St-Jean (Glaine-Montaigut)
The village church of Saint-Jean , dedicated to Saint John ( French Saint-Jean ), is located in the small French community of Glaine-Montaigut in the Puy-de-Dôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region . It is 25 km east of Clermont-Ferrand and 6 km northeast of Billom.
The small three-aisled church was built in two construction periods. The first comprised the nave and transept and can be dated to the beginnings of the Romanesque period in the first half of the 11th century. The second construction period, the choir head, followed a hundred years later in the heyday of the Romanesque period. The Saint-Jean church has been classified as a Monument historique since July 11, 1903 .
History
Development of place names
The present village Glaine-Montaigut said in Gallo-Roman era Glannius , in the 11th century Gladinas , in the 16th century Gleygnes , in the 18th century de St-Jean Glanes , it was in the time of the revolution Glaine-Montaigut with by merging the village of Montaigut, which is 2 km above the town center. You can still see important ruins of the Château Montaigut-Listenoi, the former ancestral seat of a large family that had great influence in the Middle Ages.
History of the village church
The Saint-Jean church was built in two different construction periods. The first from the nave with a basilica elevation and the transept with crossing in the early Romanesque, in the first quarter of the 11th century and the second from the choir head, at the beginning of the 12th century, in the high Romanesque.
These two epochs in the Auvergnatian Romanesque can be studied right next to each other in one building and compared with one another. The early Romanesque section is characterized by simple and clear component forms, such as angular pillars with cross-shaped cross-sections that are only closed by fighters, simple right-angled component edges, for example in arcades and belt arches, vaults with simple barrels and domes , and an almost complete lack of sculptural decoration . In contrast, in the High Romanesque section there are heaped pillars , partially round services and round bars adorned with carved capitals, component edges are resolved with setbacks, apse walls are structured on pillars with blind arcades , vaults are given cross ridges .
On the outside, the early Romanesque section consists of partially plastered small-format quarry stone masonry with component edges made of larger ashlar, whereas the high-Romanesque section is completely exposed to stone (unplastered) of large-format ashlar .
Whether the nave and transept had a simpler choir head in the early Romanesque style in the first hundred years is not unlikely, but it has not been proven. A rarity in this epoch is the basilica elevation (section) of the nave with direct exposure of the central nave to a church in the Auvergne. This bold lifting of the central ship buoy, opposite the side half-tonnage, to install windows is the absolute exception here and is one of the first attempts by the builders in Limagne . A second example is known for Beaumont .
The trumpet dome of the crossing belongs to the first construction period of the early 11th century. In any case, it protruded over the roofs of the transept, which required an external enclosure by raising the crossing walls and roofing. It is not known whether a bell tower already existed over the crossing at that time , but it appears to be rather unlikely. It is possible that the crossing walls were first brought up just above the dome and covered with a gently sloping pyramid roof.
The external decorations, above all the eaves cornices on chipboard bricks and the cornice band with a simple scroll frieze running around the entire choir, are works of the second construction period. The carved eaves cornices of the ships and the roller friezes on the transverse and nave gables of the 100 years older parts of the building were retrofitted in the 12th century.
The plaster painting of the fresco on the dome of the choir apse is also dated to the 12th century, as is a polychrome version of various parts of the building, of which only small remains have survived.
The bell tower, which was destroyed during the French Revolution , was probably also a work of the High Romanesque era. One can only speculate about the former appearance of the bell tower. As with some of the remaining or faithfully restored crossing towers in the vicinity, one could imagine an octagonal two-storey tower on a square base, with windows on all sides with arcades or twin arcades and a helmet in the form of an octagonal pyramid . Example: bell tower of the Abbey Church of St-André de Lavaudieu (see picture). However, a bell tower with a completely square (rectangular) floor plan can also be assumed. Example: Bell tower of the ND-de-Châtel-Montagne Abbey (see picture).
