located in the west of the old town of Saintes , a French city in the Charente-Maritime department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region , on the left bank of the Charente River and about 95 km north of Bordeaux . It is a Romanesque pilgrimage church from the 11th and 12th centuries, the naves of which were destroyed and demolished in the 19th century with the exception of the remains of the south wall. Its bell tower, towering over everything, was built in the 15th century in the flamboyant style of the late Gothic over the northern arm of the transept. The church was given in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII. the title of a minor basilica . Since 1998 the church has been listed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage “Camino de Santiago in France”.
history
Saint Eutropius
There is no reliable knowledge about the historical classification of his life or his episcopate . Even the various legends about his work and his origins differ greatly from one another.
Louis Audiat, a historian from the Saintonge , studied in the 19th century, had him come from Persia, presumably today's Iran , and be a contemporary of Christ. He is said to have landed with the ship together with Martha and Maria Magdalena in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in southern France. Audiat mentions three other alternatives with which he could have traveled, namely with Saint Denis (French) = Dionysius (around 250), or with Saint Martial (second half of the 3rd century), or with Peter (1st century AD ) Century) to Christianize Gaul and Rome.
According to another legend, he came from Greece and was sent by Pope Clement I (Bishop of Rome 92-101) to Christianize the land of the Santons .
The historian Gregory of Tours (538–594) seems to be coming close to the correct date of his episcopate. He mentions the name Eutrope in a list of the bishops in Gaul under Emperor Decius (249-251). After that he could not have been sent by Pope Clement and not have been a contemporary of Christ, but one of Saint-Denis and Saint-Martial.
The other events are said to have happened as follows:
After the bishop's arrival in Saintes, he went to the slums and converted many people to the Christian faith, such as Princess Eustelle or Estelle , the daughter of the Roman governor , who was baptized at the age of 13. Her father then denied her. She then lived near the bishop. But the governor couldn't accept the idea that his daughter was serving a Christian . He offered 150 livres (pounds) to several mercenaries who were supposed to get rid of the troublemaker. The men brought together a riot of 2,000 people who stoned the bishop . A man "delivered" him from the torment with a blow on the missionary's head and pierced the top of his skull. Eustelle and his disciples buried his body the following night. The tomb has become a place of worship and it is said that miracles took place there. Estelle was beheaded on her father's orders and her body was buried with Eutropius. In the area of the Roman arena , on the south side of the arena , halfway up the steps, a Ste.-Eustelle spring emerges from the ground where it is supposed to have been beheaded.
Centuries later, Bishop Palladius had the sarcophagus of Eutropius opened and found the trace of the blow in his skull.
The cult of Saint-Eutrope was attested by Gregory of Tours towards the end of the 6th century. His tomb was venerated by pilgrims . It was there at the beginning of the Middle Ages , a monastic community .
From the 11th century onwards, the saint's relics were essentially in the sarcophagus in the crypt, and his head was kept in a reliquary in the upper church.
The priory and the pilgrimage church of Saint Eutrope
In the previous centuries, the later pilgrimage church over the grave of St. Eutropius had already been preceded by several church buildings and sanctuaries . A church is known to have been founded in the 6th century.
Towards the end of the 11th century, pilgrimages on the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela became more and more popular; the pilgrims needed large pilgrimage churches on their stations. Saintes was the intersection of several pilgrimage routes , the Via Turonensis , with the starting point Paris, was one of the four main routes in France. The existing churches in Saintes could no longer accommodate the many pilgrims, most of whom stayed overnight in the churches.
In 1081 , Guy-Geoffroy , Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine , gave the sanctuary of Saint-Eutrope to the great Benedictine Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy , awaiting expert help with the construction of a large church. The Cluniacians were zealous carers for the pilgrims of St. James and thus played a major role in the great importance of the Santiago pilgrimage. A community of more than twenty Benedictine monks was sent from Cluny to Saintes to organize the building of the church.
They began with the crypt and in just 15 years pushed the construction work forward so quickly that Pope Urban II was able to carry out the consecration in 1096. The ambulatory choir and the crypt, a functional building section that could already be used for the pilgrims' visits, were completed. The construction work continued until the beginning of the 12th century. Parallel to the construction of the church, the convent building belonging to a Benedictine priory was built on the south side of the nave and transept .
