St-Junien
The former collegiate church (French: Collégiale ) Saint-Junien stands in the middle of the French town of the same name with almost 11,000 inhabitants (2006), which is in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region , about 30 kilometers west of Limoges , 20 kilometers northwest of Rochechouart and lies directly on the river Vienne .
The essentially Romanesque church has a spacious three-aisled nave , above the first yoke a three-tower westwork rises, a transept with a transept bell tower and a transept, which is almost the same size as the nave, with a rectangular ambulatory choir and a flat east end . It was continuously built from the nineties of the 11th century until almost the middle of the 13th century. The Saint-Junien Abbey was on one of the four main routes of the medieval Way of St. James in France, the Via Lemovicensis , and benefited from the willingness of pilgrims to donate, especially in the 12th century.
Historical
The history of Saint-Junien begins around the year 500 AD, when Saint-Amand (Latin : Amandus : the lovable), an ascetic of Hungarian origin, decided to live on the northern bank of the Vienne in what was then Comodoliac was named, where Ruricius , 485 to 507/10 Bishop of Limoges, had offered him a modest cell. He was joined by a young man named Junien (Junian), who came from the north of France, the son of a Count of Cambrai who had left his family at the age of fifteen to become a student of Saint-Amand . Legend has it that on a cold night he knocked on St. Amand's door, but the latter did not open it. Junien then had to sleep outside, where he was miraculously spared the cold of the snow. He learned from Amand to preach the Christian faith and to cure diseases. After the death of his master he lived as a hermit where the collegiate church stands today. Père Junien surpassed the far-reaching reputation of his fatherly friend with his own healing arts. He lived there for forty years until his death in 540.
Between 507 and 550, Roric II was Bishop of Limoges and firmly believed that Junien had cured him of a serious ailment. He therefore arranged the dignified burial of the deceased Saint-Junien , whose grave he first furnished with an oratory and an altar in Comodoliac , which was dedicated to Saint-André . Not long after, after his own death , Roric decided to be buried next to the remains of Saint-Junien. To this end, he wanted to have a church built over the tombs. On his death he left a considerable amount to establish a monastery with canons .
Construction of the first church and its abbey building began in 544. There are no records about the appearance and dimensions of the buildings at that time. Only two granite pillars of this church are known, which were discovered when the dome and bell tower of the collegiate church collapsed in 1923. In 593, on a visit to Gregory of Tours, he was impressed by the size of the pilgrimage to the saint's tomb. An urban area was quickly established around the abbey in honor of the saint.
About 350 years later, in the second half of the 9th century, the church and other buildings of the Abbey of Comodoliac collapsed due to old age or earthquakes, but perhaps they were attacked by the Normans and / or the Saracens and largely destroyed.
In the early nineties of the 11th century, the chapter of the canons began with the reconstruction of the collegiate church and the monastery buildings under Israel , the first provost of the collegiate chapter , which was initially dedicated to St-André and consecrated by Raynaud , Bishop of Périgueux , on October 21, 1100 instead of the Bishop of Limoges, Pierre Viroald . The saint's relics were exhumed and buried in a still simple sarcophagus behind the main altar. It is not known whether the choir head at that time had a rounded east end with access or a flat, as it is today, with twice angled choir ambulatory.
The frescos preserved in the central and transepts date from the early construction period, the 11th and 12th centuries. The tomb of Saint-Junien , a sculptural work of art, was created in the 12th century.
The pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, which began towards the end of the 11th century, and the associated donation income coincided roughly with the consecration of the first phase of the rebuilding of the collegiate church. The next extensions, those of the westwork and the choir area, took place during the great heyday of the pilgrimage to Santiago in the first half of the 12th century, when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims traveled south every year. So four main routes were formed in France, accompanied by a network of numerous secondary routes.
Numerous new churches, monasteries, hospices, hostels and cemeteries were built along these paths, and existing facilities were expanded to meet the new requirements. For a pilgrimage church, above all more space was needed for the numerous pilgrims , such as the ambulatory and side aisles, and as many chapels as possible for the presentation of relics and their veneration.
Saint-Junien is on one of the four main routes in France, the Via Lemovicensis , from Vezelay (Burgundy) to Ostabat (before the Pyrenees crossing).
When the quarrels between France and England over Aquitaine began after the middle of the 12th century, the pilgrimage declined. The wars of the 13th and 14th centuries Century, such as the Hundred Years War (1339-1453), brought a dramatic slump. The canons could therefore no longer benefit from the latest extensions to their collegiate church. However, the relics of St-Junien, St-Amand and St-Martial remained as important pilgrimage destinations in the region.
In the following uncertain times, the attic walling came into vogue as defense and defense devices, which began after the middle of the 12th century and culminated in the wars of the 13th to 16th centuries, including for Saint-Junien. A reasonably reliable date is not known, but they may have been standard equipment by the 13th century.
The facade and the western bell tower were built in 1160. Its upper parts date from the 13th century but have remained unfinished.
From 1200 to 1230 the collegiate church was expanded again, or the choir head in the east was extended by two yokes, to about the same length as the nave. The floor of the choir, which was raised by three steps in length from yokes one to four, was in any case enclosed with an ambulatory, which was bent twice at right angles, and which, with the fifth yoke at the same floor level, closed off the choir head flat. At this time, the two square chapels were also built on the east walls of the transept .
In 1223 the north transept chapel was rebuilt and raised by one floor to present the newly acquired relics of the first bishop of Limoges, Saint-Martial , and to accommodate the church treasure on the upper floor. The rectangular lower section of the stair tower, which opened up the upper floor, must also have been built during this time. In 1906 the roof of this chapel was lowered. Also in the 13th century, a chapel was added to the second and third choir bays, which has since housed the altar and the bust with the relics of Saint-Amand .
In the 15th century a small chapel was added to the north wall of the nave in the third bay. In 1485 the choir was restored, the vaults threatened to be ruined. This repair was followed by a new consecration on April 27, 1488.
A graphic from the 18th century, in the form of an aerial photo from the southwest, probably shows the state before the French Revolution , namely the structure of the church with extensive still intact convent buildings . The westwork is roughly the same as it is today. However, the crossing tower still has a third, high, octagonal floor with windows on all sides and a very high tower spire . In the corner between the nave and the southern arm of the transept there was a cloister, which was surrounded by further ground-floor convent buildings, with a round tower attached to the southwest corner. Also on the north side of the church was a spacious courtyard with cloister arcades, the north and east galleries of which were surrounded by two-story buildings. On the west and north sides of this courtyard, two more courtyards were added, which were enclosed by small row houses. In front of the westwork of the church there was a large forecourt with a fountain in the middle.
The original Romanesque main altar, which stood in the fourth choir bay directly in front of the tomb of Saint-Junien , was replaced in 1788 by a new acquisition, which was placed in the third bay a little further away. It is the former main altar of the abbey church of Grandmont , in the mountains of Ambazac , north of Limoges. The whole abbey was sold that year. The chapter of St-Junien expected the new altar to "erect a barricade against great fear" (such as the peasant revolts of 1789). A scene from the Gospel of Luke is depicted on the altar structure made of white marble: Christ's meal with two of his disciples from Emmaus, with the blessing of bread. The altar stands today in the eastern arm of the ambulatory, in the axis of the choir. The whereabouts of the Romanesque altar are unknown. The choir stalls also come from Grandmont Abbey .
During the revolutionary period, after 1789, the collegiate was looted and used as a warehouse for saltpeter and to house prisoners. The collegiate church became a "Temple of the Goddess of Reason" . These activities resulted in the destruction of some of the frescoes. During this time all of the convent buildings were probably sold as common property for demolition.
The crossing of the collegiate church was surmounted by an octagonal bell tower for about 700 years, whose pointed stone helmet is said to have reached a height of about 50 m. It consisted of a first floor, which was pierced by eight arcade openings and thus illuminated the crossing, a second closed floor, then a third, the actual bell-room, which was finally crowned by the aforementioned helmet. This bell tower collapsed on March 19, 1816. Soon afterwards, people began to rebuild, which, for reasons of cost, limited themselves to two octagonal storeys topped by a wooden helmet, the top of which was well below the height of the old tower. There was also no bell house. This work was completed in the course of 1817.
Five years later, on December 15, 1922, the new pillars of the tower gave way again, and the tower with its dome and spire fell on the first yokes of the choir. The collegiate church was seriously damaged. The state and the city were able to mobilize the public for the reconstruction, so that the further financing of the renewed tower renovation was completed by 1937. Today's octagonal crossing tower with its pendentive dome , the four arcade openings and the wooden helmet was created.
