St-Vorles (Châtillon-sur-Seine)
The Romanesque church of St-Vorles stands together with the ruins of the former castle on a high plateau above the houses in the French town of Châtillon-sur-Seine in the Côte-d'Or department in the Burgundy region . Châtillon-sur-Seine lies on the banks of the Seine in the Châtillonais countryside, around 75 km north of Dijon . The church is one of the oldest Romanesque buildings in Burgundy and in the north arm of the transept contains a masterpiece of Burgundian sculpture, the Lamentation of Christ from 1527 from the Renaissance era .
history
The area around Châtillon with the nearby, 307 m high hill Mont Lassois on the Seine, which in Celtic times bore a significant oppidum Latisco , developed into one of the most important trading centers in the whole of the Hallstatt period (around 750 to 450 BC) Gaul . The small village of Vix (from Latin Vicus ), about 6 km north of Châtillon-sur Seine , has given its name to important excavations on an area of 42 hectares since the beginning of the 20th century, including a large Late Bronze , Hallstatt and Late Latène Age Necropolis could be exposed. Trade connections from the Mediterranean to the Baltic States were documented . In 1953, a farmer made a sensational discovery in a burial mound outside the official excavation site. As a result, the princely tomb of a Celtic princess from the 6th century BC was uncovered, which was particularly richly furnished with grave goods. Famous the find of is the crater of Vix , a huge jar of bronze with a height of 164 cm, a diameter of 145 cm, a weight of 208 kg and a capacity of 1200 liters. It is a preciously designed work from late Archaic Greece, around 530 BC. BC, which found its way to Burgundy via the Rhone valley .
- Gallery excavation finds in Vix
Vix Crater, Henkel
Vix Crater, detail
Vix Crater, detail
Celtic chariot
It was only around 1000 years after the burial in Vix that there was evidence of settlement in Châtillon-sur-Seine . The history of the Church of St-Vorles can be traced back to the 4th century. At the end of the 5th century, St. Deodatus (French Didier ) is said to have built an oratorio in its place , originally dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Grâces (“Mary full of grace”).
In the 8th century, the inhabitants of the then unfortified lower town were expelled. They withdrew to the hill on which St-Vorles is today and fortified it with a spacious fort, which later gave the village its name. The fortified place extended over the whole plateau, which today is largely occupied by the cemetery and the church.
The transfer of the relics of St. Vorelius (French Vorles ) (* around 530; † 591) in 868 is likely to be related to a small new church. Saint Vorelius was closely related to the Burgundian royal family . His bones were initially kept in a stone sarcophagus. This Carolingian church has been partially excavated and is now preserved in a modified form as a crypt under the northern arm of the transept . She was looked after by the priests of the cathedral of Langres, about 70 km to the west .
In the years 980 to 1016 , a new, much larger early Romanesque church was built, mainly at the suggestion of Bruno de Roucy , the bishop of Langres (980-1016), the main parts of which are still preserved, albeit through numerous modifications and additions is disfigured. It was built on a cross plan, a three-nave nave with westwerkartigem stem, a transept with widely spread arms and precipitated crossing and a stepped choir on the pattern of roughly the same time built church of Cluny II. Most likely was the choir received with a semicircular apse of four staggered transept chapels flanked with apsidioles. Today's transept and choir yoke barrel vaults are still the original. The central nave , which was exposed to light from small windows above the vaults, must also have been vaulted over a barrel. The groin vaults in the side aisles and the western narthex with the gallery chapel above are also originally . It is not known whether this originally also had a tower, but it can be assumed. In any case, the narthex was covered on both sides by gable roofs running across the nave, reminiscent of a transept. Today you can see the contours of the sloping roof of this roof on the southeast side of the tower. The relics of St. Vorelius were transferred to the new building and housed there in the high altar .
Around the same time as the new church was being built, the priests of Langres Cathedral set up a canons' monastery in the newly constructed convent building , in which they also founded the Collège Notre-Dame , a school that soon became a high-ranking institution. St. Bernard was one of their students around 1090 (* around 1090; † August 20, 1153; French Bernard ). He is said to have stayed frequently in the original Marian oratorio, today's Chapelle St-Bernard in the crypt. Our Lady is said to have appeared to him there.
