St-Saturnin (Belpech)
The church of Saint-Saturnin in Belpech is one of the most impressive sacred buildings in the Aude department in the Occitania region in southern France because of the still-preserved Romanesque portal of the previous building . The church, built in the Tolosan style of the 14th and 15th centuries, is the current parish church of Belpech.
Building history
The architectural history of the medieval church buildings of Belpech, almost all of which have disappeared, is largely in the dark; written documents do not exist. One thing is clear, however: In the 12th century, a previous building built in Romanesque style stood on the site of today's Gothic church - perhaps a priory church . Why this church in the 14./15. It is unclear that it was demolished and rebuilt in the 19th century (dilapidation, fire, war damage, changed tastes). The impressive Romanesque portal with the carved date 1162 was due to its dimensions and its representative design with high probability not the entrance to an insignificant parish church; However, it was retained and - an early monument conservation measure - was integrated into the substructure of the free-standing bell gable . However, why the new church was not brought up to the old portal (such as the church of Argenton-les-Vallées ) remains a further mystery.
architecture
Stone material
It is not known whether the previous Romanesque building - like the portal - was built entirely or in parts from sandstone; In any case, natural stones in the Tolosan area had to be brought from far away, which caused enormous transport costs. The Gothic church is - as is customary in the Toulouse area - built from locally baked bricks; only a few arches (portal, vault ribs, etc.) are made of sandstone.
Bell gable
The brick bell gable is adorned by a central six-pass window that is stepped back several times; the upper end is formed by two narrower (left) and two wider (right) arched arcades, each with two bells.
portal
Entirely exceptional - not only for the south of France - is standing before the actual Gothic church portal and the facade of the imposing bell gable integrated tympanonlose Romanesque west portal of the previous building dating from 1162, which already in 1906 as a monument historique was recognized. This is built entirely from light sandstone and shows a portal wall with multiple recessed columns and archivolt arches above ; the outer arch is formed by a series of mythical creatures ( chimeras ) with their heads turned backwards. In the two spandrels to the left and right above the portal there are two figure reliefs: an angel with a right hand raised in greeting (left) and a female person with hands bent in a kind of defensive position (right); Taken together, this constellation results in an annunciation scene . Between the two figures there is a labarum with the symbol of Christ consisting of the Greek letters Chi and Rho , the first letters of Christ's name . Two panels with Latin inscriptions are on the left and right of it. The final console frieze with various grimacing faces is also quite interesting .
inner space
A largely unadorned Gothic portal leads into the interior of the church. This consists of a rib vaulted nave with adjacent chapels, which - in addition to their religious and representative functions - also serve to statically stabilize the building. Some grave stelae with round tops ( stèles discoïdales ) have been set up here, which have a certain resemblance to Basque steles ( hilarri ), of which there are several examples in other regions of southern France. In addition, a stone burial of Christ from the 16th century is of interest.
Portal garments
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Portail de l'Église Saint-Saturnin in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
Coordinates: 43 ° 11 ′ 54 ″ N , 1 ° 45 ′ 8.8 ″ E