Building
Dimensions (taken from the floor plan and extrapolated)
- Overall length outside: 72.0 m, inside: 67.7 m
- Longhouse length outside: 32.0 m, inside: 29.0 m
- Width of the nave outside (without pillar templates): 21.3 m, inside: 18.4 m
- Choir length outside: 29.0 m, inside: 24.4 m
- Width of transept (without pillars): 10.5 m, length: 35.0 m
- Transept overhang (without pillar templates): 7.0 and 6.4 m
- Central nave width: 8.4 m
- Choir width: 9.4 m
Outward appearance
Nave with westwork
The nave stands on the plan of an elongated rectangle and can already be seen from the outside as a three-aisled pseudo - basilica , without a windowed upper balcony , under a gable roof inclined less than 30 degrees . Its north and south longitudinal walls are divided into three sections by strong rectangular buttresses , which corresponds to the internal division into three bays. With their steeply sloping tops, these remain a good two meters below the eaves. Circumferential cantilever cornices are arranged at the level of the transition from these slopes to the vertical. The front steps of the pillars, well over half their height, are also beveled on the top. The first pillar, as an extension of the facade, has no steps. The pillar spacing or the width of the first yoke is significantly smaller than that of the second and third yokes. In the first yoke only a round arched window is left out, shifted from the center to the west, in the two following yokes, on the other hand, there are two symmetrical, but slightly lower arranged windows. In the third yoke, a single-wing door is cut out, which was a passage to the southern convent building. Some holes in the masonry also indicate the additions to the former cloister.
Today almost the whole longhouse uniformly high eaves of with red hollow bricks (also called "monk-nun-brick") in Roman format is covered gabled roof is certainly not the original. It is about a meter spanning rafter heads with eaves cladding on the top, everything darkly impregnated, on which the lower rows of roof tiles rest. The lack of an external free-hanging gutter simulates that the rainwater can drip off freely from the eaves, as was common in the Middle Ages, but has often led to major moisture damage in the outer walls. In order not to have to equip these old buildings with visible "modern" hanging gutters, but to be able to drain the water in a controlled manner, the preservation authorities came up with the trick of the "concealed rain gutter", which is let in behind the lower rows of roof tiles and covered by them . The downpipes with vertical downpipes can, as here, be hidden almost invisibly in component angles. But that has happened here in modern times, with the nave combined with a raising of the eaves above the existing wall crowns of the eaves attics .
The afore-mentioned eaves attics of the Saint-Junien collegiate church were very likely to be the result of the original traditional eaves designs with flat stone cornice plates supported by carved corbels. On these substructures, the mostly pointed rafter heads ended with the roof tiles resting on them and protruding over the cornices. Such cornice panels on corbels are preserved at St-Junien in the area of the first nave yoke or the westwork a good meter below the current eaves, also on its facade and on the north side in yokes two and three. It is not known whether such eaves were formed on the south side of yokes two and three, on the transept or on the choir yokes. Perhaps the cantilevered cornice, arranged in bays two and three on the south side, slightly above the height of the aforementioned cornices, without corbels, served as the original eaves cornice.
In the uncertain times that followed, the attics came into vogue as military and defensive structures that began in the mid-12th century and culminated in the wars of the 13th to 16th centuries. In St-Junien, almost all eaves of the nave and transept, the head of the choir and some of the chapels have been equipped with it, the construction of which looked like this: First, the existing rafter heads were lined with new, higher purlins a little behind the future masonry, and then shortened accordingly. Then the now exposed wall crowns were walled up on the outside flush with the wall with a good one meter high parapet about half the thickness of the outer wall. On the inside, “walkable” rain gutters were probably formed, perhaps made of stone or sheet copper, which were then drained to the outside via U-shaped gargoyles. Almost all of the latter are still preserved, but no longer fulfill their original function.
With other defense equipment of this type, the attics were additionally equipped with higher battlements , which would also have been possible for Saint-Junien (example: Saint-Avit-Sénieur Priory ).
The first yoke of the nave is closed off by the ground-floor façade, above which three floors of the bell tower of the westwork, which are square in plan, rise across the width of the central nave, the floor changes of which are marked by clear setbacks. The facade ends at the top with the original eaves cornice already described above, the shape and height of which are taken over from the side walls of the nave. The lateral facade edges are broken by generous, simple setbacks, over which the eaves cornice is led around.
In the center of the facade, a ten-step flight of steps leads up to the main portal with two slender, almost two-meter-wide openings, which are covered by pointed arches, which are framed by simply stepped archivolts , made of sharp-edged (90 degree) wedge stones, which are on the outside on pairs of columns and inside stand together on a bundle of three columns and are equipped with simply carved capitals and profiled bases and fighters. The door openings are closed with large rectangular wooden door leaves, which can be assigned to the modern age. In the left wing there is a wicket door about one by two meters . This pair of openings is enclosed by archivolts stepped four times, the pointed arches of which consist of sharp-edged wedge stones, in the setbacks of which half round rods are inserted. The wedge stones are separated from the round bars with angular grooves. The three inner arches stand on both sides on wall edges and half round bars in the same profile as that of the arches. The arch approaches of the round bars are equipped with capitals, spars and bases, as are the pillars of the door openings. The large archivolts stand together on both sides of the portal on a projecting wall plinth. The outer wedge arch is flush with the surface of the facade wall and is covered by a cantilever profile made of double, partially circular rods. The apex of this profile is exactly at the level of the lower edge of the corbels supporting the eaves. Between the wedge stones of the two portal openings and the round bar of the inner archivolt, a smoothly walled arched field has been created, on which is the erect sculpture of a “dragon slayer” who impales the monster on which he stands with his cross-shaped lance.
The main portal is flanked on both sides by a slender, sharp-edged blind arcade , the base of which is level with the base of the portal and the outer wedge-shaped apex of which takes over that of the portal. The arcade niches are clearly set back from the wall surface, their arches are slightly pointed. In the upper area of the niches, slender windows are cut out, the arches of which are just as slightly sharpened, and the edge of the reveal is a wedge-width distance from the arcade. The windows illuminate the first aisle bays.
Compared to the facade surface, the first tower floor with a square floor plan is a good step back. The top of the facade wall is designed in the form of a flat, outwardly inclined monopitch roof and is covered like scales by flat stone slabs. Immediately on the pent roof ridge stands a round-arched window with two-tier archivolts, similar to those of the main portal, made of three wedge edges and two partially round bars. It is the only window in the otherwise closed first floor of the tower, and its apex lies just below the lower edge of the pendentive dome in the first yoke of the central nave. The top of the lower tower storey is completely closed off with an angular cantilever cornice. On the north and south side of the lower tower storey, the side aisles are covered by pent roofs, the roofs of which meet these tower sides at a medium height. These monopitch roofs are closed at their western ends with gable walls that are an extension of the western wall of the lower tower storey. They protrude over the roof surfaces of the monopitch roofs and are covered by flat, cantilevered stone slabs. On the east side of the tower, the rest of the gable roof of the nave connects, the ridge of which ends just below the upper cantilever profile.
The second tower floor is clearly receding on all sides compared to the first and, like this one, is closed with a cantilever cornice. Two sound arcades with pointed arches open on each side of the tower . The edges of the openings are broken by simple setbacks in the width of a wedge into which partially round bars are inserted. The sound arcades are separated from each other by a pillar twice as wide as the wedge stone, their outer wedge stone arches come under the upper cantilever profile. The beginnings of the round arches are marked with simply carved capitals, those of the inner reveals with transom profiles.
According to the sources in the upper area, the third floor of the tower remained unfinished in the 13th century. It recedes once more on all sides to the same depth as the second. It is divided horizontally into a good two thirds of its current height by a circumferential cantilever profile.
On each side of the tower, a section of wall emerges centered in the form of a central projection, into which a clearly higher sound arcade than the one on the floor below opens with a sharpened arch. Their opening edges are designed as with the arcades on the middle floor. Your fighters are level with the aforementioned cantilever profile. The sound arcades are again divided in half with a central column, a little thicker than the round bars. On its simply carved capital and its fighter, the two round arches meet over the halves of the opening, over which there is a smoothly closed arch field. On both sides of the arcade arches, the edges of the risalit rise steeply inwards, where they end under the eaves of today's wooden spire. On both sides of this, short pieces of wall connect, which recede from the wall surfaces below and end at the corners of the square with diagonally placed wall pillars.
Here you can imagine that in the past every risalit was planned with a pointed gable field. How the builders envisioned the next part of the tower helmet remains open. In the sources there is the assumption that the spire should one day be converted from the square shape of the storeys to an octagonal one. Perhaps this should then be built from stone, as with the crossing tower.