In the 12th century, the crossing tower was rebuilt around a lantern with a window on each side and a correspondingly raised crossing dome. The remains of the fort and the once stately castle on its southeast side, which are still preserved today, date from the 12th and 14th centuries. This fortress was the most important of the Dukes of Burgundy and the Bishops of Langres, not least because of its proximity to the county of Champagne and the Kingdom of France. The defense tower Tour de Gissey was built in the 14th century and forms the northern corner of the lower perimeter wall. Its name comes from an important family in the Chatillon area.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, after the two north-western transept apsidioles had been demolished, the Carmel Chapel and the Ste-Thérèse Chapel with rectangular floor plans were added. They probably received this patronage later.
There is no evidence for the dating of the extension of the Holy Cross chapel on the south-east wall in the area of the third and fourth yoke. Its Gothic ribbed vaults indicate that it was built between 1140 and 1500.
Around 1527, a masterpiece of Burgundian Renaissance sculpture was created, the Entombment Group, which is now set up in the north arm of the transept. It originally comes from the Franciscan church of Châtillon, which was destroyed during the French Revolution (1789 and subsequent years).
The castle was razed by King Henry IV in 1598 at the request of the residents of Châtillon after the Wars of Religion (1562–1598).
- Gallery fortress ruins
Tour de Gissey
Two colored wooden panels, which are hung in the north arm of the transept, date from the 16th century. Presumably they originally belonged to a winged altar.
In the first quarter of the 17th century, the church underwent considerable renovations and extensions. This is how the extension of the St Bernard Chapel of the crypt on the north-west side was created, in the area of the nave bays three and four, which at the same time enabled inner access to the crypt with the help of a staircase. As a replacement for the two south-eastern transept apsidioles that had previously been demolished, the Rosary Chapel (French: Chapelle du Rosaire ) , which had a rectangular floor plan, was added. Likewise, in the early 17th century, the central nave was given its current groin vaulting and lost direct light through the clasp windows on the lower edge of the vault. In the same century, the small vestibule in front of the main portal was built as a weather protection and the central bell and defense tower was rebuilt.
The sources do not provide any information about the whereabouts of the convent buildings of the monastery and the college. They probably disappeared towards the end of the 18th century in the years after the revolution, when many church properties were sold for demolition.
There is also no evidence of the addition of the sacristy on the northeast side of the rosary chapel. It should have been built in the 19th century.
During the 20th century, St-Vorles was renovated three times, between 1927 and 1934, between 1959 and 1974 and in the 1990s. These renovations also included an almost completely white coating of the wall and vault surfaces, which may appear archaic to today's observer , but is not original. What was hidden is what was once completely colored painting, which made the room appear mystical and dark. The frescoes were probably so badly damaged that preservation, apart from a few remaining areas, was out of the question.
Building
Dimensions approx., As the drawing is not scale, estimated from the door width of the side entrance (approx. One meter). Dimensions without pillar templates.
- Total length early Roman. Church (outside): 39.60 m
- Total length as before with vestibule (outside): 42.40 m
- Width of the nave (outside): 16.70 m
- Width of the nave (inside): 14.50 m
- Central nave width (inside): 5.60 m
- Transept length (outside): 27.60 m
- Transept length (inside): 25.40 m
- Width of transept (outside): 7.40 m
- Width of transept (inside): 5.60 m
- Transept overhang (outside): 5.40 m
- Entrance hall (outside): 6.00 × 2.80 m
The building is not oriented with its choir head to the east as usual, but to the northeast. This may have something to do with its location on the north-western edge of the plateau and / or with the adoption of the orientation of the previous buildings.
Exterior construction
West building
A central bell tower, which is almost square in plan, towers over the ridge of the central nave a considerable distance. It is said to have received its present appearance as a fortified tower in the 17th century. The smooth plastered walls without structures are pierced in the upper area on each side by two round-arched openings, in each of which two sound lamellas are built. The tower walls are closed off by a quarter-round cantilever cornice, on which the eaves of the wooden helmet rest in the form of a steep pyramid. The lower edge of the helmet is slightly flared outwards. Its roofing consists of gray slate shingles. Its top is crowned by a Latin cross made of metal on which a gold-plated weathercock turns.