There are no references in the sources about the historical development of the church and the parish in the following centuries. Probably in the late Gothic era (1350–1520), two windows on the south wall in the first yoke and in the transept arm were enlarged and decorated in the Gothic style.
The first significant change to the church is known to have occurred in the years after the French Revolution (1789), namely the destruction of the bell tower over the crossing towards the end of the 18th century, as happened in the Auvergne in numerous church buildings.
The "reconstruction" of the bell tower that took place in the 19th century does not even come close to meeting the aesthetic demands of the Auvergnatian crossing bell towers of the High Romanesque period. Further buildings from the 19th century are the staircase to the bell tower and the sacristy annex to the southern transept chapel.
In 1889 the church was expanded to meet the needs of an agricultural school with a large “porch porch”, which consisted of gray masonry and thus largely covered its facade and significantly distorted the building. Why it came to such an "external" expansion is not clear from the sources.
Today, the almost complete removal of all interior cladding made of plaster, lime, stone and top layers of paint at the beginning of the 20th century is considered to be the worst distortion and destruction. Then the raw surfaces were coated with an unusually hard cement plaster, the dense surface of which trapped the moisture in the components. This unspeakable work was made possible posthumously by a generous donation from a parishioner . As a result of the destruction, extensive traces of the component surfaces were raffled off. The only exception to this is the fresco in the dome of the choir apse.
On July 11, 1903, Saint-Jean was classified by Glaine-Montaigut as a Historic Monument.
In the last decade of the 20th century, thorough and extensive restoration work was carried out inside and outside the village church.
Chronology of the restoration work:
- 1988 and 1990: planning and coordination of future restoration work.
- 1991: Restoration of the bell tower and dismantling of the porch.
- 1992 and 1993: Restoration agreements on the masonry
- 1994 to 1995: Removal of the cement plaster, application of a new soft lime plaster with a coating of milk of lime, completion of the nave and transept
- 1995: Restoration of the windows, renewal of the electrical system, restoration of the polychromy on the basis of the rare updated traces, using traditional pigments and binders
- 1996–97: Restoration of the choir and chapels
Building
Dimensions
(approximately, measured from the plan and extrapolated from the portal width = 2.0 m)
- Total length (without templates): 28.5 m
- Total width (without templates): 14.5 m
- Length of nave and transept: 17.5 m
- Outside width of central nave: 6.3 m
- Inner width of the central nave: 4.8 m
- Inner nave length: 10.0 m
- Choir length outside: 11.5 m
- Choir length inside: 10.0 m
- Length of chapels outside: 5.0 m
Outward appearance
Longhouse
Outwardly, the nave is characterized by the basilical gradation of the central nave to the significantly lower side aisles, which allows direct exposure of the central nave with cliff windows, a rarity in the early Romanesque style of Auvergne. It is divided into three naves and two yokes. Its rectangular floor plan is significantly shorter in the longitudinal direction of the church than in its transverse direction.
The outer walls of the nave are made of natural stone masonry made of simple field stones or quarry stones of smaller formats of different colors in an irregular bond. The wall surfaces were mostly covered with a simple light beige wall plaster that was pulled over the protruding stones of the masonry. As a result, natural stones remained visible in the plastered area individually or in groups. Component edges, opening surrounds and entire wall or buttress pillars are made of large-format ashlar stones.
The central nave is covered with a 20 degree pitched gable roof, the side aisles with monopitch roofs of the same inclination. The roofs are covered with red hollow tiles in Roman style, which are also called monk-nun tiles . The wide, projecting eaves consist of sturdy cornice panels with broadly bevelled visible edges, which are placed on carefully carved chipboard bricks. The eaves lie on the cornice panels, protrude just above their outer edge and are mortared flush with this on the underside. The rainwater drips freely from the eaves tiles.