Today's tower spire has a square floor plan at eaves height that protrudes over the risalit. This is initially covered by a gently sloping pyramid roof. Above that follows an octagonal pyramid roof, which is steeply inclined, however, tapering to a point. On the west side on the lower roof section there is a dormer with a pointed roof. The roof surfaces of the tower and the dormer are covered with small-format, anthracite-colored slate shingles.
The bell tower is flanked by two slender stair turrets that rise above the mighty building corners between the facade and the outer walls of the aisles. In addition to maintenance tasks, these are primarily of military importance. The parts with octagonal outlines visible above the roof surfaces reach up to just below the cantilevered cornice above the lower tower floor. Above each follows a circular, basket-like structure made of a masonry parapet, which stands on the underside on bead-like cantilever profiles that protrude several times over each other. The parapet surrounds a ring-shaped walkway, which in turn runs around the circular head of the stair tower and conceals the end of the spiral staircase with the exit to the walkway. This head is covered by a steep conical roof made of stone, the tips of which are crowned with balls. The stair tower is connected to the stair tower via a passage in the parapet and a narrow walkway on a single-hip Schwibbogen , exactly at the height of the offset above the lower tower floor. Apart from the sound arcades, however, no passages can be seen in the bell chamber on the middle tower floor. The towers contain stone spiral staircases . Only the northern stair tower is accessed via an inner entrance from the ground floor and via a spiral staircase that is hidden in the masonry of the corresponding building corner. There is no such staircase in the southern corner of the building. But you can probably reach this little tower via footbridges and stairs within the attic rooms above the vaults, which were almost all connected to one another. The battlements behind the eaves of the entire building could also be reached via the stairs and the attic.
Transept with crossing tower
The transept arms protrude in plan with about 7.0 and 6.4 meters over the outer walls of the aisles of the nave and the choir. The gently sloping gable roofs over the transept arms and the side aisles of the crossing clearly tower above the adjoining gable roofs of the nave and choir head. The eaves formation over the west walls of the transept arms with attic masonry can be recognized by the rows of gargoyles and the protruding cover plates, but here only at a low height, behind which one could hardly have protected oneself. Subsequent removal cannot be ruled out. In the area of the side aisles of the crossing, the eaves design changes to the original one, with rainwater dripping freely onto the roof areas below. Above the partition between the transept arm and the side aisle of the crossing, there is a slight offset of the gable roof surfaces and their inclinations. The eaves on the east side of the transept also have no parapets, as the roofs of the high transept chapels, which are equipped with fortified walls, are not far below them.
In the west sides of the transept arms, a slender, arched window is cut out, which is shifted off-center towards the aisle.
The southern gable wall of the transept protrudes well beyond the gable roof that adjoins it. The gable walkways, covered with cantilevered stone slabs, with an inclination of about 30 degrees, merge into short horizontal pieces at their ends. Their roofs are each crowned by a stone Latin cross . The south-western corner of the transept is stiffened on both sides by rectangular buttresses, which reach up to about the level of the nave eaves and are steeply sloping towards the outside at the top. Panels protruding on three sides are inserted at the level of the transition from the slopes to the vertical front. At about two thirds of the pillar height, the projection of the pillar doubles, the protrusions of which are beveled on the top. At around this height, four corbels are set into the gable wall, which indicate that the monopitch roof gable of a former two-storey extension once connected here. There are similar corbels on the adjoining west wall and an inclined slot-like contour on the south wall of the nave, which suggests that this extension has been led around to the side aisle.
In the middle of the gable wall, approximately at the level of the top of the buttresses, a large oculus , also known as the “ox eye”, is recessed, which is surrounded by a ring of wedge stones with an outer cantilever profile. The six-sided tracery of the window resembles a wooden spoked wheel , in the center a ring-shaped hub , from which eight spokes in the form of round bars extend radially outwards. You bump into stone formations on the inside of the wheel rim, each of which resembles two high-heeled shoes that are placed with their heels against one another. Just above this oculus , in the masonry, you can find the contours of formerly lower lying verges that ran parallel to today's verges. The extensions of these contours end approximately at the level of the upper edge of the buttresses. The outside walls of the transept must have been raised considerably.
The northern gable wall of the transept has a similar elevation as the southern one. However, the cross of the gable First has similarities with the Tatzenkreuz the Templars . At its eastern edge, about a third of its width is covered by a slightly rectangular stair tower, the spiral staircase of which was initially only intended for access to the upper storey of the north transept chapel, which was raised at the beginning of the 13th century. This section extends slightly above the height of the beveled upper edges of the buttresses on the northwest corner of the transept arm and is equipped with a few small slot-like openings. These pillars have the same rectangular cross-section over their entire height and are slightly indented from the corner of the component. There is also the same oculus in this gable wall as on the other end of the transept. A round arched doorway is cut out at the lower edge, an access from the northern convent building.
When, not long afterwards, the church was equipped with the fortifications, the stair tower was topped up with two octagonal storeys of equal height, each of which is surrounded on the top with cantilever profiles. The lower one is completely closed except for two slit-like loopholes. In each side of the upper storey there are slender arched arcades a good two meters high, which are bricked up to the height of the parapet. These offered good cover in the event of a defense and one could get from them to the roof areas behind the defense arcades. There are square holes under the upper cantilever profile, into which beams with rollers could be clamped, with which the defenders could lift heavy loads (weapons, projectiles). On the north side of the stair tower, a doorway is cut out at the very bottom, a cantilevered stone is set in, the meaning of which is not known. Immediately above it was once a slender, arched doorway, which was later bricked up flush with the wall. You can recognize them by the soffit and wedge stones of the masonry. There could have been access to the church from the attached convent buildings.
The southern transept chapel stands on an almost square floor plan in the angle between the eastern transept arm and the aisle of the choir. Its defense attica runs horizontally on both originally free sides in the south and east. The south wall extends a bit over the eastern edge of the transept arm and its surface protrudes from that of the gable wall. In the lower area of this offset, running stones protrude from the side in every third layer of the wall, which indicates a masonry connection with the formerly adjoining convent building. The southern parapet hides the gently sloping verge of the pent roof behind it. In the center of the south wall of the chapel there is a slender, exceptionally high, round-arched window with sharp reveal edges. On the east wall of the chapel, the formerly existing window is covered by the modern addition of the sacristy. About a meter below the chapel's eaves attic protrudes from the former eaves without corbels. The rafter heads of the original eaves rested here. The U-shaped gargoyles testify to the fact that the rain gutter was behind it when the defensive attica was walled up. Today, a modern successor to the gutter is drained via a vertical downpipe next to the corner of the south wall of the chapel.
The northern transept chapel has the same floor plan as the southern one, but in mirror image. The historical sources indicate that the originally ground floor chapel was rebuilt around 1223 and added another storey, and that its roof was lowered in 1906. Whether this means, for example, that the upper floor has been completely abandoned is not proven. You can see the recent changes in the light natural stones and the lack of gargoyles. Presumably, after the renovation in 1223, the horizontal upper edge of the north and east side was roughly level with the central cornice of the octagonal stair tower extension. In addition, the stone gargoyles were visible on the east wall of the chapel, as in the southern chapel. The slender, arched window in the north wall corresponds to that in the south wall of the south chapel. With the addition of the St Amand chapel, the window in the east wall was walled up flush with the wall. The contours of its soffit and arched wedge stones now protrude beyond the roof of the chapel.
The crossing tower was last renewed for a second time in the 1840s and has almost nothing in common with the bell tower, which lasted about 700 years and which collapsed for the first time on March 19, 1816 (see chapter History) .
Today's octagonal tower consists of two floors, on which a short approach of a third follows, which is covered by an eight-sided steeply inclined pyramid roof, the lower edges of which are slightly less steeply widened outwards. The floors are separated on all sides by backsetting the walls. The lower one is covered with two, the upper one with three partially round profiles, which are stepped upwards one below the other. The interior of the lower storey corresponds to the octagonal tambour that carries the same dome. On the four sides facing the cardinal points, somewhat squat, round-arched window openings are left out, the reveal edges of which are broken in the arch and on the sides by strong setbacks. They stand directly on cantilever cornices, the length of the octagon side. The second floor is barely half as high as the first and is completely closed. The beginning of a third “floor” is a good half a meter high and disappears under the eaves of the wooden tower, which is covered with small-format slate shingles. On the northeast side of the tower, a very slender stair tower with a circular floor plan is built, which extends just above the setback above the second tower floor and is covered on the top by a flat, inclined conical roof. A cantilever profile surrounds it at the level of the lower setback. Access is presumably from an attic above the vaults.