The tower was originally flanked on both sides in the manner of a transept by two-storey arms, the gable roofs of which run at an angle of about 30 degrees across the nave. Today this saddle roof is missing on the southeast side, but the contours of its former connection to the tower are still preserved. The gable roof was replaced by a continuation of the pent roof of the southeast side aisle up to the facade wall. On the north-west side of the tower, the arm of the west building is almost as originally preserved, the appearance of which shows influences from earlier Ottonian west buildings of churches. The two floors of the western transept are crowned by a tower and are reminiscent of Rhenish churches. Here, too, there is a different gable roof contour, which shows that the original roof was more steeply inclined than the current one. The edges of the three walls of the north-western arm are decorated with flat pilaster strips over the entire height, which are connected to each other above with arched friezes , on the gable wall even halfway up the wall. This type of decoration is characteristic of Lombard architecture, which can be found in the Church of St-Philibert in Tournus , but it is less common in northern Burgundy. In the north-western gable wall, a small, round-arched, slim window is left open on the ground floor, and another, somewhat larger one on the upper floor. The facade walls to the side of the tower are windowless. In the south-east wall of the west building, a larger round-arched window has been left out, with slightly flared walls and a small rectangular opening just below the eaves. The front edges of the east building are subsequently stiffened with wide, projecting buttresses , which are rectangular in plan and whose sloping top ends a little below the eaves. The pillar standing on the edge of the component is rotated 45 degrees.
In the center of the west facade is a small, open, two-storey porch with a rectangular floor plan. At a height of almost three meters, the outer walls recede a little with a beveled offset and end at a height of a good six meters with a slightly profiled cantilever cornice . Above it rises half a hipped roof with about 30 degrees of tilt that with red brick is covered. The ridge is crowned by a slightly conical short post with an onion-shaped knob . At the front, the interior of the vestibule opens up to a width of about three meters and is covered by a basket-shaped barrel vault, at the front edge of which a wedge arch extends to the surface of the lower wall section. Immediately on this arch is a deep wall niche that is covered by a flat segment arch. On both sides in the lower area of the niche, there are two cantilever consoles with a rounded bottom. Presumably it was carrying a wooden beam that belonged to a former small canopy. Two rectangular openings arranged one above the other are cut out on the northwest side. The upper one probably opens up the second floor of the vestibule. The portal opening leading into the church is rectangular.
Longhouse with extensions
The three-aisled nave extends on a rectangular floor plan between the "west building" and the transept. The walls of the central nave protrude a short distance from the monopitch roofs of the side aisles, but remain without windows. The central nave is covered by a gable roof with an incline of about 30 degrees, the side aisles by monopitch roofs of the same inclination. The roofs are covered with light gray, rather thick stone slabs, which indicate a high weight. The eaves consist of simple beveled cantilever cornices on each of which a layer of larger horizontally cantilevered stone slabs rests. The bottom row of stone slab cladding protrudes above it, from which rainwater can drip off freely.
The inner division of the nave into four bays can be recognized by the buttresses that were subsequently attached to the longitudinal walls and that were beveled on the top and had a rectangular cross-section. Above the pent roof ridges of the side aisles, the only short pieces protrude, the sloping tops of which are led to just below the eaves. The buttresses of the free side aisle walls of yokes one and two end on the south-east side a little below the cornices, while those on the north-west side extend significantly further and reach under the cornice. That will have to do with the proximity to the steeply sloping terrain. The pillars of the side aisles have three-sided, almost one meter high protruding plinths above the floor. In the walls of yokes one and two, on the south-east side, slender, round-arched windows a good two meters high are recessed with slightly expanded walls; on the north-west side, these windows are significantly smaller.
In bays three and four, chapels were subsequently added on both sides of the nave, the longitudinal walls of which end with the gable walls of the transept, the two-storey extension of the St Bernard Chapel in the northwest and the Holy Cross Chapel in the southeast. The St Bernard Chapel is covered with a monopitch roof, the ridge of which is just below the eaves of the aisle. The lower rows of the roofing made of red clay shingles are slightly more flat. In its long wall there are two larger arched windows with widened, inwardly grooved walls, in its head wall there is a small ox's eye , which is equipped with tracery in the form of a quatrefoil .
