St. Matthew's Church (Jersey)
The St. Matthew's Church is a 1840 consecrated Anglican Church in the town of Saint Lawrence ( vingtaine Bas de la Vallée ) on the Channel Island of Jersey . She became known through the artistic glass work by René Lalique , who has adorned this church since 1934 and has given it the nickname Glaskirche (glass church) . With these, it is one of the most important sights on the island.
history
In order to save the residents of Millbrook the arduous way to the Parish church of St. Lawrence , which is also located on a mountain, the construction of a church was discussed in the 1830s. In 1840 the branch church , which was built with a very simple architecture, was consecrated to the apostle and evangelist Matthew . The south orientation of the church is unusual, which contradicts the east orientation otherwise usual in the Anglican Church. The corner pillars as well as the partition walls were made of Portland stone , the walls of Bath Stone .
Lady Florence Trent was the heiress of the fortune of her husband, Jesse Boots, 1st Baron von Trent (1850-1931), son of the founder of Boots UK , which he expanded into a national drugstore chain. She had the idea of decorating the interior of the church with art by the glass artist René Lalique in memory of her deceased husband . After several attempts, Lalique accepted and created all designs and z. Some of the works of art themselves. In 1934 they were executed in collaboration with local architect AB Grayson. In order to implement the artistic ideas, changes were made to the interior: The pulpit and lectern were doubled in order to strengthen the symmetry of the work.
This equipment is unique in the world: A chapel already equipped by Lalique in 1930, La Chapelle de la Vierge Fidèle (also known as Chapelle Lalique ) in the Basilica Notre-Dame de la Délivrande in Douvres-la-Délivrande in the Calvados department ( France ) whose works of art were also exhibited in 1933 during a Lalique exhibition at the Musée des Arts décoratifs , the Paris Museum of Applied Arts, were largely destroyed in the Second World War .
In the 1970s, the expansion of the vestibule into a space that could be used separately for community work was discussed, which was finally carried out by a student of Grayson in his intentions.
Lalique's glass art from 1934
- The baptismal font and the baptismal bowl inside are made entirely of glass and are likely to be the only ensemble of its kind in the world. The only signature of the artist is on it.
- The glass windows were decorated with Madonna lilies . This decoration, as well as that with jersey lilies , dominates the artistic decoration of the church as a whole.
- The Lord's Supper table is made of frosted glass and stands in front of a glass cross, which dominates the room with a height of four meters.
- The cross is flanked by two pillars and can be illuminated from within, which is where its effect really comes into its own.
- The cross and columns are also decorated with Madonna lilies.
- To the east, the room was separated by two glass walls, in which there is a Lady Chapel. The altarpiece of four angels is also made of glass.
- To the west, the room was also partitioned off by a glass wall in order to preserve the symmetry. There is a second organ, which was built on a floor made of shark skin.
literature
- St. Matthew's Church (Ed.): Welcome to St. Matthew's Church in Jersey (German). Jersey, no year of birth (approx. 2015).
- St. Matthew's Church (Ed.): St. Matthew's Church - Guidebook (English). Jersey, 2007.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 11 '53.8 " N , 2 ° 8' 32.6" W.