Choir head
Like the nave, the head of the choir stands on a rectangular floor plan of similar dimensions and also has a pseudo-basilical elevation of three naves without a windowed upper aisle, the vaults of which are united under a pitched roof of almost 30 degrees. Its south and north outer walls are vertically separated into five bays by four strong rectangular buttresses, which corresponds to the inner yoke division. With the same cross-section, the pillars reach up to three quarters of the height of the wall and are closed off by the steeply outward sloping tops. The pillars are enclosed on three sides by a flat cantilevered cornice at the level of the change from the slopes to the vertical outer sides. In the extension of the flat choir gable wall there are buttresses of roughly the same cross-section, but they extend over the entire height of the wall. The two to five outer walls of the side aisles, which are closed off by eaves in the area of the yokes, have an offset wall over the entire height between the third and fourth yoke, as an extension of the west sides of the pillars in question, which marks the connection of the choir expansion in the early 13th century is slightly wider than the older choir bays two and three. There is a similar offset between the first and second yoke, where the eaves formation of the roof of the choir head also changes. In the area of the first yoke there was no need to arrange a defense attic because the roofs of the transept chapels adjoining there took on this task with their attics. The rainwater in the area of the first yoke dripped from the eaves, which are classic there, onto the roofs of these chapels and ran into their gutters behind their attics. The eaves designs with defense attachments in yokes two to five may not have had a predecessor, as is known with the nave and transept, because these components were built at the time when the other eaves were retrofitted with defense attachments. There are also no traces of older eaves to be found there. This must be assumed at least for the attics of yokes four and five. The lined-up gargoyles on the north wall are much more weathered than those on the south side. Here, too, the tops of the parapets are covered with slightly cantilevered panels, which run around the buttresses as an extension of the gable wall and on their verges extend to the ridge.
In the spaces between the buttresses of bays four and five, very slender and high round-arched windows are recessed, which on the south side have outwardly widened walls . On the north side, the reveal edges are broken with simple setbacks. There were similar windows in yokes two and three, the arches of which were slightly lower than those of the aforementioned. They were all walled up in connection with the later additions to the St Amand Chapel and the sacristy. Only from the former window in the third yoke on the north side is a walled-in wedge arch protruding over the roof of the chapel.
The eastern gable wall of the choir head is divided horizontally into three storeys. The completely closed ground floor is completed at the height of the window parapets of the north and south walls across the entire width with a flat, rounded profile on the top. On top of this are three slender, arched windows in the same dimensions as those in the adjoining aisle walls. Their robes are widened outwards. A layer of wall separates the outer apex of the wedge arches of the windows from another, equally rounded profile, which limits the upper floor of the middle storey, but only extends to the inner edge of the buttresses. The third storey beginning above it jumps back a few centimeters from the pillars. The verges of the gable wall rise by about 30 degrees to the ridge, which is crowned by a stone trefoil cross. Slender octagonal columns are erected on the pillars, which are enclosed on the top with a cantilever profile. On top of it stand stone octagonal, steeply inclined pyramids, which are crowned by spheres, which are arranged at the level of the head of the aforementioned cross. Just above the profile that closes off the middle floor, a large circular window, an oculus , is centered , which is framed by a ring of wedge stones, the inner and outer edges of which are double-profiled. The round window opening is filled with delicate tracery in the form of a twelve-pass rosette . Twelve round rods radiate out from a central circular ring in the manner of wheel spokes, separating the twelve “petals” of the rosette from one another, the ends of which are hemmed in by semicircular borders.
The ground floor Saint-Amand chapel was built on the north side of the choir head in the 15th century with a rectangular floor plan on bays two and three. Its north wall is flush with the outer wall of the transept chapel. It is covered by a pent roof inclined about 30 degrees, the east side of which is hipped . It is covered with red hollow tiles, like those on the other roofs. The eaves protrude slightly over the outer walls and the rainwater can drip off freely. Its north wall is divided by three strong buttresses into two unequally wide fields, which are closed just under a meter below the eaves with beveled tops and on three sides with transom profiles. The buttress on the northeast corner of the chapel goes around the corner. A slender round-arched window is cut out in each of the two wall panels, the arch of which is arranged at the level of the pillar bevels. The edges of the reveal are enclosed by setbacks in the width of the wedge stones, in the corners of which half round bars are inserted. Their arches are equipped with small capitals and fighters. The round bar arch is covered with another wedge arch and half a round bar, which swings a short piece horizontally at the ends. There was once a similar window in the east wall of the chapel, but today it is walled up except for the decorations.
Exactly opposite this chapel, a modern, ground-floor sacristy has been added on the south side of the choir head . It stands on a rectangular floor plan and is covered in a north-south direction with a thirty-degree inclined roof, which is again covered with red hollow tiles. Their protruding eaves are supported by a profiled cornice, the rainwater is collected in hanging rain gutters and drained off in a controlled manner. There are some rectangular window openings in the outer walls that are covered by arches. Access is from the west side.
Interior
Nave with westwork
The nave stands on a rectangular floor plan and has the outline of a pseudo basilica with three naves tiered one below the other without direct exposure to the central nave. It is divided longitudinally into three yokes, the first and significantly narrower yoke and the two equally wide yokes two and three.
The westwork rises above the first yoke from a central bell tower, which is flanked by the two fortified towers. The high loads of the octagonal tower are carried by four huge pillars on the ground floor . Behind the main portal, surrounded by the four pillars, a square room rises in the first bay of the central nave, the pendentive dome of which towers above the height of the other central nave vaults, reminiscent of a crossing. Such a dome at this point is a peculiarity of the Aquitaine Romanesque of the 12th century. The pendentives are segments of a larger hanging dome, which lead from the four corners of the room to the higher base of the hemispherical dome. The arches created between the pendentives are made of wedge stones protruding from the walls. At the top of the dome there is a circular opening that is covered with wooden planks through which bells and building materials can be pulled up into the tower. Only remains of the former plastering of the dome have survived. Four sides of the octagonal tower base stand at the height of the base circle on the walls of the square room, the other four sides are supported by the pendentives. In the walls to the aisles, arcades open up with pointed arches, sharp reveal edges and transom profiles at the arches. Just above the apexes of the arches, a small round arched arcade opens into the adjoining roof spaces above the groin vaults of the aisles of the first yoke.
These are illuminated by an arched window in each of the outer walls.
In the west wall of the central nave, a round-arched window opens directly below the apex between the pendentives. The windows of the west wall let the golden evening light of the sun penetrate the ships. The two slim, very high portal openings rise above the floor. The arcades between the first and second yoke have particularly wide embrasures in all aisles. The reveal edges of the central nave arcade are simply stepped. Their arch approaches are marked by fighter profiles. The pillars between yokes one and two of the side aisles have sharp reveal edges without offset. Their apexes remain a good meter below those of the aisle vaults of the following yokes. In the south aisle there is a small rectangular opening above this arch.
The ships in the second and third yoke are covered by pointed barrel vaults, which are completely plastered and which are separated by right-angled belt arches. The central nave vault in the second yoke begins next to the wide arcade with such a belt arch that stands on carved cantilever consoles. The vault approaches are marked with transom profiles, which are at the transom height of the first central nave arcade, which also take over the heights of the following combatants. The belt arch of the central nave, between yokes two and three, stands on semicircular services, which are equipped with simply carved capitals and profiled fighters and bases. The belt arches of the aisles stand on pillars of the same cross-section, their arches are marked by transom profiles at the level of the vaults of the aisles.
The partition walls between the aisles are reduced to small gusset-like remains on the side of their pointed arches and to the pillar cores through large arcade openings. The outer apex of their wedge arches just touch the transom profiles of the vault approaches. The reveal edges of the arcades are simply stepped on both sides. Their arch approaches are marked by transom profiles with beveled visible edges.
The pillars of the nave stand on rectangular plinths about 75 centimeters high , the side lengths of which correspond to the maximum dimensions of the pillars including their services and other templates. This also applies to the pillars of the crossing described in the following paragraph. The largest bases are found on the pillars between yoke one and two, the second largest between yoke three and the crossing.
In the outer aisle walls, two and three arched windows are recessed in the bays, the walls of which are widened inward. On the south side, a door was arranged in the third yoke, which led to the former convent buildings and the cloister on this side. The window above is significantly lower than the neighboring one with the same vertex height.