The Holy Cross Chapel is covered with a gable roof in the longitudinal direction, with an incline of about 30 degrees. It is covered with thick dark gray stone slabs. The eaves facing the nave connects a little above the aisle eaves to the roof surface of the aisle, where a V-shaped gutter made of copper sheet has been arranged between the roofs, which is drained via a copper downpipe. The eaves on the southeast side are similar to that of the aisle. The verges on the southwest side are formed with wide cantilever cornices, over which the piled verge stones protrude slightly. The longitudinal wall is stiffened by three buttresses with beveled tops, the pillar standing at an angle on the edge of the building element is significantly wider. The pillars and walls have the same bases as those on the side aisles. Slender arched windows with flared and grooved walls are recessed between the pillars. In the south-west wall, slightly offset from the center of the ship, a round-arched door has been cut out, the wedge-shaped arch of which stands on profiled transom profiles . In the middle above the door, approximately at the level of the pillar ends, a circular wall niche is cut out, which is framed by a wedge stone ring flush with the surface.
Transept with crossing and transept chapels
The transept protruded - in front of the chapels extension - from the nave by 5.40 meters. The eaves heights of the transept arms are roughly level with the pent roof ridges of the side aisles. They are covered with gable roofs, which are similar to that of the central nave, in terms of covering, inclination and eaves formation.
The walls of the transept arms are decorated on all sides with ornamental structures, as can be found on the walls of the north-western arm of the "west building". The gable walls are closed off at the component edges with wide pilaster strips . The wall surfaces in between are divided vertically into three equally wide fields with two pilaster strips that are half as wide. These fields are closed at the top, a piece below the verges, with arched friezes made up of two arches each. Such structures are embedded in the triangular wall surfaces of the northeast and southwest sides.
In the north-western gable wall, a large, arched window with flared walls is cut out in the middle section. Two similar but clearly smaller windows are housed in the side panels, the apex heights of which are at the height of the parapet of the central window. In the south-east gable wall there is only the middle window.
The crossing tower got its present shape in the 12th century. Even if the crossing is slightly rectangular in plan, the crossing tower appears to be exactly square on the outside. It is divided into two floors.
The lower one forms a kind of lantern of the crossing tower and hides the crossing dome at the top. It has sides that correspond to the width of the central nave and protrudes a short distance above the ridge of the central nave. The side surfaces are bordered vertically by two wide and two narrow pilaster strips, corresponding to the transept gable walls, and divided into three fields, which are closed at the top by arched friezes made up of two arches each. In the middle fields a round arched window is cut out on three sides, on the southwest side the roof of the central nave does not allow such a window. The windows illuminate the crossing. The roof of the lower storey has the shape of a truncated cone inclined about 20 degrees, on the horizontal upper side of which the upper tower storey emerges. It has a much smaller square outline than the one below.
It is enclosed almost halfway up by a cantilever profile on which there is a twin arcade opening on each side, the edges of which are bevelled. Their arches stand together on a column with a simple capital. Above the twin arcade there are smaller openings in different shapes, such as a four-pass opening, an opening with two round arches, a three-pass opening and a double circular opening. The upper storey is completed by a profiled cantilevered cornice on simply carved cantilever consoles. It is covered by a pyramid-shaped roof with an incline of about 20 degrees. The roof surfaces of the tower are covered with gray stone slabs, as on the roofs of the transept arms, the lower rows of which protrude slightly above the eaves.
Two transept chapels adjoin the north-west side of the choir, the Carmel Chapel and the Ste-Thérese Chapel. Both have the width of their former predecessor chapels of the staggered choir. The first is on the ground plan of a long rectangle that considerably exceeds the curve of the choir apse. It is covered by a gable roof, the ridge of which is level with the eaves of the choir yoke and the head end is hipped. A large ogival window originally opened in the head wall, which is now walled up on the inside. The garment is flared and fluted outwards. Its edge is broken by a round bar. The former window contains high Gothic tracery . In the free north-west wall there is a large, arched window, the edges of which are bevelled.