In the outer walls of the aisles and the central nave, the two bays are divided by rectangular wall pillars that reach under the eaves. In each yoke of the central nave and the side aisles, a small, slender and arched window is cut out in the middle with right-angled reveal edges . Their parapets lie in the side aisle walls about half the height of the wall, those of the central aisle just above the pent roof ridges. An exception to this is the window in the yoke in one of the south aisle. In the Gothic era, it was significantly enlarged into a window with a pointed arch, adorned with outwardly widened walls and Gothic tracery in the form of a half quatrefoil .
In the yoke of one of the side aisle walls, massive buttresses (also buttress walls) with a right-angled floor plan were added at full wall height , directly next to the overhanging facade wall. The outside of the pillars recede continuously upwards, their tops are less steeply sloping outwards. The time of its construction is not known, but it is likely to have occurred in or after the 12th century.
The facade (west wall) of the nave is divided vertically into three sections, corresponding to the inner nave division, the middle one is slightly wider than the two side aisles, the subdivision is made by two wall pillars at right angles in the floor plan, which reach up to the height of the pent roof ridge of the side aisles, and approximately have setbacks in one third of their heights (are "removed"). Their tops and backs are bevelled steeply. The façade wall, which is sloping at the top in the incline of the roof surfaces, clearly protrudes beyond the roof surfaces connected to it. The facade wall also protrudes on both sides over the side walls of the ships and just conceals their protruding eaves. The sloping upper sides of the facade wall are covered with flat stone slabs that protrude slightly on the outside and are decorated with simple roller friezes. The first gable is crowned by a stone square cross, with a circular center and wide-spread arms that are decorated with plant motifs. These crosses, reminiscent of the Knights Templar 's paw cross , are often found in Romanesque churches in Auvergne, such as the Notre-Dame-du-Port de Clermont-Ferrand collegiate church .
The middle section of the facade closes off the central nave to the west. In its central axis there are two openings, the main portal and high above, at the level of the wall pillar ends, a round-arched window, the wedge-shaped arch of which is surrounded by a cantilevered cornice, which swings horizontally outwards at the height of the arches and extends to the wall pillars. It is decorated with a double scroll frieze. The two-winged main portal has a rectangular door opening, which is covered by a simple monolith, which is slightly bevelled on both sides in the shape of a gable roof. It is covered by a semicircular arch made of wedge stones, the arch field of which jumps back slightly without structure. The wedge arch is framed by a profiled cantilever profile. The two completely closed, level side panels of the facade close off the side aisles.
The architectural decorative elements such as the formation of the eaves made of cornice panels on planed chipboard bricks or the cornices made of roller friezes were only added to the originally unadorned nave, together with the erection of the choir head. In the upper right corner of the main portal there is a sculpture of a woman tending to two sheep.
Transept with crossing and bell tower
The transept was built together with the nave in the first construction period, but without the bell tower over the crossing, which was destroyed at the end of the 18th century. The surfaces of the outer walls and component edges therefore correspond almost exactly to those of the nave. The latter also applies to the formation of the eaves, the roofing and its inclinations, and the verges of the gable walls.
Although the transept arms do not exceed the width of the nave, this part of the building can be seen from the outside as a transept that locks the nave to the east. Above all, the significant elevation of the transept arms compared to the side aisles, the transverse position of their roofs and eaves and their north and south gable walls contribute to this. However, the roof height remains well below that of the central nave. On the gable of the north arm of the transept, the original small round-arched window, which corresponds to the windows of the aisles, is still preserved. On the gable of the southern arm of the transept, the formerly identical window was later enlarged and changed to a pointed arch window with Gothic tracery. It corresponds roughly to the window in the first yoke. It was, however, shifted somewhat from the central axis to the east. On the south gable there is a single-winged door on the eastern edge and high up in the middle under the gable corridors there is a slit-like rectangular window that is reminiscent of a loopholes . As an extension of the western and eastern walls of the transept arms, there are rectangular wall pillars in the floor plan that reach the height of the eaves of the side aisles and chapels that adjoin here.