With its new large pilgrimage church, one of the most important monuments on the Way of St. James, the priory flourished in the first half of the 12th century thanks to the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who went south every year. It is said that most of the pilgrims would stop in Saintes for a few days before setting out on the long and arduous journey to the west of Spain. The church with its two large choirs and the chapels for the presentation of numerous relics offered sufficient space for the passing pilgrim processions.
The quarrels over Aquitaine between England and France after the middle of the 12th century caused the pilgrimage to decline, the wars in the 13th and 14th centuries brought dramatic incursions. According to a document from June 1276, King Philip III donated. in fulfillment of the will of his uncle Alfons, 60 livres (pounds) annually for the use of the church of Saint-Eutrope. In the 14./15. In the 19th century the central chapel of the upper church was removed and replaced by a significantly larger choir extension in late Gothic style . This gave up the function of the original parlor choir. The choir was set up in the new eastern extension, and the previous choir, which was only accessible to the clergy , was converted into an extension of the central nave .
The magnificent late-Gothic, 65-meter-high bell tower in the flamboyant style was built between 1478 and 1496 in place of the north transept arm, which had to be largely demolished for this purpose. Some of the Romanesque capitals were removed. However, they have been preserved and are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum. The construction work on the tower was supported by a donation from King Ludwig XI. (1423-1483) funded.
In the French Revolution (1798) the unadorned sarcophagus with the inscription EUTROPIUS was removed from the crypt and desecrated. The relics of the saint have probably also been lost, but this did not detract from the attraction of his tomb.
In 1803 almost the entire nave was demolished apart from the remains of the south wall . The sources do not provide any information about the causes or details. Presumably this happened as a result of the revolution just five years ago. The first wave of secularization took place between 1802 and 1803, another under the rule of Napoleon , when the state was responsible for the dissolution of monasteries and churches and the appropriation of church property. Most of the nave and presumably all the priory buildings fell victim to the pickaxe and were sold for demolition as "national goods".
The bottom of the ship was about halfway up the crypt. The level of today's forecourt was raised to the level of the floor of the upper church through appropriate fillings. Before that, the openings in the transept wall of the crypt had been bricked up, and the wide staircase that led down from the central nave to the lower church was covered with a concrete ceiling. A staircase with an entrance door has been created on the north wall of the tower to replace this formerly generous inner entrance. Today you can only get into the crypt through this externally accessible side entrance. The huge opening in the middle transept that was created when the nave was demolished was closed in the 19th century with a contemporary facade. Today's paved forecourt is a parking lot that undermines the monument's dignity.
It was only in 1842 that the sarcophagus could be restored and put back in its original place in the choir of the lower church.
The church building
Dimensions (without templates) approx:
| Component | originally | today |
|---|---|---|
| overall length | 70.00 m | 45.00 m |
| Nave length | 33.50 m | --- |
| Nave width | 18.00 m | --- |
| Ambulatory chorus length | 27.50 m | --- |
| Width of the chancel | 16.70 m | --- |
| Choir extension length | --- | 3.50 m |
| Transept length | 35.30 m | 39.30 m |
| Transept width | 8.70 m | 10.00 m (with tower) |
| Tower height | --- | 65.00 m |
| Height of the Romanesque choir | 10.00 m | 10.00 m |
| Height under crossing dome | 14.00 m | 14.00 m |
the external appearance
A little more than half of the floor plan of the Cluniac church building is preserved today. It essentially consisted of a basilica, five-bay nave, an ambulatory choir, with almost the same floor plan as the nave, with three ambulatory chapels and a transept extending far beyond the nave walls, with a vaulted crossing and two transept chapels. There was probably also a bell tower over the crossing dome. The ambulatory choir including its chapels, as well as the transept with its chapels, had the same floor plan dimensions with a crypt underneath, but at significantly lower storey heights . The north arm of the transept had the same shape as the south, including its chapel.
The former longhouse
The basilica nave had an elevation with stepped, slightly sloping roofs and windowless partitions, in the shape and height of the present-day ambulatory choir. The outer walls of the aisles were the same height as the outer walls of the ambulatory, including about half the height of the crypt. The design of the wall divisions largely corresponded to that of the ambulatory choir, but the yokes were twice as wide. In addition, the Untergaden windows, which illuminate the passageways of the crypt in the ambulatory choir, were probably missing there. Remains of the outer wall of the south aisle still stand today, the lower areas of which have been buried by the filling of the square. From the first and smallest yoke, the wall extends over the window, which today illuminates a room in the annex behind. The other lower parts of the wall were also provided with extensions on the outside. In the area of the second yoke he gave a door to the former buildings of the monastery.
