Cathdrale Saint Lazare Of Autun

Cathedral Saint-Lazare in Autun
Overview of the building
Contact	46 56 '42 "North 4 17 '57 "East / 46945, 4.299167
Country	France
Region	Burgundy
Department	Saone-et-Loire
City	Autun
Worship	Roman Catholic
Type	Cathedral
Attached to	Diocese of Autun, Chalon and Macon (headquarters)
Construction begins	1120
Work Completed	1146 Important Changes to the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries
Style (s) dominating (s)	Novel Gothic
Protection	Historic Monument ( 1840 )
Location
Geolocation on the map: France
change

Cathedral Saint- Lazare of Autun was built in the ^twelfth century , and consecrated as Cathedral at the end of this century, replacing the cathedral of Saint-Nazaire.

The first cathedral was built in Autun from the ^fifth century, later dedicated to Saint Nazaire (there is a chapel of the ^fourteenth century). The Cathedral of St. Lazarus was designed by Etienne de Bage to keep the relics of that saint, until within the former building.

Started around 1120 , it was completed in 1146 , the porch was completed a few years later. It is built on the model of the abbey of Paray-le-Monial. It has, as at Cluny and Paray, a barrel vault broken, built shortly after his consecration as a cathedral, because of the added flying buttresses at the time. A spire was built in 1469 by Cardinal Rolin (son of Chancellor Rolin ), above the transept , in place of a Romanesque bell tower was destroyed by lightning. It reaches 80 m in height.

Plan of the cathedral of Autun

In 1766 , the building had to undergo more distress to the canons of the cathedral chapter in a more baroque style . The lateral portal and tympanum were destroyed and the stones reused to build houses nearby. The famous Temptation of Eve was therefore included in a wall before being rediscovered. The rood screen and the monumental tomb of St. Lazarus, who was behind the choir area were also dismantled (the remaining statues of the tomb are exhibited at the museum Rolin ). Entire space of the choir was destroyed, including the mosaic ^of the 12th century, replaced by a stone nine. The famous Last Judgement tympanum Gislebert was covered with plaster, the canons of the then ruling in bad taste. This earned him preserved in vandalism of the revolutionary period that took targeted, among others, eardrums and lintels of churches Sane-et-Loire ^{, ,} . It was rediscovered in 1837 and restored. The head of Christ , having been cut during the first plaster and kept in the Rolin museum next door, has been called up in 1948.

The Cathedral and the neighborhood (uptown or High-quarters) and the city average, are integrated into a protected area of 74 ha since 1973. This area has many exciting places.

Description

The eardrum

Eardrum The Last Judgement

This is the most remarkable of the cathedral. Exceptionally, we know the name of the sculptor who was at least the author of Judgement: This is Gislebert , who signs his name at the feet of Christ (Gyslebertus hoc fecit) .

Can be decomposed into a central scene depicting Christ in Majesty, above a lintel and flanked by two arches, the outer with many figurative medallions with representations of zodiacal signs and work in different months of the year. This is supported by columns with capitals historiated.

The central scene is a Last Judgement , with Christ in mandorla. It has many classic elements of this topic:

• resurrection of the dead, some of which already face mask, others wear the emblems of the Locust ( coquille Saint-Jacques );
• the foolish virgin breasts bitten by snakes, representing lust ;
• a Christ overlooking the huge stage;
• to his right, St. Pierre brings the righteous in Paradise; above, great emphasis is made to the Virgin Mary interceding;
• to the left of Christ, takes place the weighing of souls, as usual in such scenes, the Devil cheats by pressing the balance, but exceptionally the archangel St. Michael also cheat in favor of humans. Hell occupies a small place.

It was therefore optimistic representation of the Last Judgement, in line with the prosperous period of its realization.

The pier is much later date since the ^nineteenth century and represents St. Lazarus and his two sisters. Judged barbaric by the canons the eardrum was plastered by them in 1766. Shortly after the passage of Stendhal in Autun, extricated the other canons, without the head missing to Christ. Only after the Second World War that the Canon Denis Grivot gave it to him.

During the summer of 2009, the tympanum being restored is covered with a tarp reproduction in sham and size. It was withdrawn Nov. 9, 2009. The restoration lasted from June to October. Two art restorers have renovated the sculptures using micro-laser, micro-blasting and solvent buffer depending on the nature of the stone. Blackish hue of one of the arches disappeared. Seven fragments of the Museum's reserves Rolin find their place, including a lock of Christ, his head was slightly repositioned. This operation has cost 110 000 euros, including 20 000 for an anti pigeons also used to Fribourg and Bern. The eardrum is restored inaugurated November 13, 2009 in the presence of bishops and provincial authorities.