The bell tower above the crossing is a rather makeshift replacement of the bell tower destroyed in the revolution, which was very likely built in the high Romanesque of the early 12th century. It stands on the same slightly rectangular plan of the previous tower base. This is rectangular because its eastern outline is on the outer edge of the eastern crossing arcade, which was significantly widened with the erection of the choir head. This is not least a testimony to the fact that the previous crossing bell tower dates from the same era as the entire choir head.
The outside of the bell tower consists of two slightly rectangular "floors" of the same outline, which are separated from one another by a strong, projecting cantilevered cornice. The lower basement level protrudes far beyond the ridge of the nave and is evenly closed on all sides. Just above the adjoining roof surfaces of the transept arms, the wall surfaces of the tower base merge seamlessly with those of the nave walls. About a meter below the above-mentioned cornice, on the north and south sides, slightly eccentric, are walled in a widely projecting horse's head with a long neck, which acts as a gargoyle . Both drain driving rain that has penetrated from the floor of the bell chamber at this height . Above the cantilevered cornice, two equally wide, roughly two meter high wall sections protrude at the tower edges, which are connected to each other at right angles. A flat inclined pyramid-shaped roof construction, the rafters of which protrude slightly at the eaves, covers the tower and is covered with the same red hollow tiles as the other roofs. The tower ridge is decorated with a simple metal cross, the arms of which are shaped like spearheads . The openings remaining on all sides between the wall pieces are filled with sound lamellas. The stone material of the bell tower masonry and its component corners is very similar to that of the nave and transept and is plastered that way.
The bell chamber was opened up with a staircase in connection with the renovation of the bell tower. On the gable of the north arm of the transept, a stair tower was built on the ground plan of a square, which is placed diagonally with one edge against the wall and connected to it. It hides a spiral staircase that leads up a good distance over the roof of the transept. A narrow, freely stretched staircase connects the exit of the stair tower with the door in the bell tower. The lower access to the stair tower is from the north arm of the transept via a door in the outer wall.
Gallery transept with crossing tower
Transept eaves, chipboard crags
Masonry transept gable
Stair tower u. Bell tower from NW
Gargoyles in the bell tower, south wall
Choir head including transept chapels
The three-part, well-proportioned choir head (choir with apse and chapels flanking it) is an extension of the division into three naves. The entire choir head was made of large-format stone made of predominantly light, veined arkose in warm tones, which ranges from almost white to dark brown-red. The outer walls of the choir head stand all around on a strongly protruding base, which is bevelled on the top and follows the protrusions of the pillars with their own protrusions. The upper layers of the foundation, which protrudes further, are exposed under the base.
On the eaves of the choir head, corbels with figure sculptures have occasionally been built in instead of the planed chipboard. For example: a woman breastfeeds her child, a man pulls his hair, monkeys, a pig's head.
The surfaces of the side walls of the elongated choir yoke are in extension of those of the side walls of the crossing. The choir bay is covered by a gently sloping gable roof with a slope, roofing and eaves formation as in the central nave. However, a narrow strip of cornice, which is partially decorated with a simple roller frieze, still runs beneath the chippings. The ridge of the choir yoke is crowned by a stone roof ridge, presumably reconstructed here, reminiscent of Merovingian or Carolingian wickerwork, as can be found in several churches in the Auvergne. The height of its eaves corresponds to that of the transept arms. It ends in the east with a semicircular choir apse of the same width, which is covered by a gently sloping conical roof about one meter lower. Its roofing, inclination and eaves design correspond to those of the choir bay. The choir apse and choir bay are separated by an inner arcade, the wall of which protrudes as a pillar on the outside and the gable roof towers over the same slope. The sloping top of this wall is covered with cantilevered panels, the edge of which is decorated with a simple scroll frieze. The gable ridge is crowned by a stone square cross, similar to the one on the nave gable. Underneath the ridge of the wall, a small round-arched window is cut out, the wedge-shaped arch of which is encompassed by a cantilevered cornice, which is decorated with a simple roller frieze that swings horizontally outwards on both sides at the level of the arches.