In the north wall of the third yoke, a relatively low, slightly pointed arched arcade opens into a chapel of shallow depth, the western edge of which stands just next to the yoke-dividing wall pillar. The top of the arch is still well below the fighters of the partition arcades. The width of its reveal corresponds to the thickness of the north wall of the aisle. Behind the reveal there is a niche the width of the arcade and a little over a meter deep. The elongated rectangular niche floor plan is covered by a ribbed vault above the arcade arch. A round arched window is cut out in the niche background. The former lower parapets of the two windows in the north wall of the aisle had to be raised above the height of the chapel extension.
Transept with crossing
The pillars of the almost square crossing consist of square cores, on the four sides of which there are semicircular old services of the crossing arcades, which are equipped with figuratively carved capitals, protruding fighters, the visible edges of which are broken with broad valleys, and profiled bases. Exceptions to this are the pillars facing the nave and the side aisles, the arcades of which have sharp reveal edges and do not require any services. The fighters are led around all over the pillars. The transom height is taken from the central nave. The arcade arches stand on the pillars, the edges of which are stepped on the inside towards the crossing, and on both sides towards the choir and central nave. The outer arch edges meet in pairs over the edges of the pier cores.
The “vault” rising above is a product of a second renovation at the beginning of the 1940s, after the tower collapsed for the first time at the beginning of the 19th century and was renovated in a reduced form. This collapsed again in 1922 and left major damage, including the vault of the crossing. The current state of the vault is thanks to the subsequent reconstruction. It is very doubtful whether the renovations made the effort to approximate the shape of a classic pendentive dome with a windowed drum as possible.
Instead of real pendants, simple flat triangles were built into the octagonal sides of the drum to transfer the square corners, the lower edges of which are marked with a cantilever profile, which are profiled with pronounced chamfers. In four of the eight sides of the drum a squat-looking round-arched window was cut out, the walls of which are widened inwards on all sides. The edges of the garment on the sides and in the arch are broken with simple setbacks into which half round bars are inserted. Instead of capitals, simple thickenings are attached to the arches. The vertical walls of the drum are closed off by a cantilever profile with a slightly rounded groove. The hollow structure above cannot be called a dome or an octagonal dome. It is more of an octagonal truncated pyramid with steeply sloping sides, the slope of which decreases somewhat in about a third of its height. The horizontal octagonal top has a circular opening in the form of an octagonal oculus.
Between the arms of the transept and the crossing there are sections of space that are an extension of the aisles in the floor plan, but take over the pointed transverse barrel vaults of the transept arms and their height. The vault approaches are marked by the same cantilever profile and its height from the central nave. The two sections of the room are divided by arcades, made of rectangular cross-section wall pillars on which such belt arches stand. Their arches are marked at the level of the cantilever profiles of the arches of transom profiles with beveled visible edges. The west walls of the transept arms are decorated with blind arcades that take up almost the entire wall surface. Its wedge stone arches, in the form of pointed round arches, reach with their outer apexes to just below the cantilever profiles of the vault approaches. Your arch approaches are marked with fighter profiles. In the upper half of the blind arcade round-arched windows are cut out, the side and upper edges of which are broken by right-angled backsets. The walls behind the offset are widened inwards on all sides. In the southern arm of the transept, the window is offset off-center in the direction of the crossing, the one in the north is centered. In the latter, slightly offset from the center of the crossing, an arched niche is set into the wall.
The gable walls of the transept arms open just below the crown of the vault with a circular oculus, the sharp edges of which are formed from wedge stones. Its tracery is designed in the form of a six-pointed rosette. On the north wall, the “ ox eye ” is shifted slightly off-center to the west, as otherwise the window opening would collide with the stair tower built on the outside. In this wall, a door on the eastern edge opens up the built-in spiral staircase, which is supplemented a good bit above by a small rectangular window. The staircase led to a second floor above the transept chapel. Later it was also used to develop the fortified fortifications on the building eaves. However, it also led to the second floor of the former convent building. In the same wall, moved further to the west, a second door with a round arch has been cut out, which also led to the adjacent convent buildings and their courtyards on the north side. In the masonry above this door, an older contour of a formerly wider, but above all higher door or window, which was covered by an arched arch, can still be seen. The original reveal edges were formed by large-format cuboids and the wedge-shaped arch into which today's door frame and its arch stones were later inserted. The remaining opening above the door was filled with small-sized rubble stones.
The transept chapels , which are slightly rectangular in plan, open in the east walls of the transept arms with arcades, in the south with a round and in the north with a pointed Veilstein arch, with sharp reveal edges. The width of the arcades takes up almost the entire width of the chapel and their apexes remain a good meter below the vaulting of the transept arms. The arcades between the side aisles and the chapels are designed in a similar way, only a bit slimmer. The chapels are covered by steeply rising ribbed vaults, the cross-sections of which have the shape of rectangles placed on edge. In the apex of the vault, you meet a keystone that is cruciform in plan. The ribs each stand on semicircular services in the chapel corners, which are equipped with simply carved capitals, profiled fighters and bases. The vault gussets are smoothly plastered. In the south chapel, a slender, arched window is cut out on each of the formerly free sides, the walls of which are flared inwards all around. The opening of the window in the east wall is walled up to half its height on the outside, as the sacristy was added there later and half of the window is covered. The north chapel only has the slender window in its north wall, the former window opening in its east wall is completely covered by the St Amand chapel. The brickwork leaves a slender, arched niche with walls that expand inwards.
Choir head
The choir head is on the plan of a rectangle, the extent of which is slightly smaller than that of the nave. Its three-aisled elevation also shows similarities with that of the nave. A main difference is the much narrower yoke division. Opposite the three bays of the nave there are five choir bays, the first four of which are almost the same width and the fifth and last is significantly wider.
The “central nave” of the choir is again covered with pointed barrel vaults, the approaches of which are at the same height as in the central nave of the nave, but are marked by half a round rod. The yokes are separated by belt arches with a rectangular cross section. The last yoke ends on the east wall of the choir head with half a belt arch. The first two belt arches are slightly wider than the next two. Accordingly, the first two pillar bundles are slightly larger than the last two. The bundles of pillars consist of square cores, on the four sides of which old semicircular services protrude. These reach up to the beginnings of the arcade arches belonging to them and are equipped with carved capitals and profiled fighters, with profiled bases at their feet. The last pillars are followed on the east wall by corresponding wall pillars with miners stepping forward.
The aisles of the choir are covered with groin vaults in all bays. The central nave is separated from the side aisles by partitions that are slightly slimmer than the pillar cores. Only gusset-shaped sections remain of them, to the side of the weakly pointed arcade arches supporting them, the wedge-shaped arches of which just touch the profiles at the vaults. In bays three to five, the gussets of the side aisle vaults facing the central nave lie a little above the soffits of the partition arches. In the first two yokes, these reveals merge into the vaulted gussets of the aisles without any offset. The side aisle vaults are divided among themselves and at the beginning by arcades with different arches. The first two are more sharply pointed round arches followed by a round arch without a point. The last two are again pointed round arches. More or less high walling follows over their wedge arches. The first arcade arches of the side aisles show strong setbacks on their transept sides, which merge into wall setbacks below their transepts. On the outer walls of the side aisles, the arcade arches stand on services in front of wall pillars, which are equipped like those opposite.
The two pairs of pillars between choir bays one and three stand again on rectangular plinths. Their lengths correspond to the maximum dimensions of their piers in the longitudinal direction of the ships including their services, their widths to the dimensions of the pier cores in the transverse direction. This means that their services to the ships reach down to the bottom of the ships. The pairs of pillars between choir bays three and five stand directly on the floors of the ships without a base.
The floor of the choir center nave or the actual choir is three steps above the floor of the crossing and the choir aisles. The choir is accessed from the crossing via a three-step staircase that extends the entire width between the crossing pillars of the triumphal arch. From the side aisles in bays one to four you can reach the level of the choir floor via narrow three-step stairs. In the fifth choir bay, however, the level of the central nave area is exactly at the level of the side aisles. This results in an offset of the floors between the last pair of pillars by three steps, but without a staircase.
As a result, the fifth yoke, in community with the choir aisles, becomes an ambulatory or ambulatory choir , as it was common in medieval pilgrimage churches, but without the well-known rounding of the ambulatory walls and without equalizing the heights of the ambulatory vaults. This is confirmed when one knows that the older high altar was erected in Chorjoch 3 up to modern times, shortly before the tomb of St-Junien. The pilgrims were able to walk around the sarcophagus and the high altar at the same level at the same time. This also explains the greater width of the fifth yoke. During the processions of the pilgrims, all pilgrims lingered especially on the eastern head side of the sarcophagus to pay homage to St Junien, the destination or stage of their journey. The greater expansion of the last yoke also suits them.
