Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey

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South facade of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
St.-Germain-des-Prés 1687
Plan of the abbey according to Viollet-le-Duc

The former abbey and today's church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés ( French Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés [ abei də sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃ de pʁe ], Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés [ eɡliz də sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃ de pʁe ] ) is located in the Paris district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés named after her in the 6th arrondissement on Boulevard Saint-Germain, which is centrally located in the city center .

The first church building at this point was consecrated in 558. The abbey, which is largely destroyed today, also dates from this or the following century. The later name of the abbey and church goes back to the 8th century and refers to St. Germanus ( Saint Germain ), who was the 20th bishop of Paris from 550 to 576  .

The structure of today's church dates from the 11th to 17th centuries. Particularly noteworthy is the choir , which was consecrated in 1163 by Pope Alexander II . The wall paintings (19th century) are the work of Hippolyte Flandrin .

history

Already in Roman times there is said to have been an Isis temple with its own initiation cult at the site of the later church . The original church was built from 557 by Childebert I , a son of Clovis I , not far from the Île de la Cité to honor two relics that the Frankish king had captured in Saragossa . The church was therefore first dedicated to the Holy Cross and Saint Vincent of Saragossa ( Basilique Sainte-Croix et Saint-Vincent ). The later nickname of the Germanus Abbey indicates its location outside the city walls, on pastureland that was not yet developed at the time ( French les prés , the meadows ). During this time, the abbey served as the necropolis of several Frankish kings from the Merovingian line , before the current cathedral of Saint-Denis took over this role. Childebert I was the first king to be buried here in December 558 by Bishop Germanus of Paris .

In 576 Germanus himself was buried in a neighboring chapel before his bones were transferred behind the main altar of the church in 755 - in the course of his canonization  - by the Carolingian Pippin the Younger and his sons Karl and Karlmann . After the abbey, which is also known as Saint-Vincent-le-Doré because of its gilded roofs, aroused the greed of the Vikings in the 9th century , was plundered and burned down, it was rebuilt in the 10th century. In the meantime it had taken the name of St. Germanus and was henceforth Saint-Germain-des-Prés .

Large parts of the abbey were destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century, only the church and the abbot's palace on Rue Jacob , commissioned by the then Commendatar Abbot Cardinal Charles I. de Bourbon in 1586 , are still preserved today. The building with the military prison, the Prison de l'Abbaye , was only demolished in 1854.

In the church there is a permanent exhibition on the history of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

organ

View of the organ

The history of the organs goes back to the 15th century. In the course of time there were various instruments, u. a. an organ from 1667, installed in Saint-Eustache in 1798. Today's instrument goes back to an organ acquired in 1805, which was rebuilt in 1973 by the organ building company Haerpfer & Erman . The instrument has 56  registers on four manuals and a pedal . The playing and stop actions are mechanical.

I positive C – g 3
Montre 8th'
Bourdon 8th'
Prestant 4 ′
Flute 4 ′
Nasard 2 23
Duplicate 2 ′
Tierce 1 35
Larigot 1 13
Cornet III
Plein Jeu V
Trumpets 8th'
Cromorne 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
II Grand Orgue C-g 3
Montre 16 ′
Montre 8th'
Flûte à cheminée 8th'
Prestant 4 ′
Duplicate 2 ′
Fittings III
Mixture VIII
Voix humaine 8th'
III Récit expressif C – g 3
Viole 8th'
Celeste 8th'
Bourdon 8th'
Prestant 4 ′
Flute 4 ′
Flute 2 ′
Cornet V 8th'
Cymbals V
Bombard 16 ′
Trumpets 8th'
Basson-Hautbois 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
IV Bombarde C-g 3
Bourdon 16 ′
Bourdon 8th'
Flute 4 ′
Grande Tierce 3 15
Nasard 2 23
Fourth 2 ′
Tierce 1 35
Sifflet 1'
Cornet V 8th'
Bombard 16 ′
1st trumpet 8th'
2è trumpets 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
Pedale C – f 1
Flute 16 ′
Soubasse 16 ′
Fifth 10 23
Principal 8th'
Bourdon 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Mixture VIII
Bombard 16 ′
Trumpets 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
  • Pair : I / II, III / II, IV / II, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P

Abbots

Priors

Funerals

In the previous building, Saint-Vincent-Sainte-Croix, the following were buried:

The following were buried in Saint-Germain-des-Prés:

literature

  • Julia Droste-Hennings, Thorsten Droste: Paris . DuMont, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-7701-6090-8 , pp. 238-240
  • Heinfried Wischermann: Architecture Guide Paris . Gerd Hatje, Ostfildern 1997, ISBN 3-7757-0606-2 , p. 25
  • Dieter Kimpel, Robert Suckale : The Gothic architecture in France 1130-1270 . Hirmer, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7774-4040-X , pp. 123-125, 528-530

Web links

Commons : Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. More information about the organ at musiqueorguequebec.ca .
  2. Depoin, Joseph: Essai sur la chronologie des évêques de Paris de 768 à 1138 (Bulletin historique et philologique du comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques), Paris 1906, p. 17.

Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 14 "  N , 2 ° 20 ′ 4"  E