The rounded part of the apse wall is divided into three equally wide sections by two rectangular pillars. In each of these sections a round-arched window is cut out about halfway up the wall, the wedge-shaped arch of which is enclosed by a cantilever cornice decorated with a simple scroll frieze. This profile swings horizontally outwards at the level of the arches in order to enclose the entire choir head with the chapels with their pillars and other windows. The wedge arch is covered with an incrustation of stone slab in the colors of the masonry. Wedges are imitated, the outer ends of which are pointed. Panels of a different color are inserted into the triangular spaces that have been created.
The choir bay is flanked by two transept chapels, each consisting of an almost square bay and an internally semicircular apse, of which only a quarter circle remains on the outside. The yokes are covered by flat pitched pent roofs, the roofs of which remain a little under the eaves of the choir yoke. The roofs of the apses in the form of equally inclined quarters of cones remain slightly below the height of the monopitch roofs. As with the choir, the yokes and the apses of the chapels are separated from each other by arcades on the inside, on which walls stand that protrude sideways as pillars from the walls of the chapels and protrude above the pent roofs of the yokes at the same incline. The eaves, roof coverings, their inclinations and the decoration of the partition walls correspond to those of the choir. The same applies to the windows and their decoration. The rounded walls of the apses are divided into two sections by a wall pillar, of which only the eastern one contains a window. Another window can be found on the outer side walls of the chapel yokes.
In the 19th century, a small, almost square sacristy was added to the southern transept chapel, which is covered by a gently sloping hipped roof and has the same tile roofing as the church. The walls are made of natural stone masonry of a similar color in an irregular bond and are partially plastered. Its west wall meets the eastern wall pillar with the southern transept wall, its east wall meets the closed section of the apse curvature. There is a door connection between the sacristy and the Kapellenjoch. Two rectangular windows are left open in the south wall of the sacristy.
Gallery choir head
Choir head u. Bell tower of SO
Eaves choir head from S
south transept chapel from SO
Masonry choir head made of arkose
Interior
Longhouse
The interior of the nave is divided into three naves and two yokes. The central nave is significantly wider than the side aisles. The first yoke is a little shorter than the second. The subdivision of the aisles is done by strong partition walls, which stand on arcades with semicircular arches in each yoke. The subdivision of the yokes in the side aisles and those to the transept arms take on about the same width transverse walls on arched arcades. The central nave is not divided. The arcade arches stand on the outer walls on pillars with a rectangular plan, under the partition walls on strong pillars with a cruciform plan, which are missing the arm between yokes 1 and 2 on the central nave side. The arch approaches are marked by strong fighter profiles, the lower edge of which is wide bevelled. The altitude of the fighters differs. The bulkheads of the partition walls have the lowest height, those of the transverse walls in the side aisles are significantly higher. Somewhere in between are the fighters in the arcade between the nave and the crossing.
The side aisles are covered by half barrel vaults, the apex of which touches the partition wall. Their vaults emerge seamlessly from the walls at about the height of the fighter. In the outer walls of the aisles, a small, arched window is recessed centered in each yoke, the walls of which are slightly widened inward. Only in the first yoke of the south aisle is a larger ogival window installed and decorated with Gothic tracery.
In the upper area of the partition walls, a round-arched upper aisle window is cut out in the middle of each yoke, which roughly corresponds to that of the aisles. Its parapet is less than a meter above the apex of the arcade. The semicircular barrel vault of the central nave begins just above the apex of the upper cladding windows. Here you can see the unusual and special boldness of the construction for the early Romanesque period in the Auvergne. The upper partition between the vaulting of the central nave and the apex of the half tons of the side aisles is relatively high and is broken through by windows in the upper aisle. In addition, there is no belt arch support for the vault or wall pillars between the yokes.
In the west wall is the two-wing main portal with a rectangular door opening, which is covered by a recessed semicircular arch field. Further up, an arched window with an inwardly widened wall provides the central nave with the yellowish light of the low-lying sun in the late afternoon.