Interior

Pillars of the nave

The Martyrdom of Saint Symphorien, oil on canvas by Dominique Ingres (1834), is on display at the entrance to the sacristy.

The aisles are central and lateral arch broken, non-cons balanced, originally by flying buttresses , making the whole rather unstable. These were added to the XIII ^century.

The chancel was rebuilt in the ^fifteenth century -style Gothic and the stained glass windows dating from the ^nineteenth and ^twentieth century.

Of capitals historiated adorn the columns of the nave. Although impressive, they are not very visible due to their remoteness and the relative darkness.

The cathedral has a great picture of Dominique Ingres depicting the martyrdom of Saint Symphorien , located at the entrance to the sacristy.

Shortly before the entrance to the chapter house are the funerary statues of Pierre Jeannin and Anne Guniot who saved many lives during the massacre of St. Bartholomew.

The Chapter House

Old library, the chapter house now comprises about thirty tents, carried out mostly by Gislebertus , and extracted during the renovation of the pillars supporting the tower by Eugne Viollet-le-Duc. The capitals represent biblical scenes or extraordinary creatures.

The chapter house at the Cathedral of St. Lazare Autun

The hanging of Judas

Adoration of the Magi

Sleep of the Magi

The Flight into Egypt

As frequently in Burgundy , the roofs are covered with tiles glazed in various colors, geometric pattern.

The museum Rolin

Located near the cathedral, the Rolin museum exhibits relics of the renovation of the old cathedral.

There are, in particular one of the first nudes in the history of sculpture Romance , representing The Temptation of Eve or Eve lying attributed to Gislebert . The cathedral is oriented north south, high-relief decorated the lintel of the gate is. The pilgrims were coming out through this portal to travel across the old cathedral in St. Nazaire , which itself was an east-west. It was dismantled in 1766 , along with the Tomb of St. Lazarus and the Jube, the canons of the ^eighteenth century being insensitive to the beauties of medieval art. This lintel is Eve lying, body swaying in a sensual pose, looking away from the gesture she is about to commit. She extends her hand in his back, holding the apple represents the original sin. At right is the tree of knowledge , the serpent still present and the devil flees, representing the force that pushes mankind to evil. The face of Eve is treated as two -dishes at almost right angle on the bridge of the nose, in a style close to cubism , and reflects the expression of a woman who will consume sin.

The museum holds other relics of the tympanum of the portal destroyed, as an Assumption of the Virgin and the carving of a monk. Vestiges of the Tomb of St. Lazarus, who stood behind the altar of the cathedral are also exposed to Rolin museum as well as capitals of the cathedral .

Furthermore, the head of a statue of St. Peter's 12 ^th century from the Tomb of St. Lazarus is kept at the Louvre , and a Madonna and Child, originally present in the cathedral, is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York.

See also

• List of cathedrals
• Autun
• Rolin Museum
• The Temptation of Eve
• Diocese of Autun
• Denis Grivot

External Links

• (En) Fact of the French Ministry of Culture
• (En) Sheet on the site Structurae.de
• (En) sheet at a site on Romanesque art in Burgundy
• (En) Sheet on the site in the Western Religious Architecture
• (En) Site on Roman art in Burgundy Autun, Cathedral of Saint-Lazare
• (En) Photos of the Cathedral and sculptures

Bibliography

• Collombet, Francis, The most beautiful cathedrals of France, Slection du Readers Digest, Paris (France), ISBN 2-7098-0888-9 , 1997, pp. 142-145.
• Denizeau, Gerard, History of Visual Arts in France, Larousse, Paris (France), ISBN 2-03-505201-7 , 2003, pp. 60-61.
• Oursel, Raymond , Romanesque Burgundy, (7 ^th edition), Publishing Zodiac, La Pierre-qui-Vire (France), 1979.
• Marcel Durliat, Romanesque art, 1989, Ed Citadels / Mazenod (rd. with update in 2009).
• Grivot Denis and George Zarnecki, Gislebertus, sculptor of Autun, Paris, 1960
• Francis Salet, Romanesque sculpture in Burgundy, about a recent book, in Bulletin Monumental, Tome 119, October-December 1961, p.325-343

References and notes

• Catholicism portal
• Christian architecture portal
• Portal Saone-et-Loire
• Portal historic French
• Morvan portal

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