In the outer walls of the side aisles, a slender, arched window is cut out in bays four and five with walls flared inwards on all sides. Such windows at the same height are also found on the east gable wall in the axes of the central nave and the side aisles. In the central nave of the choir head, the large “ox eye” just fits between this window and the arch of the vault. Its reveal edge is broken by a partially round bar profile, which is framed all around by wedge stones. These are once again surrounded on the outside by a cantilever profile. The window opening is filled with delicate tracery in the form of a twelve-pass rosette. The windows formerly in the choir bays two and three were later covered by the additions to the St Amand chapel and the sacristy.
The chapel of Saint-Amand was added to the north wall of the second and third yoke in the 15th century. It stands on the ground plan of an elongated rectangle and is accessed via a door from the second yoke of the aisle. It is covered by two groin vaults and is illuminated by two slender, arched windows in the north wall, the walls of which are widened inwards on all sides. It houses an altar and a bust reliquary containing relics of Saint-Amand .
The size of the annex to the sacristy suggests that, in addition to the actual sacristy, it also contains other rooms such as storage rooms, sanitary rooms, consulting rooms, a boiler room and others. It is accessed through a door in the third yoke next to an outer door from inside the church.
Gallery choir
South aisle of the choir, from the transept
north aisle of the choir, from the transept
Choir, east end wall
Choir, yoke 5, north aisle
Inventory and frescoes
Tomb of Saint-Junien
- History of the tomb
An inscription inside the tomb and the chronicle of Étienne Maleus († 1322), a canon of St Junien, provide information about the burial of the saint and the history of his grave. Subsequently, after his death, Junian was buried in a sarcophagus by Bishop Roric II, which in the following centuries became the destination of early medieval pilgrimages to the saint's tomb.
Bishop Rainaud of Périgueux, who had taken over the official duties of the sick Bishop Pierre Viroald and, at the request of Abbot Ramnulf, had the rebuilt church inaugurated in October 1100, had the sarcophagus opened on the occasion, the skull from a painted wooden container (" de sua theca depicta ") in a new one, which consisted of two gilded wooden bowls (" infra duas conchas ligneas in superficie deauratas "), and also put the remaining bones in two wooden shrines. He had the shrines placed in the original sarcophagus, set up directly on the main altar and closed with a new grave slab "in the manner of a donkey's back" (" ad modum dorsi asini fabricati "), which was built directly onto the sarcophagus . After Rainaud was killed in a crusade the following year , Abbot Ramnulf had the tomb rebuilt again by providing it with a new "stone enclosure and stone portraits" (" clausura alia lapidea et imaginibus lapideis ) and a new, this time the plate, supported by iron bars, was locked.
In 1230 the altar and with it the tomb were relocated as part of renovation work. After 1819 the main altar was moved again and this time separated from the grave complex. A part of the old sarcophagus that was not covered by the wall through the tomb and that was exposed when the altar was removed was covered on this occasion by unadorned plasterboard.
- The tomb
The cuboid tomb from the 12th century stands on a plinth that extends on all sides in the choir axis in the fourth yoke, directly opposite the former main altar on the head wall of the choir. Except for the west side, the tomb shows outstanding sculptural qualities on all sides. The well-preserved and presumably carefully restored original monument is made of fine limestone from La Rochefoucauld . Individual parts of the sculptures, such as faces, knees and hands, are darkly colored and have a greasy sheen, probably the traces of centuries of contact by visitors to the pilgrimage site.
The sarcophagus enclosed inside the tomb is said to contain, in addition to the relics of Junian, relics of Saints Amand and Theodore as well as a relic of the “ true holy cross ”.
In the middle of the south side of the tomb, its only opening is let. It is covered with a round arch, the apex of which hits the upper narrow round bar profile, which surrounds the sculpture in a rectangular manner on the entire side. It is closed with a double-leaf, dark brown impregnated door, which is hung with horizontal hinges made of wrought iron on the side opening edges. The door leaves are additionally reinforced with nailed metal strips running vertically and diagonally. The door is first locked in the middle with a horizontal iron bar that is guided in eyelets. A lever arm with a rectangular cross-section is forged onto this latch, with which the lever can be pushed sideways and rotated radially. When locked, the lever points downwards, where the latch attached to its end is inserted into a slot in the wrought iron door lock, the rectangular cover plate of which is anchored in the door with bolts. With a suitable key, a bolt is pushed into the latch in the lock.
This mechanism is supplemented by three iron bands that protrude clearly beyond the door sides and are held by hinges on one side and locked in locks on the other side. The door is or was opened for instructions and then gave a view of the older sarcophagus placed inside.
The eastern head of the tomb shows a representation of the Majestas Domini . The mandorla in the form of two vertically opposing circular sections, which together resemble an almond kernel, almost completely fills an upright rectangle that extends from the profiled base edge to below the cover plate and is decorated on both sides by broad bands with friezes made of lined up round bowls is. Its tapering ends touch the upper and lower edge of the rectangle, the sides of the arch are kept at a small distance. The lateral edges of the mandorla and those of the rectangle consist of ribbons with narrow parallel profiles, between which larger and small pearls or "precious stones" are lined up.
Christ as Pantocrator (ruler of the world) sits facing the viewer on a throne, of which only an artistically carved footstool can be seen, on which his bare feet stand, the right hand is raised as a blessing, the left hand supports the closed " Book of Life " on the thigh. Over a long-sleeved tunic he wears a pleated, toga-like garment, which is held together with a ribbon around the body and fans out over the whole body in an almost Gothic fold. The knees do not appear to be covered or only very thinly covered. His head with a bearded face is surrounded by a cross nimbus , the upper half of which fills a fan of rays. The inner edges of the mandorla are accompanied by similar halos.
In the "spandrels" between the mandorla and the rectangle the well-known symbols of the four evangelists : top left the winged man (Matthew), top right the eagle (John), bottom left the winged lion (Mark) and bottom right the winged bull ( Luke). The bodies of the animal symbols are turned outwards, while the faces turn to Christ. Their heads are backed with nimbs.
The two wide vertical bands that flank the rectangle are each filled with seven round plate-like medallions, in which the upper bodies of winged angels or saints are depicted, whose heads are backed with nimbs. The frontally aligned heads and nimbs protrude above the round medallions, some of which are smooth on the inside, but are also filled with wreaths of rays in the manner of a shell relief. The positions of the hands are different, predominantly one finds palms of the hands open to the side or upwards. In one case, the person gestures with their right hand at a flower pinned to their left chest. The gussets between the circles are filled with leaf fans.
The upper edge of the cover plate is provided with a Latin inscription in capital letters:
- HIC IACET • CORP (us) • S (an) C (t) I • IVNIANI • IN • VASE • IN • Q (u) O • PRIVS • POSITVM • FVIT
- Inscription : Hic iacet corpus sancti Iuniani in vase, in quo prius positum fuit
- Translation: Here the body of St. Junian rests in that vessel [d. H. the sarcophagus] in which he was first buried.
The inscription is framed on all sides by double profiles with strings of pearls inserted between them. Above this, the edge of the plate is bevelled inwards and its corners are decorated with round knob-like structures. The bevel is resolved with vegetal decor.
The inscription corresponds, invisible from the outside, a two-part inscription on the inside of the same east wall of the tomb. This inside is divided into four by a Latin cross carried by a kind of staff. In the two upper quarters are Alpha and Omega depicted in the bottom two quarters, the inscription is entered which is in this case broken by the tree of the cross:
- HIC IACET | CORPVS
- S (an) C (t) I IVNIANI | IN IPSO VASE
- IN Q (u) O SEPE | LIVIT EVM
- BEATVS RO | RICIVS EP (i) S (copus)
- RAINAVDVS | VERO PETRA-
- GORICENS (is) | EP (i) S (copus) QVI ME-
- RVIT MAR | TIR FIERI
- COLLEGIT E | VM IN <S> CRI-
- NEIS LIGNE | IS INFRA
- VASE POS | ITIS
- Transcription: Hic iacet corpus sancti Iuniani, in ipso vase, in quo sepelivit eum beatus Roricius episcopus. Rainaudus vero, Petragoricensis episcopus, qui meruit martir fieri, collegit eum in scrineis ligneis infra vase positis.
- Translation: Here rests the body of St. Junian in that vessel [d. H. the sarcophagus] in which the blessed Bishop Roric buried him. But Rainaud, bishop of Périgueux, who had the privilege of being a martyr, gathered him [d. H. his bones] in wooden shrines that were placed in the vessel.