The arcade in the crossing wall has a slightly stilted arch. Shortly above the apex of the arch is the parapet of a twin arcade, which is covered by two semicircular arches that stand together in the middle on a short pillar with a carved capital and a profiled fighter plate. The outer arch approaches are marked with a fighter profile
Gallery longhouse
upper crossing wall in the central nave
Central nave, south wall, south side aisle, yokes 2 u. 1
south aisle from yoke 1
Crossing wall from the south aisle
Transept with crossing
The floor plan of the transept takes on the width of the aisles and in the transept arms the size of the second bays of the aisles. The crossing is almost square on the inside, it is enclosed to the transept arms and the central nave by almost equally large arched arcades, above which twin arcades open, as one is described in the previous paragraph. Towards the choir, a much higher round-arched arcade rises up than a triumphal arch, the wall of which does not allow any further opening. The reveal width of this arch is made up of the original arcade arch and that of the later added choir head. The pillars supporting the triumphal arch also consist of the old angular pillar and the later added one, made of a square core, the three free sides of which are clad with old semicircular services. The arcades in the two east transept walls correspond to those in the transverse walls of the aisles. The transept arms are covered with barrel vaults placed across the church axis. In the gable wall of the north arm of the transept, a round-arched window, like those in the adjoining aisle, and a door to the stair tower are cut out. In the gable wall of the south arm of the transept, a larger ogival window is installed, which corresponds to the one in the first yoke of the south aisle, and an additional south portal. There is a slit-like rectangular window high up.
The crossing still has the original vault with a trumpet dome high up. In the corners of the crossing square, horizontally triangular panels are inserted, which are covered by small arched arcades. The octagonal outline created in this way merges into the dome vault, barely recognizable.
Gallery transept with crossing
North wall of the crossing and transept arm
Trumpet dome, triumphal arch below
Crossing, left triumphal arch
Crossing and north transept arm
Choir head with transept chapels
The choir head begins beyond the original arcades in the east transept walls. Half of the triumphal arch to the choir belongs to the original crossing and to the choir head added 100 years later. The difference between the original angular crossing pillars is particularly striking, to which the first pillars of the choir bay were built, which consist of square cores and three-sided semicircular old services, which are equipped with carved capitals and profiled fighters. With them the choir begins on the ground plan of a long rectangular choir bay, to which the choir apse adjoins, consisting of a short rectangular section and a semicircle. The choir yoke is covered by a barrel vault, which still connects well above the triumphal arch to the greatly widened crossing wall.
The choir yoke tapers again at its eastern end to about the size of the triumphal arch. Here an arcade stands on quarter-round services in projections on the wall, which are crowned with carved capitals and profiled fighter plates. Above it rises a head wall on a semicircular arch, which is decorated on the front with three semicircular profile bars. Above that, a small, arched window is cut out, with the walls widening inwards. On the underside, the arcade arches into a short piece of barrel vault and continues into the semi-dome-shaped apse dome. At its lower edge, the vault connects to the inner wall surface of the choir apse. In this curved wall, three wider and two narrow blind arcades are recessed above a parapet that is not entirely circumferential, the arches of which stand on a total of six slender columns with carved capitals and profiled fighters and bases. The arches are all stilted (vertical arch approaches above the fighter line), the larger less, the slender much more, so that all arches (highest point of an arch) are on the same level. The three wider arcade niches contain arched windows with inwardly flared walls.
The choir yoke is flanked on both sides by a transept chapel. Its floor plan consists of a slightly rectangular yoke and a semicircular apse. The chapel bays are accessed from the transept arms through arched arcades. They are also connected to the choir bay through slimmer round arched arcades with arches, the reveal edges of which are dissolved in setbacks, on semicircular services equipped with carved capitals and profiled fighters. The yokes are covered with groin vaults.