The Ste-Thérèse chapel has a rectangular floor plan, but is much shorter. It is covered by a pent roof, a towed roof as an extension of the gable roof of the neighboring chapel. In the head wall of the chapel, a twin window is cut out, the pointed arches of which are double bulged. The walls are profiled twice and widened outwards. The arches stand together on a very slender column, which is accompanied by two round bars. A small ox-eye is also left out between the arches, the inner circular ring of which is bulged out five times.
The eaves of both chapels consist only of larger horizontally projecting stone slabs of the roofing over which the first row of the sloping roofing rests and protrudes slightly.
A transept chapel - the Rosary Chapel - adjoins the southeast side of the choir, which has been expanded to include a sacristy in modern times. The rosary chapel replaced the original two apsidioles of the relay choir. It stands on a rectangular floor plan that is as long as the arm of the transept and slightly wider than the length of the choir bay. The chapel is covered with a gable roof at an incline of about 30 degrees. Its ridge remains just below the eaves of the transept arm. A V-shaped throat was created between this roof and the wall of the choir bay, which is lined with sheet copper as a gutter. Its rainwater is drained off via a downpipe. Its open eaves are designed like that of the nave. In the south-east wall there is a round arched window with flared and scalloped walls. In the north-east wall there were probably two windows, or only one, where the passage to the sacristy is today. There is no indication of their number or shape. The sacristy, the width of which corresponds roughly to that of the chapel, is built on the north-east wall at the same length. It is covered by a half hipped roof, the eaves and ridge heights of which remain well below those of the chapel. The roof covering of the sacristy, like that of the chapel, corresponds to that of the other additions to the choir head, as does the eaves formation of the sacristy. The sacristy has cantilevered buttresses, rotated by 45 °, with sloping upper sides. On the three free sides there is also one less protruding buttress. The only window in the sacristy is recessed on its southeast side and is rectangular.
Choir
The choir and its apse are almost completely covered by their later additions, but its shape can be seen from the northeast. The choir bay, which is almost square in plan, is covered by a gable roof, the heights, inclinations, roofing and eaves design match those of the transept arm. The side walls, the upper areas of which protrude above the roofs of the extensions, are structured with wide pilaster strips at the wall ends, which are connected to one another at the top with arched friezes made of five arches. Remains of the formerly higher arched windows are still preserved under the central arches. The choir apse, which is semicircular in floor plan, is attached to the gable wall of the choir bay and is slightly receding on the sides. It is covered by an equally inclined half-conical roof, the roof areas of which are well below the verges of the choir yoke. The curve of the wall is structured with six narrow pilaster strips, which are connected at the top with arched friezes made up of two arches each. In the central space there is a larger, slender and arched window, the walls of which are flared and grooved outwards. Its parapet is about halfway up the wall. The neighboring spaces each house a somewhat smaller, otherwise identically designed window.
Interior
West building
The west building is two-story, with the narthex on the ground floor and a significantly higher upper floor above. The narthex is entered from the outside through a rectangular portal. It is divided into three parts corresponding to the nave. The small middle room is separated from the sides by arched arcades and covered by a barrel vault. The arcade arch through which one enters the central nave is remarkable. It is a horseshoe arch , the northernmost known to architectural history. As far as the influence of Islamic Spain was enough , because the horseshoe arch, which emerged from late Roman and Visigoth art, became a significant stylistic element of Arabic architecture in the early Middle Ages. The arch stands on clearly protruding wall templates, its arch approaches are marked by Kämpfert profiles. The two side rooms of the narthex are covered by ribbed vaults: both are lit through small arched windows. The north-western room opens into the aisle with a round arched arcade that is significantly lower than the belt arches of the aisles. A round-arched niche is let into its southwest wall. The south-eastern room of the narthex has a staircase leading to the upper floor and is separated from the aisle by a closed wall.
The upper floor again consists of three rooms. The central room is a gallery chapel that is slightly narrower than the central nave. It is covered by a ribbed vault, which is approximately at the level of the central nave vault. It has a circular opening at the top, which is framed by a high circular ring and is intended to be used for the vertical transport of bells, building materials and tools. The side rooms can be reached via small doors. The height of the south-eastern area has been reduced by the later change in the shape of the roof.