The inscription, rediscovered by François Arbellot in the 19th century, is said to date from the time of Ramnulf and was cited by Maleu in his chronicle at the beginning of the 14th century.
The northern long side of the tomb is divided by slender bands into a central upright rectangle, which is flanked by two horizontally stretched rectangles arranged one above the other. The ribbons are decorated with delicate geometric and plant motifs. All fields are framed all around by a simple, simple band. In the middle rectangle, Her Majesty the Queen of Heaven sits within a mandorla on a padded throne, which steps forward with a carved footstool on which her feet stand. The bands of the lateral arches of the mandorla are bordered on both sides by narrow profiles and are inscribed with Latin capital letters. They are surrounded on the inside by a beveled halo of rays and keep a little distance on all sides from the sides of the rectangle, which is formed by short, decorated pieces of tape.
The inscription is written in Leonine (internally rhymed) distiches and reads:
- Right arc downwards: AD • COLLVM • MAT (r) IS • PENDET • SAPIENTIA • PATRIS ⋮ ME • XPI • MATREM • PRODO • GERENDO • PAT (r) EM
- Left arc upwards: MVNDI ⋮ FA <C> TOREM • GENITRIX • GERIT • (et) • GENIT / OREM • MATERNOS • Q (ue) • SINVS • SARCINAT • [HI] C • DOMINVS ⋮
- Inscription:
-
Ad collum matris donates sapientia patris.
- "Me Christi matrem prodo gerendo patrem."
-
Mundi factorem genitrix gerit et genitorem,
- Maternosque sinus sarcinat hic dominus.
-
Ad collum matris donates sapientia patris.
- Translation:
-
The father's wisdom hangs on the mother's neck [d. H. the baby Jesus] .
- "As the mother of Christ, I reveal myself by carrying the father."
-
The Creator bears the Creator of the world [d. H. Childbirth] and the producer,
- and here the Lord weighs down the mother's womb.
-
The father's wisdom hangs on the mother's neck [d. H. the baby Jesus] .
Similar to Christ on the east side, the Virgin is enthroned on a cushion throne, her shod feet supported on a stool. She wears a flowing robe over a long-sleeved tunic , her head is covered by a veil ( velum ) and is crowned with a jeweled crown ring. In her right hand she carries the lily scepter, with her left hand she supports the Jesus boy standing on her thigh, who leans against his mother and clasps her shoulders with his right hand. He also holds a scepter in his left hand. Both are marked with nimbs - the baby Jesus with a nimbus on the cross.
The background of the four gussets between the mandorla and the standing rectangle clearly recede from the surrounding bands, their lateral edges are steeply bevelled. In them, four angels, standing on small clouds, float with elegant body turns, which can be recognized as angels by their nimbs and wings. With both arms outstretched, their heads and wings, these seem to carry the curved edges of the glory .
In the other four rectangular fields three of the twenty-four elders or kings of the Apocalypse of John are depicted, i.e. twelve on this side and the remaining twelve on the next. Most of the people sit in front of the viewer in blind arcades, behind whose arches their halos disappear somewhat. Its three arches made of curved rods stand on pillars, the shafts of which are all decorated with different ornaments. They are equipped with different capitals, profiled fighters, bases and angular plinths. Above the arches and in their spandrels one sees stylized architecture and landscapes, presumably of the heavenly Jerusalem , which are repeated over and over again. The persons sit on upholstered thrones, the constructions of which are indicated on the sides behind them. But there are no backrests to be seen. Your feet rest on elaborately carved benches. Their toga-like robes show ample folds. They have more or less long full beards and ring-shaped crowns on their heads, which are decorated in various ways with precious stones. In their hands, with different postures, they each carry a lute and a censer on a stick in the shape of a scepter .
The upper edge of the cover plate has the same profile as on the eastern head side. However, there is no labeling. The bevelled edges of the lid are again carved with vegetal decor.
The southern long side of the tomb is structured similarly to the north side. The door arranged in the upper section of the middle rectangle, which was dealt with at the beginning of this section, is completely different. The remaining lower, transversely stretched rectangle below the door is closed off at the side by the decorated vertical bands that do this at the door. The lower and upper bands remain without decoration. In this field, too, there is a centered mandorla, but a circular one, the periphery of which almost touches the edges of the rectangle. The circular ring is bordered by two parallel, narrow semicircular bars. In the spaces between them, one large and then two small pearls or gemstones are set alternately. A cross with slender arms of equal length, which are slightly widened towards the ends and whose edges are accompanied by slender profiles, stands exactly in the center of the mandorla, but is twisted a few degrees from the vertical. It covers a much smaller circular ring, which is again bordered by two rods, in the space of which a chain of pearls of equal size is embedded. It is enclosed in the background by a halo in the form of flower petals. In front of the cross is the Agnus Dei in a running posture, without ears and with an unusually long tail, the head of which is backed with a cross nimbus. Between his forelegs there is a box-like structure that could perhaps be identified in connection with the Apocalypse as the book with seven seals . In the remaining areas on both sides of the mandorla there are again two angels, similar to those on the opposite north side, who support the mandorla as much as possible.
The second twelve elders of the Apocalypse and their arrangement are similar to those on the north side, but are slightly different in all details. The upper edge of the cover plate and the decoration of the sloping edge are also the same as those on the north side.
Gallery Tomb of Saint-Junien, the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse
Tomb, north side, left section
Tomb, north side, right section
Tomb, south side, right section
Tomb, south side, left section
Sculptures
Holy water font
The collegiate church has two Romanesque, many-leaved holy water basins.
Statue of Saint Mary Magdalene
Representing the numerous figurative sculptures exhibited in the church, that of Maria Magdalena (French: Marie Madeleine ) can be highlighted. It was probably created in the 15th century. She stands upright and looks straight at the viewer. She is bare, but is almost entirely covered by a thick, wavy growth of red hair that reaches just above the feet. In her left hand Mary carries a cylindrical vessel containing ointments for embalming , one of her attributes that mark her as a saint. In her right hand she is holding a banner with an ancient script made of Gothic minuscules . It can be deciphered as follows: (?) Mary Magdalene's attributes also include the two angels, who are barely half as tall as she and who reach up to her with one hand. These are the angels who caused Mary to levitate , as described in the Legenda aurea (medieval legends of saints, 13th century).
From this comes the following excerpt on the levitation of Mary Magdalene :
“Mary Magdalene… went into the harshest wilderness and lived there unrecognized for thirty years… But every day during the seven hours of prayer she was lifted into the air by angels and with her bodily ears she heard the song of the heavenly hosts. So she was fed with this sweet food every day and then brought back to her place on earth by the same angels, so that she did not need any earthly food ... ”
Frescoes
The collegiate church possessed three undoubtedly very important polychrome frescoes , which are considered to be a symbol of the importance and power of the chapter of Saint-Junien and of the Diocese of Limoges . Since the thirties of the twentieth century, several separate fresco sections have been discovered.
In the nave of the nave
On the plaster of the barrel vault of the first yoke, around 80 percent of the original full-surface fresco has been preserved. The damage is mainly found along the eastern belt arch, in the median and in the north-western corner. The large-format painting is dated to the late Romanesque or early Gothic period around 1180. The color palette is not particularly rich, but it is strong. Red and yellow tones predominate, black and gray are less common. White is the color of the backgrounds, probably the natural color of the plaster. The representations deal mainly with the visions of the Apocalypse of John, and from them with the 24 elders and the Agnus Dei , partly with scenes similar to those on the sarcophagus of Saint-Junien .
The painting consists of five broad stripes in the longitudinal direction of the ship. The middle stripe is the widest. It is flanked by two somewhat narrower strips, which are followed by two half as wide at the vaults. The representations of the two outer stripes are to be read from the opposite side of the ship, those of the central stripe from both sides. The strips are separated from one another by decorative ribbons, which are bordered by double lines, between which repetitive, delicate, geometric and plant structures are inserted. The ribbons of the middle stripe are accompanied on the inside by alternating black and red isosceles triangles, the acute angles of which meet. This is followed by a red, finely structured band, the one-sided prongs of which fit exactly into the spaces between the triangles.
A circular mandorla is inserted in the center of the middle band with a little distance from the edges. It is formed from a strong band, which is bordered by double stripes in red and yellow. The dark red-brown space is decorated with a thin, winding line. Of the formerly glorious Agnus Dei , only the runs and fragments of the dark blue and green background are preserved on the south side. The mandorla is carried up by four floating angels. At the western end and the heavily damaged middle band, fragments of the lower extremities of four standing people wearing knee-length outer clothing can be seen on its north side. The outermost person is almost entirely preserved. The sources do not provide any information about their significance.