The chapel apses open with an arcade of slender quarter-round columns in front of wall projections, which are equipped as above. They carry the arch of the apse vault, which has a smooth front. The edge of the hemisphere of the apse merges directly into the rounded inner wall surface of the apse. As with the choir apse, blind arcades are recessed over the parapet, which is not completely encircling, one wider and two slender ones. Their stilted arches with equally high tops stand on four pillars, which are equipped as above. In the middle blind arcade, a round arched window is left out, with walls widening inwards. Round-arched windows are recessed on the outer walls of the chapel bays, which are surrounded by blind arcades with slender columns, which are equipped as above.
Gallery choir head
Choir apse from Chorjoch
north chapel, apse
Chorjoch from crossing
south chapel, apse
Capitals inside
Only in the area of the choir head, including its chapels, are services and columns with carved capitals and profiled fighters and bases. Some of them still show the remains of an originally colored version. At least 34 capitals are counted there, mostly with figurative sculptures, on which scenes are depicted, which often find their counterparts in the artistic art of the Romanesque in the Auvergne.
Here are some examples of capital motifs:
- Two sheep-bearers (good shepherds, carrying lost sheep on their shoulders)
- Two sirens with a split tail ending in leafy tendrils
- A marguerite blossom in lush foliage, in the middle of which is the face of a man with an open mouth
- Two centaurs : with a human torso on a horse, gripping winding tendrils
- Two men are struggling to carry a huge grape in the land of Canaan
- Two crouching monkeys with a flower between them
- Two bearded human heads protrude from the tangle of plants, they feed two birds with their mouths with their beaks stretched upwards
- Two griffins drink together from a goblet.
- Two atlases squatting with legs apart
- Three eagles with outspread wings
- Two birds in the foliage are about to take off
- Two people raise their legs in a lush vegetation
Gallery capitals
Capital, Centaurs in tendrils
Capital, crouching atlases
Capital, birds, fed by people
Capital, sirens
Capital, griffins drink from a chalice
Capital, person in vines
Capital, birds start from leaves
Capital, shaft support
Polychrome decoration of the interiors
Fresco of the choir apse
Of the few traces of the polychrome framing of the inner component surfaces, which left their radical removal at the beginning of the 20th century, the almost completely preserved painting of the dome vault above the choir apse in the early 12th century should be mentioned. Today's fresco is the result of a recent restoration in the last years of the 20th century.
The medieval depiction is a Deësis (also called Deisis ), which denotes Jesus sitting in judgment on Judgment Day, with Mary on his right hand and John the Baptist on his left ( Tribunal celeste = divine judgment). The Deësis forms the core of the iconostasis in Orthodox churches . If the representation of the intercession is limited to these three central figures, one speaks of a little Deësis . In a large deësis , the core group is flanked by other saints and angels in pleading attitudes.
In this depiction, Jesus is seated on a stone throne facing the viewer in a wide red robe . His head, which is barely noticeable, is backed with a cross nimbus . He has raised his right hand in a gesture of blessing with his thumb, index and middle finger outstretched. His left hand takes hold of the Book of Life , which he holds erect over his thigh. It is flanked on both sides by two standing people who are shown on a smaller scale. All can be recognized by their nimben as saints who are slightly bent over to Christ. Maria is the only one whose facial features and hairstyle are clearly visible, as is the folds of the upper part of her red, foot-length robe. Her pleading attitude is shown with a moving gesture of her outstretched hands. A similar attitude shows exactly towards John the Baptist, whose head and the lower parts of the robe are no longer preserved. Behind him is obviously St. Peter , who can be recognized by his attributes , the keys to heaven . His entire upper body is no longer preserved except for the outline, as is the lower part of his robe. The person behind Maria is also not preserved and not known except for its outline and some color tones. The entire background between the people is a darker blue sky. Parallel to the arcade arch, a simple red band delimits this sky to the choir bay. Larger parts of the fresco at the lower edge of the dome are no longer preserved. However, there are delicate hints of lines and contours on the white plaster background that outline the positions of the feet and the lower folds of the robes. Such Deësis representations, originally made in Byzantium , have been known and widespread since the 11th century. However, this theme is very rarely represented in the Auvergne Romanesque era.
