St-Pierre (Assier)
The Saint-Pierre church in Assier is the only Renaissance building in the Lot and one of the most unusual church buildings in the south of France. It stands in the center of the municipality in the cultural landscape of the Quercy in the Occitanie region and was included in the list of Monuments historiques as early as 1840 .
Building history
The church was built in 1540 by Galiot de Genouillac (1465–1546), born in Assier , one of the highest dignitaries in France and adviser to three kings ( Charles VIII , Louis XII and Francis I ), who also commissioned it as his burial place. One of his many titles or duties was that of ' Grand Master of the Artillery of France '. It was completed three years after his death. The original church was not rebuilt or expanded, so the Church of Assier is a unique testimony to the transition style from late Gothic to Renaissance.
architecture
From a distance, the building looks like a very simple and largely unadorned Gothic church made of reddish sandstone. On the north side there is a towering tower with a square cross-section, which is accompanied by a smaller, polygonally broken stair tower and angular buttresses . The only references to Renaissance ornamentation are the west portal and the volute-like structures on the buttresses.
Frieze
A relief frieze about 60 cm high and 100 meters long with various scenes from the life of Galiot de Genouillac surrounds the entire outer wall of the church at a height of about 2.50 meters; it is cranked even around the tower and the buttresses. The individual scenes show the military heroic deeds of the builder: sieges of cities and fortresses as well as battles, weapons (cannons, etc.). Overall, the frieze is a unique testimony to military technology and clothing from the 16th century.
West portal
The double-door west portal of the church is clearly in the Renaissance style - two lateral columns carry a protruding triangular gable field with a domed pavilion above. The tympanum field of the portal shows Mary with the baby Jesus on her lap in the center, to whom the insignia of Galiot de Genouillac (sword, shield and chain of the Order of Michael donated by Louis XI. ) Are handed by two putti on the side . The scenery of the tympanum seems to be repeated in the figurative decoration of the pavilion, but the overall condition of the figurines is too poor.
inner space
The single-nave interior of the church, about 35 meters long and 10 meters wide, is spanned by a ribbed vault, which no longer rests on half-pillar templates, as is usual in Gothic, but on narrow pilaster strips . Two arms of the transept open the otherwise quite plain and rather dark-looking nave to the north and south due to the reddish sandstone; the choir apse has three double-lane windows, the top of which is formed by a fan-shaped tracery .
Burial chapel
The grave chapel, separated from the church interior by a base wall with a resting wooden portico grille with the year 1649, is located directly behind the entrance on the north side of the nave. The tomb of the builder on the outer wall consists of a substructure - resting on four columns; the 'altar' plate above bears the inscription "Après la mort bonne renownée demeure" ('After death the good reputation is preserved'). On it is a reclining figure ( gisant ) of the deceased made of reddish sandstone ; the approximately 1.50 meter high relief on the back wall shows him in the prime of his years, leaning casually on a cannon and surrounded by cannon balls, powder sacks and a harness helmet lying on the ground. The gable of the tomb is formed by two allegorical figures standing sideways and two dogs (symbols of loyalty) holding a shield with the framing chain of the Order of St. Michael. The chapel's star vault, which is folded or segmented like an umbrella, is unique in France.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Église Saint-Pierre, Assier in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
literature
- Bruno Tollon: L'église d'Assier. in: Congrès archéologique de France. 147th session, Quercy 1989 Société Française d'Archéologie, Paris 1993, pp. 125-136.
- Jean Bergue: La frise de l'église d'Assier. in: Bulletin de la Société des Études littéraires, Scientifiques et artistiques du Lot (BSEL), Vol. CVIII 1987, pp. 1-34.
Web links
- Aerial photo, photo and brief information about the church (French)
- Photos and brief information (French)
Coordinates: 44 ° 40 ′ 31.3 " N , 1 ° 52 ′ 34.7" E