Little is known about the facade of the nave. There was a multi-tiered archivolt portal , presumably sculpted , and perhaps also lateral archivolt blind portals. The same three-way division with large archivolt windows and side blind windows is conceivable for the second facade floor. It is said that the facade contained an equestrian statue in a central and high arcade niche that was framed by two towers that towered over the aisles.
The transept
The two-story transept separated the former nave from the two-story ambulatory choir. Until the construction of the bell tower towards the end of the 15th century, it had a symmetrical floor plan with two mirror-like arms, each with an almost square floor plan. The current outer sides of the southern arm of the transept are simple renovations from the 19th century. The small southeast transept chapel is also two-story, about half of the basement is underground. Its semicircular outside is divided vertically up to its full height by three semicircular pillars. Two profiled and ornamented bands run horizontally around the apse , one about halfway up the wall, the second just above the apex of the lower windows. The two slender arched windows of the upper chapel are spaced a little apart from semicircular profile strips that bend horizontally at the lower ends by about 30 cm outwards. The arched windows of the lower chapel are much wider and are surrounded by archivolts made of simple wedge- shaped arches and round columns with carved capitals and profiled bases . The cantilevered and profiled eaves cornice is supported by figuratively sculpted corbels. The apse is covered by a gently sloping half- conical roof .
The western transept wall opened by the demolition of the nave, in the length of the nave width, was closed with a "modern" facade in the 19th century. Corresponding to the former connections of the four longitudinal walls of the ships, the facade is divided vertically into three sections with strong buttresses that are rectangular in plan. They take over the transfer of the shear forces from the four arches and crossing walls that subdivide the transept. The middle section in the width of the former central nave is significantly higher than the outer width of the former side aisles, which close at the level of the transept eaves and whose profiled eaves with supporting corbels merge. The upper area of the middle section of the facade is also the western wall of the square crossing, behind which the dome of the crossing is located. Today the crossing walls are finished with an eaves cornice on corbels that corresponds to the eaves of the transept and covered with a flat inclined pyramid roof. On this tower stump one can imagine a bell tower, perhaps similar to that of the not far away younger abbey church of the Abbaye aux Dames . The facade has a very large three-tier archivolt main portal and two smaller archivolt portals, the apexes of which just reach the height of the arches of the main portal. The arches and walls of the portals consist of round profiles and narrower accompanying profiles. The arch approaches are marked by simple capitals. In the upper facade area, just below the eaves height of the transept, the facade is adorned with blind arcades , one group in each of the side panels and a group of three in the middle. They consist of stepping stone arches on round columns and simple capitals. The niches are slightly rounded towards the inside. The pillars of the arcades stand on a horizontal, profiled cantilever cornice that runs across the entire width of the facade and extends beyond the south wall of the transept. It is only interrupted by the pillar templates.
The late Gothic bell tower
The bell tower was built in the last phase of the French late Gothic , which is also known as the Flamboyant style, derived from the shape of the tracery , which consists of curvy fish bubbles that lick like a flame .
The weight of the mighty, 65-meter-high bell tower could not be accommodated on the relatively slender structural elements of the north arm of the transept. The dimensions required for it at its base and those of its foundations also had to be significantly enlarged compared to the existing substance. They were therefore largely removed, down to the foundation area below the floor of the crypt.
The tower floor plan at the level of the upper church is a square, on the outside 10 × 10 meters in size, the walls of which are around 1.50 meters thick and protrude at the four corners of the square by around 2.50 meters as pillars. The total dimension of this floor plan is approximately 15 × 15 meters. With the two pillar templates on the south side of the tower, it hits the north wall of the former nave and the ambulatory. Between the two pillars that point to the east, two chapels are inserted one above the other in a hexagonal plan at the level of the floors of the crypt and the upper church, which are closed off with a gently sloping pyramid roof at about the level of the eaves. Their free corners are equipped with small-format buttresses that end in pinnacles and pointed turrets crowned by finials . The three ogival windows are equipped with flamboyant tracery. Their tips are crowned with finials. On the western side of the tower, the polygonal staircase of a spiral staircase is inserted in the corner of a pillar template, which extends far up to the belfry, roughly to the point where the hexagonal tower spire begins.