Color in the rest of the interior of the church
It is very likely that the church received its polychromy inside at the beginning of the 12th century . In the first phase of construction, at the beginning of the 11th century, there were no colored versions of the structural members. Unfortunately, apart from a few remains, there is hardly any evidence of this polychromy from the 12th century. The church only regained its present-day, lush colors with its restoration towards the end of the 20th century.
In one wall of the side aisles, a small section of an arch has been preserved, which shows the original multicolored painting with masonry dummy and a small flower. In addition to black boundary lines on a white background, the colors yellow and red-brown appear.
The background color of the interior is that of the light milk of lime, almost white with a slight bluish tendency. The strong colors of the decorations were applied to this surface. Main colors are yellow, red-brown, light gray and black. In the naves, component edges, arcade reveals and window frames are mainly decorated in color. The edges of the arcade arches in the septum and lateral crossing walls are painted with imitations of wedge stones, alternating yellow and reddish brown. The joints remain white. The gaps remaining on the inside of the arches are painted with various elaborate decorative ribbons, in jagged and wavy shapes, often very delicate, in black, red-brown and white. The vertical edges of the pillars under the arches are decorated with stone blocks, in the same color as the wedge stones, but in larger formats. Narrow stones alternate with wide stones on the reveal sides. The transverse edges of the arcades, like those of the aisles, the transept arms and the crossing, show similar stone imitations, but alternating in black and light gray. Here, too, the spaces between the stones on the inside of the arch reveals are again adorned with various decorative ribbons. The arched windows of the side aisles, transept arms and upper aisles are painted on the walls and around the edges with imitation stone, alternating in yellow and reddish brown. At the vertical edges, the stones change in width and simulate a wall bond. The edges of the twin windows in the crossing walls are also painted with imitation stone, yellow and red on the side walls and black and light gray on the wall facing the central nave. The fighters are marked yellow on the side walls and the window sills are marked as black bars. On the wall to the central nave, the fighters and the windowsill are reddish brown.
Beyond the separation of the transept from the choir head, the chapel yokes and the choir yoke are kept almost entirely in white. Only the capitals show traces of older colored versions. In the apses themselves one can find stronger colors again.
In the choir apse under the rim of the dome, the wall surfaces between the arches are still white. However, the reveals of the blind arcades, the arcade backgrounds and the window frames are painted with the pattern of a masonry connection with simple double lines. The capital sculpture is colored red in its depths, as well as the upper edge of the fighter plates, the echina and the bases.
The domes of the chapel apses are covered on a white background with a decoration of evenly distributed small flowers, made of yellow circular centers, each surrounded by five round, dark blue petals. The flowers are surrounded by a tangle of twisted dark blue stems that are occasionally decorated with leaf buds. The blind arcades of the chapel apses are painted with yellow and red-brown stones and wedge stones. As in the choir apse, the arcade background and the window frames are painted with the pattern of a masonry bond. The capital sculpture is colored red in its depths, the pillars also red.
Inventory, equipment
Sculpture, St. Michael
Sculpture, Virgin Immaculata
Sculpture, saint. Heart of jesus
literature
- Bernard Craplet: Romanesque Auvergne. Echter Verlag , Würzburg 1992, ISBN 3-429-01463-8 , pp. 196-197.
- L'histoire de Glaine-Montaigut. three information sheets A4, available in the church, without indication of the author
- Anne Courtillé: L'église Saint-Jean de Glaine-Montaigut. In: Basse-Auvergne: Grande Limagne. Paris 2003, pp. 211-219.
Web links
- Community website
- Paroisse Saint Martin des Marches du Livradois on the website of the Archdiocese of Clermont
- About the Saint-Jean church ( Memento of April 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 45 ° 45 ′ 20 ″ N , 3 ° 23 ′ 21 ″ E