St-Germain-l'Auxerrois (Paris)
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The parish church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois is an important late Gothic church in Paris , 1st arrondissement . It was the court church of the former royal palace ( Louvre ) and grave church for numerous artists employed at the court. Its bell tower forms the starting point of the great Parisian axis ( called Ax historique in French ) to the west. Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois is dedicated to Saint Germanus , formerly Bishop of Auxerre in Burgundy (not to be confused with Saint Germanus of Paris , patron saint of the city and the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés ). Since September 1, 2019, the Church of St-Germain-l'Auxerrois has been taking over the services of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, which has been damaged by fire since April 15, 2019 and thus also serves as the provisional episcopal church of the Archdiocese of Paris .
history
A baptistery is said to have stood on the site of this church in the 6th century , in which the pagan soldiers of Clovis were to be baptized after he himself had accepted the Christian faith in 498. However, this first suspected structure was destroyed by the Normans. In the 11th century a church is said to have been built here, which has been rebuilt several times until today. In the 15th century, the building was almost completely renewed, especially the transept and the nave. So we are dealing here with mixed Gothic forms of various kinds.
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The church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois does not have a uniform architectural style, rather it comes from different epochs, but still appears remarkably uniform. When the Valois court moved from the Île de la Cité to the Louvre in the 14th century , it became the preferred church of kings. After the revolution of 1789, it was therefore used as a barn for a long time - as a kind of sanction for the revolutionaries against royalty.
Built from 1425, the basic concept of the church still goes back to the Notre-Dame church, which is almost 300 years older , as a five-aisled basilica with an aligned transept and double ambulatory. The building ornamentation consists of rich flamboyant . The vestibule, which was blinded from 1435–39, is typically Burgundian and reflects the culture bloom that began in Burgundy at the time.
Most striking about Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois is the basilica's second tower, built in 1863 by Théodore Ballu and restored in 1998. The building to the left of this free-standing campanile-like bell tower does not belong to the church, but is the town hall for the 1st arrondissement. The first and lower bell tower of the church with a Romanesque base from the 12th century, on the other hand, is hidden in the gusset between the south transept and the choir of the church.
The vestibule dates from around 1435–39; however, the portal was built around 1230. At this time, a completely new type of sculpture with much livelier motifs was developed for the transept portals in Chartres. The Paris portal is therefore not entirely up to date and rather corresponds to a more conservative taste. From the many uniform details such as faces or folds of clothing, it can be seen that this is a fading and repetitive style phase.
The highest quality statues of the church are in the interior, especially the former Trumeau figure of the west portal, St. Germanus from around 1230. These sculptures show a new sensitivity that will characterize the history of sculpture in the coming decades. To protect it from the elements, the figure was brought into the interior and replaced by a 19th century Mother of God.
You can also see from the interior that there must have been conversions here. The two-zone wall elevation has no triforium . This two-zone structure was typical of the late Gothic.
On February 14, 1831, a commemorative mass was held in St-Germain for the Duke of Berry , who was murdered eleven years earlier and a symbol of the Restoration . This led to a violent mass protest, in the course of which the interior of the church was devastated and the building was damaged. St-Germain then remained closed for a few years and demolition was considered. Finally, a thorough restoration began (1838–1855 by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Victor Baltard ) - not always to the benefit of the building. For example, a northern defensive tower was added so that it can be referred to as “fantasy Gothic”. In 1867 the painter Claude Monet created the cityscape The Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois .
organ
The organ comes from the palace chapel in Paris and was built in 1771 by the organ builder François-Henri Clicquot . The instrument was placed on the west gallery in Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in 1791, where it survived the turmoil of the Revolution. Today it has 32 registers on three manuals and a pedal . The playing and register actions are mechanical.
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- Coupling : I / II, III / II, I / P, II / P
The choir organ was built in 1838 by the organ builder Abbey. The instrument has 12 registers on two manuals and a pedal. The key actions and stop actions are mechanical, the action of the pedal is pneumatic.
Significance for French history
The church plays an ambiguous role in French history inasmuch as its bells are said to have rung in the slaughter of St. Bartholomew's Night. After the marriage of Henry of Navarre, later Henry IV (1553–1610) , to Marguerite de Valois , sister of the reigning king, the Huguenots who were still present in Paris because of the wedding were massacred on August 24, 1572 after this bell rang. 4,000 festival guests were killed and another 20,000 in the subsequent persecution. This so-called "Parisian Blood Wedding" has been filmed several times, particularly dramatically in 1994 by Patrice Chéreau in the two-hour epic Bartholomew Night .
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.notredamedeparis.fr/ , accessed on September 20, 2019.
- ↑ Guillaume de Bertier de Sauvigny describes the events in detail: Mgr de Quélen et les incidents de Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois en février 1831 . In: Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France. Band 32/120, 1946. pp 110-120 ( digitized. In: Persée . Retrieved on 29 January 2020 . )
- ↑ More information about the organ (English, French)
Web links
- Église Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- St-Germain-l'Auxerrois (Paris). In: Structurae
Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 34 " N , 2 ° 20 ′ 28" E