Up to the approach of the tower spire, the tower is divided into eight storeys, seen from the north side, by profiled cantilever profiles, followed by a ninth story, which, however, already belongs to the spire. The first four are about the same height, followed by a significantly higher one and then an even higher one, then a very small one and two slightly larger ones. There is no discernible system in the graduation of the storey heights. However, one can see that the dimension of the tower floor plan decreases slightly from floor to floor. The first four floors have no sculptural decoration. Above this, the fronts of the pillars begin to dissolve into stepped pinnacles that end in steep pyramidal tips, with crabs on the ridges and finials on the tips. The wall surfaces between the pillars have two rectangular windows on the sixth and seventh floors, and above them two pointed arched windows with Gothic tracery, the latter crowned with a finial. On the side with the spiral staircase there is only one window each on the sixth and seventh floors. On the ninth floor, already above the approach of the hexagonal tower spire, there are again windows on all six sides of the tower spire. The spiral staircase has a slot-shaped window opening in every revolution. The spire is equipped with numerous crabs on its ridges and is crowned with a large finial on its top.
The Cluniac parlor choir
The former ambulatory choir is two-storey and consists in the upper church of a three-aisled, four-bay choir area, which formerly had a choir apse on four columns and was enclosed by a semicircular corridor with three chapel apses. Instead of the middle choir chapel and the connecting walls connecting the chapels, in the 14th / 15th In the 19th century a Gothic choir was added as an extension of the ambulatory choir. The choir apse, the enclosure around it and its central chapel were demolished.
The entire section between the transept and the ends of the north-eastern and south-eastern courtyard chapels has been preserved from the outer appearance of the Cluniac parlor choir. The windowless partition walls of the Romanesque choir protrude far beyond the roofs of the corridors. The eaves above these walls are not designed with cornices and corbels, as usual, but consist only of cantilevered eaves rafters and wooden cladding. The sloping roof of the Romanesque choir remains with its ridge just below the eaves of the tower stump of the crossing.
The eaves of the corridors and their chapel apses are completely different with a thick, multi-profiled eaves cornice supported by closely placed, mostly figuratively carved corbels. The first thing you notice about the walls and the chapels are the two rows of windows that show the two church floors, the upper and lower church, to the outside.
The vertical subdivision of the inner walls with blind arcades extending almost the entire height of the wall corresponds to the inner division into four bays. The fifth, narrower arcade already belongs to the former semicircular handling around the choir apse. The arcade of the first yoke is also slimmer because part of the yoke is or was covered by the transept chapel. The arcade arches with an almost square cross-section protrude completely from the wall and are covered by narrow, cantilevered profiles. Both are adorned with different geometric ornaments . They are supported by three-quarter circular columns, which are crowned by capitals carved from plants and profiled warriors. The columns are subdivided at the level of the floor ceiling of the lower church, by profiled bases and spars , and stand with profiled bases on a plinth around the Romanesque choir.
At the height of this division of the columns, a profiled and ornamented ribbon runs around the Romanesque choir and thus marks the separation between the lower and upper floors. A second horizontal circumferential subdivision runs exactly at the level of the window sills and is interrupted by the columns. It consists of a stepped profile whose upper, narrower visible side is sculpted with a geometric structure, the lower, wider and recessed visible side remains unstructured. This profile protrudes a little further in the width of the window.
The slender arched windows in the upper gallery are much larger, especially higher, than the windows of the crypt and the chapels. They are immediately framed by smooth soffit recesses and wedge stones. On the outside, there are single-tier archivolts, made up of right-angled arches overlaid with narrow cantilever profiles and geometrically ornamented. They are supported by slender round columns with tiny carved capitals and profiled bases. Arches and capitals are separated by an elaborately profiled warrior band that continues over all wall sections and around the services over the Romanesque choir and its chapels. Between the apex of the archivolts and the blind arcade arches, small so-called “ ox eyes ” or “oculi” are inserted, each framed by a wedge circle with a narrow outer cantilever profile.
The windows around the crypt are significantly smaller, especially lower than those of the upper church. They have the same jewelry as the above, but in smaller proportions. The fighting band is simply profiled and hits the pillars of the blind arcades. The windows next to the chapels are a bit higher and accordingly slimmer.