Longhouse with extensions
The nave stands on a rectangular floor plan, is divided lengthways into three naves and crossways into four bays. The two partition walls, which at the top also form the outer walls of the central nave, divide the ship. The partition walls stand on sharp-edged, partly slightly pointed and heavily stilted arcade arches, which flow "smoothly" into the pillars at a height of two meters above the floor without capitals. Below this transition, the pillars have the unusual cross-section of a square pillar core, to which flat templates in the shape of segmental arches are superimposed, or in other words, from a mixture of a round pillar from which the edges of a square pillar protrude (see sketch). On the sides of the aisles, the "flowing" transitions between the segment arch-shaped pillar templates and the rising rectangular wall pillars are almost two meters higher, which extend below the approaches of the belt arches of the vaults, which are only marked with transom profiles in the central nave. The edges of the pillars follow the stilts of the partition arches above two meters above the ground on both sides of the ship and then the higher rectangular wall pillars to the arches where they merge into the ridges of the vaults. The arcade to the crossing corresponds to the rest of the central nave.
The side aisles are covered by the original groin vaults , which are separated yoke-wise by sharp-edged belt arches. The sharp-edged belt arches of the central nave separate the groin vaults, which were added later in the 17th century, the apexes of which are decorated with round keystones. The arcades in the transept walls correspond to the other aisles.
In the south-western wall of the central nave, arched arcades open to the same width on the ground floor and first floor. The slightly smaller arcade with the above-mentioned horseshoe arch immediately follows on the ground floor with a clear setback. The arch of the upper arcade is level with the central nave arches. This opening has a horizontal closure at the bottom, on which a wooden balustrade is attached.
- Gallery longhouse
Southeast. Aisle z. Choir
Northwest aisle
Northwest Aisle to the rear
Southeast. Aisle from transept
Southeast. Central nave vault
The extension of the St-Bernard chapel in the basement of the crypt under the north-western transept arm extends over yokes three and four and is as wide as the inside of the transept arm. It is covered by two groin vaults, which are separated by a belt arch that stands on pillars. The arch approaches are marked with fighter profiles. At the height of the church floor, the pillars are interrupted by capitals. The former outer walls of the aisle open up to a pillar in the middle with round arched sharp-edged arcades. In the north-west wall of the extension, two arched windows with widened walls are cut out. In the south-west wall, at the level of the church floor, a small ox-eye with quatrefoil is cut out, which is surrounded by strongly flared and profiled walls. On the same wall, a long stone flight of stairs leads from the aisle down to the crypt. The crypt under the arm of the transept opens almost its entire width towards the extension and is obviously covered by a modern concrete ceiling. It does not have its own window. At the top of the wall there is an apsidiole, as it appeared in the staggered choir on the ground floor. In the middle of the apse is a small rectangular niche, which may have originally been a window. On the right side of the crypt, crouching down, you come to a very archaic-looking room in which there is a small stone altar. The walls and floor consist partly of the rock and are supplemented with very primitive masonry. Perhaps it is one of the oldest sanctuaries on this site.
- St Bernard Chapel Gallery
St Bernard Chapel from extension
Ascent from St-Bernard Chapel
Ox-eye St Bernard Chapel
Archaic sanctuary
On the opposite side of the nave is the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which is roughly the same size in plan. Its floor is two steps above that of the nave. Two arcades with sharp-edged round arches open up to it across the entire width of the yoke. Their approaches are marked by fighter profiles. It is covered by two Gothic ribbed vaults, which are separated by a slightly tapered belt arch. The cross ribs are delicately profiled. Their crowns are equipped with round keystones . One of them bears a coat of arms on which two horned rams face each other; above which a big-eared angel peeks out. The rib approaches stand on consoles with head sculptures and profiled fighters. The semicircular, also pointed connections of the vault gussets on the walls and arches are filled with half profiled ribs. In the south-western end wall there is a round-arched door and, further above, a circular niche with expanded and profiled walls.
