St-Romain-le-Puy (Saint-Romain-le-Puy)
Coordinates: 45 ° 33 '26 " N , 4 ° 7' 34" E
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Saint-Romain-le-Puy |
The Benedictine - priory Saint-Romain-le-Puy stands on a hill of volcanic origin ( " Puy "), which is about 80 meters above the plane of the Forez rises. Together with the associated French commune of Saint-Romain-le-Puy is the church in the Loire department in the region of Auvergne Rhône-Alpes .
history
Already in Celtic times a stone was venerated on the mountain, which is said to have healing powers. Reused pillars and bricks in the church prove that the Christian building was preceded by a pagan temple . The Celtic influence is also evident in the motifs of the relief stones ( swastikas , jumping bulls, lions) that are attached in and on the church. The pagan sanctuary was replaced by a modest chapel in the middle of the 4th century by the Gallic Saint Martin of Tours .
Between 980 and 983 built under Konrad III. Count Bouchitaleus Miles ( Bouchetal ), who lived in the area, built a church on the Puy summit and donated it to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Martin d'Ainay in Lyon , according to a document from 1488. The thus superordinate abbey initiated the expansion of the church into an enclosed priory in 1007 and appointed Aldebertus as the first prior . The monastery has since housed up to ten monks and the facility soon became inadequate. Therefore, the prior had the church extended and changed to the east: the apse was demolished, a crypt was built and a choir was built above to compensate for the height difference . 1017 these works were completed and the priory was Saint Romain (Saint Romanus), a martyr of Antioch consecrated , who in 303 under Emperor Diocletian had been murdered and whose relics were well preserved in the crypt.
The Hundred Years War made it necessary to build another wall; however, after attacks by marauders in 1434 , the church had to be restored under the prior Jean du Soleillant . Jacques de Bouthéon, a subsequent prior, had the chapel in the north and the west portal built in the 15th century , on which his coat of arms can also be seen.
From 1666 there was no more prior in the monastery; instead, a chaplain who was dependent on the Abbey of d'Ainay looked after the church. In 1684, after the secularization of both monasteries, Saint-Romain fell into disrepair and was soon uninhabitable. After the French Revolution , the church was sold several times and handed over to the community in 1885 with the proviso that it would be maintained, especially since it had already been classified as a " Monument historique " in 1862 .
Extensive restoration work took place between 1950 and 1960. The archaeological research of 1982 made it possible to determine the different construction phases since the late antiquity.
In 1982 the association "ALDEBERTUS" was founded, which since then has been taking care of the building and organizing cultural events.
architecture
A total of five creative periods can be distinguished:
- The excavations revealed two phases of construction before 980:
The crossing that still exists today must have been built on the basic plan of a trikoncho , as was customary in late antiquity since the 5th century. In this part of the building graves and remains from Gallo-Roman times worked into the church walls were found.
- After that, the building was extended to the west by the with an entablature flat-roofed nave was added.
- After the year 1000, when the monastery was equipped, the above-mentioned expansion to the east took place. The stones of the outer apse are hewn in the same way as those of the Basilica of Saint-Martin d'Ainay. A short time later, the entire interior and the outside of the choir were decorated with columns and capitals placed freely in front of the wall .
While in other parts of France at this time human figures were depicted on the capitals in a scenic context, the ornamentation in St. Romain is characteristic of the decoration of churches in the Forez. The sculptural art of the capitals is essentially characterized by geometric and floral motifs in a variety of arrangements. Wickerwork with multiple crossed loops or complicated knots, which sometimes mix with (vine) leaves, dominates. Corner volutes embed a flower; Palms, birds and mythical animals (e.g. a fire-breathing lion) are particularly depicted in the crypt. Only once is there a human mask instead of the flower; ram horns appear four times instead of the volutes, similar to those found on Coptic capitals.
The gemstones on the outside of the choir show archaic -looking motifs that refer to the Celtic influence.
- Probably not long afterwards, the walls of the nave were thickened locally, which made it possible to replace the joists with a barrel vault .
- In the 15th century the portal was designed and the chapel was built on the north wall.
The wall paintings in the church date from the 11th to the 15th centuries.
- In 1952 a fragment in the graphic style of a Sinopia was discovered in the transept . One sees a leaping lion with a fluttering mane. In his body are the words VICIT LEO (the lion has triumphed), which refers to the Apocalypse 5.5. The drawing can be dated to 1050 due to the style of the letters.
Also from the 11th century comes a rudimentary picture recently discovered under a painting from the 14th century , which probably shows Gabriel's preaching to Mary from the Gospel of Luke .
- Extensive and multicolored paintings were applied in the 12th century, of which considerable parts still exist. The column shafts of the choir and nave were decorated with geometric patterns in lively colors. In the areas under the arcades , human figures can be seen in two rows. The southern choir chapel and the southern transept each show similar motifs: above the busts of bearded men, below standing men, all with a halo and in a blessing posture. The standing men wear a miter and a pallium . You could be Archbishops of Lyons who were martyrs of the earliest days of Christianity.
Also on the pillar to the left of the chapel are two churchmen, recognizable by their clothing, of which only parts have been preserved. At least four people with coats line up on the northern choir wall, including a woman. They wear halos, but their faces are no longer preserved. In the upper row there is a large angel, of which only the lower part and a wing tip can be seen.
- Paintings from the 13th century were discovered beneath many layers of paint in the ship during work at the end of the 19th century. Under a meandering strip they show scenes of the martyrdom of St. Romanus in the prison of Antioch. The now more mature paintings strive to reproduce reality. This becomes clear in the handling of light and shadow, which makes the architecture of the building and the expression of the people appear more vivid.
- In the first field of the south wall, parts of a fourth decoration phase can be seen, which apparently belong to a cycle of saints. On the left, on a wallpaper-like background made with a stencil , is Saint Catherine , with the wheel of her martyrdom at her feet. To her right, St. Magdalena holds an open book in one hand and the ointment vessel for Jesus in the other. The women are shown gracefully and with costly robes; the slender, elegant figures and idealized faces are Gothic in style, that is, to date from the end of the 14th to the beginning of the 15th century.
Apse (early 11th century)
Detail of the apse
St Michel, crypt
Detail bell tower
15th century portal
literature
- Edouard Jeannez, Edmond Révérend du Mesnil: Saint-Romain-le Puy et Sury-le-Comtal. A. Huguet impr., Montbrison 1881, OCLC 25866862 .
- Thorsten Droste: Romanesque Art in France. DuMont Buchverlag Cologne 1989, pp. 156–157, ISBN 3-7701-2009-4 .
- Center d'études foréziennes, Fédération archéologique de la Loire, École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Saint-Étienne (ed.): Le prieuré de Saint-Romain-le-Puy. Publications de l'université, Saint-Etienne 1992, ISBN 2-85145-062-X ( online ).
Web links
- All- round view of the church (inside) on mairie-saintromainlepuy.fr
- All-round view of the system (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Histoire on mairie-saintromainlepuy.fr (August 24, 2014, French)
- ^ Philippe Rouillard: Le petit dictionnaire des Saints de tous les jours. R. Morel, Haute Provence 1962, OCLC 48196580 .
- ↑ The components indicated as being from the 16th century date from the 15th century (French Archaeological Congress, 1935).
- ↑ Un cri vers le ciel. le prieuré de Saint-Romain-le-Puy. (August 25, 2014, French)
- ↑ Le prieuré de Saint-Romain-le-Puy. Publications de l'université de Saint-Etienne, 1992.
- ↑ J.-M. de la Mure: Histoire ecclésiastique de Lyon. Lyon 1671, p. 87.