The two remaining chapels with the roofs of their gently sloping half-conical roofs reach just below the eaves of the corridor. Its walls, which are curved in plan, are divided vertically into three wider and two narrower fields, namely by columns, the dimensions of which in the basement correspond to those of the access walls; above they are significantly slimmer. They are equipped similarly to the pillars of the blind arcades. Instead of the arcade arches, however, they support the eaves of the chapels. Above the decorative band taken from the neighboring wall at the level of the crypt ceiling, the stepped profile band at the height of the window sills is also taken over. The third band, level with the archivolts fighters in the gallery window, runs here uninterruptedly over the fields and columns, around the chapels. The chapels have three small windows each on the upper and lower floors, in the outer fields and in the middle field. In the fields in between there are only two blind windows on the upper floor. The furnishing of the windows with archivolts corresponds to that of the crypt passageways.
Between the upper decorative band and the eaves cornice, dwarf galleries are worked into the fields , in the middle one with four arches, next to it two with two arches and in the outer two with three arches. The wall-flush arches made of smooth wedge stones are supported by round pillars with carved capitals, with profiled fighters and bases.
In the 19th century, due to static problems, two voluminous buttresses had to be added to the outer wall of the southern gallery between the yokes 2 to 4, with a projection of approximately 2.60 meters. With a cross-section tapering towards the outside and unchanged in height, they reach almost below the eaves and cover the entire width of the wall between the windows, including parts of the blind arcades.
The Gothic choir extension
In the dimensions of the elevation, the Gothic choir is an extension of the Romanesque choir to the east, namely on the upper and lower floors. It consists of a yoke and the final polygonal apse. This is surrounded by six to 2.50 m projecting buttresses, the four sections of which taper upwards in steps, both in their width and in their projection. At the top, not far from the eaves, they are covered with a steep monopitch roof. The eaves of the Gothic extension consists of a simple, profiled cantilever cornice. Large ogival windows with profiled walls are left open on both sides of the yoke. In the five fields of the apse there are much smaller ogival windows. All have a late Gothic tracery in the flamboyant style. In the basement there are only small arched window openings, similar to those in Romanesque handling, but without archivolts.
The interior of the church
The former Cluniac nave
The nave had a basilica elevation , which resembled the Romanesque ambulatory choir in the upper area, but was about half the floor height of the crypt higher. The vaults of the naves butted against the crossing walls on the west side at the same height and contour as those of the access choir on the east side. The three-aisled nave, the central nave was about twice as wide as a side aisle, was divided into five bays, the first of which was about half as wide as the others. The central nave was vaulted with a slightly pointed barrel on belt arches. This arch and vault shape reveals the handwriting of the Cluniacens, which was common in the third church building of the mother monastery. It ensured a significantly better transfer of the lateral thrust forces into the vertical. The side aisles were vaulted with half a ton on quarter-circle, right-angled belt arches, a vaulting shape not common in the Saintonge around 1100. There were no upper cladding windows in the partition walls, presumably as in the Romanesque ambulatory choir. The beginning of the vaults was marked with a strong cantilever profile, which merged over the capitals of the services into the soldiers located there. The dividing arches (between the ships) were presumably angular. The right-angled belt arches of the ship probably initially rested on relatively short semicircular services with carved capitals and profiled fighters and bases. These stood together with the partition arches on bundles of pillars, made of a square core and a rectangular template facing the central nave, and with three further, but semicircular services, two of which carried the partition arches and one supporting the upper ends of the half arches of the aisles. These bundles of pillars were crowned by capital bundles with fighters, probably just as richly carved, which had the same outline.
On the outer walls of the side aisles, the belt arches sat again, as in the central nave, initially on short semicircular diests with capitals and fighters, which then stood on considerably stronger semicircular services. A considerable part of one of these services is still preserved today, namely in the first yoke on the outer wall of the south aisle. A considerable part, about halfway up the crypt, has disappeared under the embankment of the parking lot. In addition, one can see one of the arched windows exposed to light in the aisle. Its soffits are strongly widened towards the ship and its windowsill is steeply sloping downwards. The slightly pointed wedge arch is supported by two slender pillars with carved capitals and profiled bases that are set back from the edges of the reveal. The whole yoke is spanned by a blind arcade arch, the ends of which sit on the lower column capital. This design motif probably ran over the entire length of both outer walls.