- Gallery Heiligkreuzkapelle
Keystone ribbed vault
Console under cross rib
Console under cross rib
Console under cross rib
Transept with crossing and transept chapels
The transept arms stand out clearly opposite the nave and flank the crossing on both sides . They are divided almost in half by round-arched, sharp-edged arcades as an extension of the outer walls of the aisle. These sections are covered by barrel vaults oriented transversely to the main nave, which are slightly higher than the crossing arcades. The vaults emerge from the walls without a caesura. In the upper part of the gable wall of the north-western arm of the transept, three slender, arched windows with flared walls are recessed, a larger one in the middle, and two smaller ones arranged on the sides and significantly lower. In the gable wall of the southeastern arm of the transept there is only the larger window. The north-east walls of the transept arms originally opened with two arched arcades into the former chapels with apsidioles of the relay choir. These arcade openings are preserved in the south-eastern arm, both of which open into the rosary chapel. It is covered by two rectangular groin vaults, which are about halfway separated from each other by a belt arch. A round arched window is cut out in the free outer wall. In the right half of the chapel a door opens into the sacristy. This has a somewhat wider rectangular floor plan, similar to the Rosary Chapel, and is also vaulted. It is also illuminated by a single window in the south-east wall. In the north-western arm of the transept, the arcade opening of the former outer chapel has been walled up and remains as a wall niche. The second arcade opening next to the choir opens up two chapels connected to one another by an arched arcade opening, the Carmel chapel next to the choir and the outer chapel Ste-Thérese. Both stand on elongated rectangular floor plans. The Carmel Chapel is significantly longer than its neighbor. Both are covered by semicircular barrel vaults on which remains of dark plaster paintings are still preserved. The vaults in both chapels are divided into two sections by a belt arch. The vault approaches are marked by a profiled cantilever cornice.
The not quite square crossing is enclosed on three sides by arcades that correspond to the arcade in the northeast wall of the central nave. The triumphal arch to the choir yoke, which is formed by its walls and barrel vault, has the same elevation . Above these arcades, the crossing walls rise a good bit further and with their three arched windows form the basement, or the “lantern” of the crossing tower. Shortly above the windows, triangular trumpets are inserted in the crossing corners, which lead to the barely perceptible, almost circular edge of the crossing dome.
- Gallery transept chapels
Rosary chapel from transept
Carmel Chapel
Carmel Chapel choir wall
Chapel of Ste-Thérèse
Choir
The choir yoke stands on a slightly rectangular floor plan and is covered by a semicircular barrel vault, the height of which corresponds to that of the crossing arcades. The choir apse following the yoke stands on a semicircular floor plan, which is slightly indented opposite the choir yoke. It is covered by half a dome, which remains well below the height of the yoke. The walls of the yoke and the apse merge into the vault without a break. In the apse apse three round arched windows have been left out, with widened walls and steeply sloping parapets. They are the same height, but the middle window is a little wider. The walls of the choir are clad with wooden choir stalls below the window parapets.
Equipment (selection)
A masterpiece of Burgundian sculpture is the Lamentation of Christ from 1527 in the northwestern arm of the transept, which comes from the destroyed Franciscan church of Châtillon. The eleven life-size figures dressed in contemporary (16th century) robes are reproduced in the tomb of Christ as if in a snapshot. Far sweeping and dramatic, the movements are meticulous and true to detail - the facial features, robes and headgear. On the long side of the tumba there is a relief depicting the twelve apostles. Eleven individual persons stand and kneel around the body of Christ in a semicircle, the arrangement of which does not have to be the original.
The following people are shown from left to right: On the far left is one of the two soldiers (No. 1) who are supposed to guard the grave. The two significantly smaller donor figures kneel beside him and pray (No. 2 and 3). This is followed by Joseph of Arimathea (No. 4) and the disciple Maria Salome (No. 5). The focus is on Mary , the mother of Jesus, to whom the disciple John turns to comfort (nos. 6 and 7). They are followed by Mary, the mother of James (No. 8) and Mary Magdalene (No. 9), who both hold anointing vessels in their hands. The Pharisee Nicodemus (No. 10), with a long beard and a turban-like headgear , also carries a larger vessel with myrrh and aloes . The group is closed by the second soldier in armor on the far right (No. 11). The size of the people decreases from the outside in, which is intended to underline the depth of the group.
