Ste-Madeleine (Bédoin)
The Chapel Sainte-Madeleine in Bédoin , a commune in the Vaucluse department in the French region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur , once belonged to a priory . It was built in the second quarter of the 11th century and is one of the few examples of early Romanesque in Provence . The chapel was included in 1947 as Monument historique in the list of architectural monuments ( Base Mérimée ) in France. It has been privately owned since 1804.
history
Originally, the chapel was probably not consecrated to St. Mary Magdalene , whose veneration only spread in Provence from the 12th century. The chapel was probably given its current patronage in the 16th century.
The Sainte-Madeleine priory is probably identical to Saint-Pierre de Monastrol, one of the first priories to be subordinated to the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pierre de Montmajour . According to documents, Exmido, the landlord of Bédoin, donated the place and all the churches - including Saint-Pierre de Monastrol - to the Benedictine abbey of Montmajour, founded in 949. This donation has been confirmed by papal bulls . In 1502 the priory was subordinated to the cathedral chapter of Carpentras . The chapel was badly damaged during the French Revolution . It was restored in 1860 and 1953.
From 1970 to 1980 the chapel was used by the community around Gérard Calvet , the founder of the ancient ritualistic Benedictine abbey of Sainte-Madeleine in Le Barroux .
architecture
Exterior construction
The building is made of local limestone . The stones are roughly hewn and joined together irregularly. Only the upper storey of the tower has smoothly hewn stones and carefully grouted masonry, which suggests that construction work was resumed towards the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century.
The chapel has a rectangular floor plan. To the east are three semicircular apses, the middle of which is larger than the two on the side. They are covered with rough stone slabs.
The roof rests on cornice panels , the fronts of which are decorated with an ornamental frieze . They supporting corbels are also carved. There are rosettes to recognize or animal heads.
The square bell tower rises above the choir . It is broken up by twin windows on both floors and vaulted by a dome. Under the dome there is an octagonal, slightly recessed attic storey with small square openings.
The entrance portal is on the south side.
inner space
The chapel has three naves . The main nave is divided into two bays . It opens up in two arched arcades to the narrow side aisles, which are single-bay and covered by a continuous barrel . The arches are horseshoe-shaped and rest on massive pillars with simple, profiled spars . Only the arcades of the choir bay are supported on half-columns with carved capitals .
There is no transept . The three apses have narrow arched windows. A twin window opens in the west wall, the central column of which, like the central columns of the tower window, has a simple capital with incised decoration.
Furnishing
There are fragments of early Christian sarcophagi in the chapel . In the southern apse there is an altar from Gallo-Roman times , dedicated to the local deity Uxsacanus.
On a pillar in the south aisle is a keystone attached with the presentation of a bishop who in one hand the crosier one and in the other hand bridle holds. Here the so-called holy bridle is shown, which, according to legend, St. Helena , mother of Emperor Constantine the Great , had for her son forged from a nail of the cross of Christ . This bridle is now kept in the former Cathedral of St-Siffrein in Carpentras and venerated as a relic .
literature
- Guy Barruol, Jean-Maurice Rouquette: Routes through the Romanesque Provence . Echter Verlag , Würzburg 1993, ISBN 3-429-01506-5 , p. 87.
- Guy Barruol: Provence Romane II. La Haute-Provence . 2nd edition, Editions Zodiaque, Abbaye de la Pierre-Qui-Vire 1981, pp. 73-79.
Web links
- Chapelle de la Madeleine in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chapelle de la Madeleine in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
Coordinates: 44 ° 8 ′ 28.7 ″ N , 5 ° 9 ′ 23 ″ E