The very different levels of the floors of the ships and the lower and upper churches were bridged with elaborate staircases. Shortly after the entrance to the church through the main portal of the former facade, there was a first, presumably six-step stairway down between the first and second yoke across the width of the central nave. The level reached extends over the second yoke and in the aisles from the first to the beginning of the fifth yoke. As an extension of the two aisles, there was a staircase with fifteen steps up to the width of the aisles. There you came to the level of the transept and the choir. One can imagine the processions of pilgrims over one of the side aisles, up to the Holy of Holies and around the choir, past the numerous relics, which then led back down to the exit on the opposite side, but not without first having visited the lower church . From the third and fourth yokes of the side aisles and from the second yoke of the nave, stairs, perhaps five steps across the width of the yoke or the central nave, led to the intermediate level of the central nave, from yoke three to the beginning of yoke five. There it was about ten steps down the full width of the central nave and you were on the level of the lower church. There too there will have been processions in the crypt's choir.
The current level of the paved forecourt at the level of the floor of the upper church is about half a basement higher than the aisles and yoke two of the former nave.
The transept of the upper church
The remainder of the Romanesque church that remains today can be reached through the portals of the “modern” facade along the western transept wall. The rising crossing walls are supported by slightly pointed arches with stepped edges at the same height as the adjoining ships. On the western wall, which is closed except for the portal, the former arch is marked by an arcade-like setback of the wall surface. On this wall, the two crossing pillars are only preserved in small fragments. The two eastern bundles of crossing piers have been preserved in their original state. They have a cruciform angular core, on whose four arms "old" semicircular services are attached. They are crowned by bundles of capital with the same outlines, which are covered by sweeping angular fighters.
The trumpet dome, which is a bit higher than the apex of the crossing arches, is a 19th century reconstruction. This also applies to parts of the southern arm of the transept, which is illuminated through an arched window in the head wall. The arch between the extension of the southern ambulatory and the transept arm and its capitals are arranged slightly higher than those of the crossing.
The Romanesque chapel of the southern arm of the transept can be entered via a very narrow entrance. The floor plan consists of the semicircle of the apse and a short rectangle. The beginnings of its arch, consisting of a dome and a piece of barrel, are marked by a circumferential cantilever profile. A few centimeters below this is a four-arched blind arcade, made of double round profiles on three-quarter round columns. The capitals and contours are lavishly decorated with figural and vegetal ornamentation. In the two central arcade fields, somewhat smaller round arched windows are cut out with inwardly widened walls. The two outer arcade fields consist of the smooth masonry of the walls.
The former north arm of the transept was replaced by the corresponding storey of the late Gothic bell tower. A rectangular vestibule, which was created between the massive pillars of the tower, and an ogival passage lead into the central square room of the tower. On the east side of this room, an ogival passage opens to a hexagonal chapel between the east pillars. It is illuminated through three pointed arched windows with tracery in the flamboyant style. On the west side of the tower, a door leads into the spiral staircase to the upper floors of the tower. The three rooms of the tower are covered with ribbed vaults.
The former parlor choir of the upper church
The former Cluniac ambulatory choir has lost its function as a choir due to the later extension of a late Gothic choir and the associated removal of the choir apse and the central ambulatory chapel, and thus became an extension of the former nave, across the transept.
The structure and shape of the structural elements of the basilica naves and their elevation are almost identical to those of the former Cluniac nave. These are essentially the vaults, belt arches, dividing arches, pillars, pillar templates, services, capitals, transoms and their extension with cantilever profiles (see corresponding section above). However, the dimensions and proportions of the statically relevant building elements are smaller, caused by the significantly lower heights of the walls and pillars and the reduced widths of the yokes. The ships are divided into five bays, which are about half as wide as that of the former nave.
There are no blind arcades on the outer walls of the corridors between the services. The slender, arched window openings come much closer to the floor because of the lower height of the walkways compared to the nave. The garments are only slightly widened. The window sills are steeply sloping downwards across the width of the window openings. The openings are surrounded by single-stage archivolts at a distance. Their arches consist of wall-flush wedge stones that stand on round columns with capitals, spars and bases in recessed garments that close at the bottom at the level of the lower edge of the window opening. The capitals are carved, the transom profiles reach up against the structural services of the walls. An “ ox eye ” is arranged between the wedge-shaped apex of the archivolt arch of each window and the cantilever profile at the base of the arch .
The two chapels facing southeast and northeast are remnants of the former chapel wreath and each open with a round arch on semicircular services, with simple capitals, profiled warriors and bases. Its semi-dome vaults into a short piece of barrel and is separated from the walls below with a cantilever profile. The three arched windows have inwardly widened walls and no further decoration.