The remaining four strips each show six of the 24 elders. The scenes in the two strips next to the middle one are very similar to those on either side of the sarcophagus. The first thing you notice are the six high blind arcades, which are alternately covered by half-round, half-octagonal arches. They stand on seven pillars with different decorations. They are equipped with capitals, fighters and bases. Above and in the spandrels of the arches there are architectures and landscapes, probably of the heavenly Jerusalem. The elders or kings of the Apocalypse are dressed in flowing, foot-length robes and shoulder capes, sit in lavishly upholstered armchairs and have their feet on footstools. Some have beards, some don't. Their heads are long haired and wear red headgear that widens towards the top. Occasionally they hold a lute, but all of them have a goblet-like object that is believed to contain incense resin. Several different rosettes, as well as paw crosses in circles, are distributed on the white arcade backgrounds.
In the outer stripes, six more elders or kings of the Apocalypse are depicted, but they are enthroned in mandorels that are rounded at the bottom and slightly pointed at the top. They are bordered by double and triple multicolored lines. A circular mandorla is nestled in the lower half , which here obviously serves as a throne on which the people sit. They too have put their feet on stools. They have long hair and yellow headgear in the shape of a sailor's hat, but no beards. Some of them carry lutes, one even plays with a bow on it, but all hold up goblet-like vessels. Delicate tendrils and rosettes are painted in the white spandrels between the mandorels and on a lower narrow strip.
The clear differences in the style of the representation of the elders perhaps indicate that not only one studio and from the same region was engaged in this important work. It has been uncovered by careful restorers since 1981.
In the north arm of the transept
On the otherwise stone-peeked gable wall of the northern arm of the transept there is a slender strip of plaster, slightly eccentric to the east, on which an imposing full-bearded giant is painted at a height of 4.50 meters. The fresco is dated in its creation to the time "up to 1200" and represents St. Christophorus . Only his upper body is well preserved. Its Byzantine appearance is characteristic of late Romanesque. The giant spreads out a tape on which the warning from Matthew 25:13 can be read in capitals:
- VIGILATE QUIA NESCITIS DIE (m) NEQUE HORAM
- ( Be vigilant because you don't know the day or the hour )
On the arcade arch in the transept chapel you can see the small silhouette of a crawling naked man.
In the southern arm of the transept
On the inside of the arcade arch of the transept chapel, six people standing upright were painted, four of which have survived. These have been identified as:
- St-Thomas of Canterbury (also called Thomas Becket , * December 21, 1118, † December 29, 1170),
- Pope Gregory the Great (* around 540, † March 12, 604),
- Apostle Barnabas and
- Apostle Matthias († around 63).
Gallery capitals
two crossing capitals
two crossing capitals
two crossing capitals
Capital, Atlant
two leaf capitals
Capital, crouching atlases
Capital, bent atlases
Capital, four-legged friends with crossed tails
Capital, two griffins
Leaf capital
literature
- François Arbellot: Notice sur le tombeau de Saint Junien , in: Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin, t. II, 1ère livraison, Limoges 1847, pp. 30–45 (digitized from Google Books: [1] )
- François Arbellot: Église de Saint-Junien. Imprimerie de Chapoulaud frères, Limoges 1868 ( PDF Gallica )
- Françoise de Catheu: La collégiale de Saint-Junien: le tombeau, les peintures murales. Picard, Paris 1948
- Collégiale de Saint-Junien , Impr. Lescuyer, Lyon, 21 pages (brochure, available in the church)
- Jean Becquet: Saint Israël prévôt de Saint-Junien vers l'an mil. In: Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin 120 (1992), pp. 27-32
- Charles Boutant / Henri Boutant: Les peintures de l'églises de Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne). In: Bulletin monumental 91 (1932), pp. 121-134
- Annie Cloulas-Brousseau: Les chapiteaux de la collégiale de Saint-Junien. In: Pierre Gallais / Yves-François Riou (eds.), Mélanges offerts à René Crozet à l'occasion de son 70e anniversaire par ses amis, ses collègues, ses élèves et les membres cu CESCM , vol. I, Société d'Études Médiévales, Poitiers 1966, pp. 633-637
- Paul Deschamps: Les inscriptions du tombeau de Saint Junien et la date de ses sculptures. In: Monuments et mémoires de la Fondation Eugène Piot 29 (1927/28), pp. 193-208
- René Fagé: L'église de Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne). In: Bulletin monumental 70 (1906), pp. 112–128
- Robert Favreau / Jean Michaud: Les inscriptions du tombeau de saint Junien . In: Robert Favreau, Études d'épigraphie médiévale: recueil d'articles de Robert Favreau rassemblés à l'occasion de son départ à la retraite , PULIM, Limoges 1995, pp. 82–92, previously in Le Limousin: études archéologiques. 102e Congrès national des Sociétés savantes, Limoges, 1977 , Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 1979, pp. 145–155
- Marie-Madeleine Gauthier / Jean Perrier / Albert Blanchon: Colonnes en granit du haut moyen-age conservées dans le "sépulcre" de Saint-Junien. In: Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin 88 (1961), pp. 84-92
- Erich Grau / Margit Kilian: The Limousin , Dumont Art Travel Guide 1992, DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne, pages 272–275, ISBN 3-7701-2732-3
- Hélène Grollemund: Les statues polychromes de la collégiale de Saint-Junien. In: Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin 115 (1988), pp. 73-90
- Claude Lacorre: Saint Junien, ermite au diocèse de Limoges. Notes on the données archéologiques et les archives antérieures au XIXe siècle. In: Ethnologie française 13 (1983), pp. 361-368
- Alain Mingaud: Statues inédites ou méconnues conservées à Saint-Junien. In: Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin 115 (1988), pp. 91-98
- Alain Mingaud: Les fresques romanes de la nef de l'église de Saint-Junien. In: Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin 112 (1985), pp. 20-28
- Natacha Piano: Les mosaïques de Santa Maria Nova à Rome au regard du mausolée de Saint-Junien. Les liens entre épigraphie et liturgie . In: Cahiers de civilization médiévale 47 (2004), pp. 351–370 ( Résumé )
- Eric Sparhubert: An example of the architectural program à l'époque des conciles de Latran III et IV: l'allongement du chevet de la collégiale de Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne) . In: Claude Arrignon (ed.), Cinquante années d'études médiévales: à la confluence de nos disciplines. Actes du Colloque Organizé à l'Occasion du Cinquantenaire du CESCM, Poitiers, 1st - 4th September 2003 , Brepols, Turnhout 2005, pp. 251-258
- Eric Sparhubert: Les peintures romanes de la nef de la collégiale de Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne). In: Bulletin monumental 160 (2002), pp. 233–248
- Jean-Pierre Suau: Une scène de la Vision de saint Paul à la collégiale de Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne)? In: Revue archéologique du center de la France 13 (1974), pp. 43-50
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Arbellot, Notice sur le Tombeau de Saint Junien (1847), with extension to the Chronicle malleus S. 45; see. also François Arbellot (ed.), Chronique de Maleu, chanoine de Saint-Julien, mort en 1322, publiée pour la première fois avec des notes explicatives, et suivie de documents historiques sur la ville de Saint-Junien , Barret, Saint-Junien 1847; Jean-Loup Lemaître, Note sur le texte de la Chronique d'Etienne Maleu, chanoine de Saint-Junien , in: Revue Mabillon 60 (1982), pp. 175-192
- ↑ a b c Arbellot, Notice sur le tombeau de Saint Junien (1847), p 41, p 45
- ↑ The year Maleus 1110 (Arbellot p. 45) is corrected by Arbellot to 1101 (p. 41)
- ↑ Arbellot, Notice sur le Tombeau de Saint Junien (1847), p 45
- ↑ Arbellot, Notice sur le Tombeau de Saint Junien (1847), p 41
- ↑ Arbellot, Notice sur le Tombeau de Saint Junien (1847), p 35 ( digitized at Google Books ); see. Monument funéraire (monument sépulcral) de saint Junien à Saint-Junien (87) ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the database www.patrimoine-de-france.org
- ↑ See Arbellot, Notice sur le tombeau de Saint Junien (1847), p. 33 ( digitized from Google Books ), and the entry Monument funéraire (monument sépulcral) de saint Junien à Saint-Junien (87) ( page no longer available , Search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the database www.patrimoine-de-france.org
Coordinates: 45 ° 53 ′ 16 ″ N , 0 ° 54 ′ 9 ″ E