- Gallery Lamentation of Christ
Châtillon, Lamentation of Christ
Guard outside left, u. both donors
Lamentation of Christ, middle part
Lamentation of Christ, right section
Tumba with body of Jesus
Guard on the far left
Benefactor
Joseph of Arimathea
Maria Salome
Mary, mother of Jesus and disciple Johannes
Mary, mother of James
Mary Magdalene
Guard on the far right
Nicodemus, 2nd from right
In this transept arm hang two painted wooden panels from the 16th century, which probably originally belonged to a winged altar.
In the central wall niche of the apse of the Chapel of St. Bernard stands a colored wooden Madonna enthroned with the baby Jesus on her lap. He offers the gesture of blessing with his rake and holds a ball in his left hand. The Madonna probably comes from the Romanesque , towards the end of the 12th century.
Another sculpture depicts a standing, crowned Madonna with the baby Jesus in her arms, who is holding an open book in her hands. The sculpture is almost entirely white, the crown and the edges of the robe are gold-plated. It probably originates from the Gothic period , from the middle to the end of the 14th century.
The small figure of a floating angel hangs freely in the apex of the belt arch in the Holy Cross Chapel.
In this chapel there is a crucifixion group above the altar, a compilation of figures that come from a different context and were more or less arbitrarily put together here. The ensemble consists of a base with a Corinthian column , on it a crucifix , on the base an emblematic representation of Memento mori with the skull (see also the skull of Abraham on Golgotha at the feet of the crucified) and with instruments of suffering (scourge column, cross and others). The whole is flanked by two chandelier angels. The small busts on either side at the base of the sculpture are probably reliquaries with small openings through which one could see the relics.
To the left of the cross stands the sculpture of John the Baptist on a console with the gestus ecce agnus dei (Lamb of God lying on a book), to the right of it the Apostle Andrew with the St. Andrew's cross .
One could suspect an epitaph in the forms of the late Renaissance and the early transition to the Baroque, especially in the case of the moving chandelier angels, but one would have to know the inscription on the table.
On the right wall pillar in the north-western arm of the transept, a large, partially gilded crook is fixed upright, to which a lantern is attached under a protective roof. The crook is the insignia of a bishop or abbot. Perhaps it is intended to commemorate the founder of the Romanesque church, Bruno de Roucy , the Bishop of Langres .
On the remains of a fresco, a figure in a nun's costume is depicted, carrying a crucifix and whose hands show stigmata .
The ox-eye in the crypt extension is shown in its quatrefoil tracery, a glass painting, with various architectures, in the center of which stands the Mother of God, who holds the hand of her standing son. To the right of it sits a white dog in a building.
- Gallery equipment
Angels in the Holy Cross Chapel
Quatrefoil, stained glass
Fresco remnants
Virgin Mary statue
Crook
Mary enthroned with the child
Source de la Douix
Below the hill on which St-Vorles rises, the Source de la Douix rises , the water of which flows into the Seine after a few meters. The karst spring is nourished by a ramified system of underground watercourses. Normally 600 liters per second arise there, after heavy rainfall the amount can rise to 3000 liters per second.
The spring has always been a center of attraction. Already at the beginning of our age it was coveted as a healing spring. A short time ago, pieces of bread were thrown into the spring at Candlemas to honor it. Despite all the underground research in a more than 180 m long tunnel in the limestone, the karst spring still holds a number of secrets.
literature
- Thorsten Droste : Burgundy. Monasteries, castles, historic cities and the culture of viticulture in the heart of France. 3rd, updated edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-7701-4166-0 , pp. 239-240.
- Rolf Tomann (Ed.): Burgundy. Architecture, art, landscape. Text by Ulrike Laule. Photographs by Achim Bednorz. Könemann, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-8290-2707-9 , pp. 108-111.
- Susanne Feess: Burgundy (= Baedeker Allianz travel guide ). Karl Baedeker, Ostfildern 2008, ISBN 978-3-87504-537-6 , pp. 192-193.
- Local signs to the ruins of the château, the karst spring of the Douix and the Tour de Gissey . French Texts
Web links
- ho-net.nl pictures and French texts
- Saint Vorles, short biography (French)
Coordinates: 47 ° 51 ′ 30 " N , 4 ° 34 ′ 35.5" E