As an extension of the walls of the "central nave" to the east was built in the 14./15. In the 19th century, a new, almost square yoke, which was closed to the former passageways ending in front of the chapels, with new walls supported by slightly sharpened dividing arches. In the middle of this yoke was the choir apse and the four cruciform pillars supporting it. The yoke is covered by an eight-part ribbed vault.
The Gothic choir adjoins the same width to the east, initially with an almost square yoke, which is then closed by an apse with six corners. The side lancet windows in the choir bay are the largest in the whole church. Small ogival windows are located between the corners of the apse. All windows of the choir are equipped with late Gothic tracery in the flamboyant style. The choir bay and its apse are covered with cross ribbed vaults, with strong profiled ribs that merge into semicircular services on the walls and in the apse corners, on which the narrow profile of the rib underside is continued. The connections between the vaults and the walls are clad with pointed arches, the profile of which resembles the ribs of the vaults. These arcades, like the ribs, then merge into the services, including the continuation of the narrow profile part.
Saint-Eutrope, upper church, capitals, parlor choir
Saint-Eutrope, upper church, capitals, parlor choir, sirens
Saint-Eutrope, upper church, capital bunder crossing pillar, right Daniel
crypt
With the construction of the crypt, which is also known as the lower church because of its size and its altitude compared to the adjoining site, construction work on the major project began in the 11th century. The crypt originally reached below the ambulatory choir with chapels and transept. With the addition of a late Gothic choir extension to the upper church and the construction of the large tower almost at the same time, the corresponding modifications and extensions were also carried out in the basement. In contrast to the upper church, the ambulatory choir was kept functional and only the central ambulatory chapel was replaced with a larger one.
The lower church is entered via a side entrance on the north side of the lower floor of the tower, with almost the same floor plan as the upper floor. Behind it, an inclined plane leads down to the floor level of the crypt. This seemingly temporary access was created as a result of the demolition of the former nave and the subsequent closure of the transept.
The transept of the lower church is, apart from the tower extension, covered with groin vaults which are supported by huge girders. According to a floor plan of the lower church, almost all the pillars and wall pieces on the east side of the transept were probably considerably reinforced as early as the late Gothic period. This could also apply to the belt arches and parts of the vault. The former openings in the west wall of the transept were also walled up in the 19th century. A door leads into the cavities that remained when the former staircase was closed. There is a large arched niche in the front wall of the southern arm of the transept. Right next to it, in the southwest corner, three steps lead to a door, through which one could probably once climb to the convent buildings attached there or to the cloister . On the opposite side is the transept chapel, which receives natural light from two small windows.
Almost the same bulkiness and compactness of the structural members can be found in the ambulatory choir, especially emphasized by the low altitude of the capitals, which come very close to the viewer's field of vision. The bundles of pillars in the choir have a square core, which is preceded by three-quarter-circle "older" services on all four sides, each accompanied by "younger" services. Opposite the services pointing to the passageways you will find the same, but much higher reaching services, which are attached to wider rectangular pillar templates. The bundles of pillars in the choir apse are significantly smaller than those on the sides of the ambulatory choir. They have a square core with four three-quarter round services, between which the edges of the core protrude slightly.
The southern pillar bundles of the choir stand with their profiled bases on approximately 20 to 30 cm high profiled, but rectangular plinths whose outlines are slightly larger than the pillar bundles and whose contours follow. The bases of the northern pillar bundles stand on circular, disc-shaped plinths of approximately the same height, with profiled edges, the circumference of which slightly exceeds the pillar bundles. On the outer wall of the northern aisle, the templates and their services stand on an approximately 50 cm high base with a rounded edge that runs through the entire wall. Presumably it was used to offer the visitors seating. On the opposite, southern outer wall, the bench between the templates is narrower and protrudes from the alignment at the templates. The transitions of the projections are beveled. The bench is covered with a protruding plate. Some of the round bases of the templates are underlaid with rectangular plinths approximately 20 cm high .
The vaulting of the Romanesque choir consists of slightly pointed semicircular girders and groin vaults. In the area of the choir apse, four quarter-circle arches with right-angled undersides protrude from the capitals of the pillar bundles, until they meet at a point at the apex of the last belt arch of the Romanesque choir. The wedge stones of these arches are led through masonry in the same width to under the vault gussets at the height of the groin vault.
The barrels of the whorls rest on strong belt arches with three-quarter circular cross-sections. These are stilted semicircular arches, which are extended downwards vertically on the side walls and pillars to the unevenly high capitals. The equally high dividing arches (between the choir and the gallery) are stilted semicircular arches with a three-quarter circle cross-section, which, however, stand on two equally high capitals. This also applies to the very narrow separating arches between the choir apse and the gallery. In the semicircular part of the ambulatory, the semicircular stilted arches had to be deviated from in two cases. For the first two arches of the semicircular walkway, there is no support on the pier capitals on the inside. They managed to insert an asymmetrical quarter-circle arch there, which is supported on the choir apse against a divider arch.
The lower church is illuminated with two by six simple, arched windows in the outer walls of the corridors. Its walls are widened inwards, the window sills sloping steeply downwards.
The floor plans of the two surviving Romanesque chapels each consist of the semicircular apse and a short rectangular section, and they are accordingly vaulted with a dome and an attached piece of barrel. Your entrances from the corridor are framed with elevated, more sharply pointed arches with three-quarter circle cross-sections on services in the same equipment as those in the corridors. Only one of the three former small, arched windows with heavily flared walls is still open.
Almost all the bundles of pillars and individual services of the Romanesque lower church are crowned with archaic capitals, which are covered by expansive and particularly fat fighters. The capitals are just twice as high as the warriors are thick. The capitals in the transept, especially under the crossing, that were certainly once present, have disappeared due to subsequent alterations and reinforcements.
In the middle of the last yoke in front of the choir apse stands the unadorned sarcophagus with the inscription EUTROPIUS in an approximately 30 cm deep recess in the floor.
Crypt, half arch leaning against the choir apse
Crypt, pillar bundle choir apse
Crypt, pillar bundle choir apse
Crypt, courtyard
The sculpture of the capitals
The capitals and capitals of the lower church were almost all sculpted in the eighties of the 11th century, in the early days of Romanesque sculpture in the Saintonge. They stand on round columns and lead over to the right-angled fighters. The predominantly coarse sculpture shows exclusively leaf and bud ornaments. In some cases, simple, barely structured capital bodies only have sprouting and curling leaf tips at their upper corners. Other ornaments are delicately chased. About three quarters of their height, the profile of the fighters consists of a wide hollow, which supports a narrow, angular and wide profile.
The capitals and capital bundles of the upper church have two different styles. A distinction is essentially made between the capitals of the Romanesque ambulatory choir, which date from the early 12th century, and those in the transept, especially in the crossing, which were built around 1130. The first group still shows similarities with the simpler sculpture of the lower churches, but appear further developed, for example more generous and elegant, especially in the shaping of the details. There is almost only plant ornamentation, in a few cases one can also find figural sculpture, such as the representation of lions, winged four-legged friends and sirens. The contender profiles correspond to those of the capitals of the lower church.
The second group of capitals in the transept was created around 25 years later than that of the parlor choir and has no comparable sculptural elements. It marks the heyday of Romanesque sculpture in the Saintonge. The individual figures merge with the surrounding dense ornamental vegetation and thus become an ornament themselves. The warriors are as intricately ornamented as the capitals.
The following scenes and motifs can be recognized among others:
- The weighing of souls by the Archangel Michael , which the devil tries to falsify by pressing down a scale with a stick.
- Daniel in the lions' den , with hands raised in prayer.
- The king of Babylon sits on a throne and is surrounded by imploring people.
- A group of stooped people, each with one knee on the ground, carry lions on their shoulders, on which in turn large birds perch trying to bite the lions in the head.
- Several lions carry large birds that try to bite each other.
The quality of the sculptures in these capitals can be counted among the best in this building and in the region.
Crypt, bundle of capital
Crypt, bundle of capital
Crypt, bundle of capital
swell
- Thorsten Droste: DuMont art travel guide, Poitou, western France between Poitiers and Angoulême - the Atlantic coast from the Loire to the Gironde. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne, 1st edition 1999, ISBN 3-7701-4456-2
- WHC Nomination Documentation (PDF, 88.9 MB!), Application documents for the nomination as World Heritage, here: section "Saintes, Eglise Sainte-Eutrope"
Web links
Photos:
- http://chapiteaux.free.fr/Diapo_EUTROPEhaute.html
- http://route-romane.net/default.php?gzev=im_bk_391_3067
Images / French texts,
- http://architecture.relig.free.fr/jalbum/saintes_eutrope/
- http://www.bernezac.com/Saintes_eglise_saint_eutrope.htm
Coordinates: 45 ° 44 ′ 36 " N , 0 ° 38 ′ 29" W.