Abbey of la Madaleine, Vézelay

The Basilica of Sainte -Marie -Madeleine is a Romanesque church in Vézelay in Burgundy. Hill and church of Vezelay count since 1979 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since 1998, the Church World Heritage Site is also excellent as part of the " Camino de Santiago in France."

History

The present basilica Sainte -Marie -Madeleine is not the first church in this place. In 1120 the original building was destroyed by fire. Immediately they began with the establishment of the present nave. Already in 1140 the work was completed. Only then ( 1145-50 ) was followed by the porch, called the narthex.

After another fire 1185-1215 the choir and transept were built in early Gothic style already. Still later ( 1260 ) followed the southwest tower ( St Michel), with a 15 m high wooden top and the high Gothic west facade. The north tower was not built. 1819 burned down the spire.

The atmosphere of the interior is to be described by words. The contrast between the darker and the nave about 60 years his junior, bright chorus immediately catches the eye. Vézelay is world famous for the capitals of the columns that illustrate biblical stories in that time unequaled craftsmanship.

Architecture

The nave itself was built from 1120 to 1140. Of the remaining buildings of the former monastery almost nothing received after after the Revolution from 1796 to the church everything was leveled. Once again, it is - in addition to Prosper Mérimée - thanks to Viollet -le- Duc, that at least this abbey church was saved from further decay. Only the facade he should have stronger push for the reconstruction of the original. It was his first bailout of medieval monuments in France. He was just 26 years old.

Today, Sainte -Marie -Madeleine of Vézelay is one of the most important religious buildings of the Romanesque of the 12th century.

Vézelay belongs next to Santiago de Compostela and Rome the most important and famous pilgrimage shrines of the West. Since the 11th century here, the penitent Mary Magdalene is revered, whose bones are said to be located according to the legend here. Supposedly Mary Magdalene had gone to the death of Jesus in a boat across the Mediterranean Sea and landed in Provence ( in Saintes -Maries- de -la -Mer ). It claims to have preached Christianity and had died there. Later, a monk had brought the bones of the saints to Burgundy, where her supposed brother Lazarus was venerated as the first bishop of Autun. The pilgrims who used, the construction of the church necessitated and enabled him financially. While claiming to have important relics in the Middle Ages many cities have established their splendid existence. With the disenchantment of this myth in 1267 then began and the rapid decline of Vezelay. Now you said in Provence, to possess the true relics of the Magdalene. This shows how vital were such inventions for the pilgrimage cities.

" Shortly after completion of the nave experienced Vezelay the climax of his story: Easter 1146 calls Bernard of Clairvaux at the behest of Pope Eugene III. front of a huge crowd that the Church can not grasp and therefore has gathered on the hillside south of the church, in the presence of King Louis VII, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and the grandees of the Empire to the Second Crusade. More than half a century later, in 1190, the kings of Philippe -Auguste and Richard the Lionheart meet in Vezelay with its armies of the Third Crusade to Palestine [ ... ] Vézelay is not only gathering place of pilgrimage, but also of the Knights from all over Europe. 1166 Thomas Becket fled here from the persecution of the English king, Saint. Francis founded here in 1217 its first branch in France. "

The antechurch

Vézelay has a antechurch, which was built in the nave 1140-1152 afterwards. You owe the tympana and the capitals of their excellent state of preservation. Such antechurch had, inter alia, the function to serve in times of large crowds of pilgrims as nocturnal retreat. Liturgical seen this room was a cleaning and passage from the profane to the sacred station, a place for the ceremonies before the actual baptism and also for exorcisms.

" What is the role fulfilled the narthex? Definitely a liturgical task, although other uses are not excluded: for example nocturnal refuge to be in times of large crowds of pilgrims, or a church the catechumens ', the catechumen, or one church penitent ', which temporarily from the celebration of the sacraments were excluded. Certainly was celebrated in this anteroom exorcisms, reconciliation of penitents and ceremonies which preceded the baptism, but taken these rites alone can not justify such a handsome porch of the church. The documents of the 12th century called the narthex, which is adjacent to the actual monastic church, Galilee '; to understand this word, one must know the liturgy of the time. A large procession was preceded by the former church, they took symbolically the way the Apostle after that went to Galilee, where they should see the Risen One. The station before the actual worship service included a rite of purification; he was in the ' Galilee ' celebrated., I will go before you into Galilee ', this word of Christ to Mary Magdalene is interpreted that Galilee, a place of passage is; for the Redeemer has made ​​the passage from suffering the resurrection from death to life. '"

The large central portal provides the tympanum is the sending of the Holy Spirit to the apostles by Christ, so Pentecost. In the box-like framed fields, the nations of the earth are represented, to whom the Gospel is to come. The medallions of Archivolts the zodiac and month work are given. The side portals show the beginning and end of Jesus' earthly life: Left Annunciation, Birth and Adoration of the Magi, the right Emmaus appearance and the Ascension.

The peoples

The Crypt

The crypt is located under the elevated choir and originates from the Carolingian era. It is 19 m long and 9.20 m wide. The crypt has groin vault that rests on twelve columns of different size. The crypt contains the relics of Mary Magdalene

The capitals

The capitals of Vezelay come generally from the period 1125-1140. Of a 99 capitals in the nave are only a few in the 19th century have been replaced by replicas of the originals.

Had historically the oldest form of capitals in the history of art of the Middle Ages nor plants as a motif in the tradition of the ancient Corinthian capitals. The later issues were then inter alia, which determined that many churches were on pilgrimage routes or. along the routes of the Crusades In both cases, the thought was, etc. have been ubiquitous at death, of robbery and enslavement of disease and was in the representations of the capitals edited in the sense of a reminder not to be frightened of it. The figural capitals borrow most of their subjects texts of the Old and New Testaments and the Vita of the saint. There are also a number of moralizing themes, such as the punishment of vice, beyond allegories and scenes from the Greco-Latin mythology.

The actual " story" unfolds in general on the three sides of the Kapitellrumpfes and reads mostly from left to right.

The capitals indicate in naive narrative pleasure their content to the viewer award. The scenes are not always to be understood, because the subject and the symbolic allusions are often not decipher not only for the modern viewer without interpretation aid. Even the medieval believer was dependent on this assistance, to the extent that representations not already made ​​themselves understood by attached labels that are consistently gone but unfortunately today.

Main themes of the capitals of Vezelay are the representations of good and evil in a variety of examples.

The most famous capitals in Vezelay is the mystical mill, which was created by Cluny Master. A man in a short robe with shoes on their feet showered grain in a mill, while a barefoot other, dressed in a white toga, the flour absorbs.

In the first form you have to see Moses; in the grain, which he pours into the mill, the law of the Old Testament, which he has received from God on Mount Sinai. In the mill, which grinds the grain, Christ is symbolically represented (the wheel is denoted by a cross). In the man who collects the grain, the Apostle Paul is shown in the flour and even the law of the new covenant, the new justice. The law of Moses contained the truth, but it was a hidden truth, hidden like the flour in grain. Only through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, it has been transformed into this meal, which you can absorb it by it processed into bread: and this is the new law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that St. Paul accepted by God's order, to spread it further.

With such images, the gospel was taught by the priests umdeuteten example, the known portraits of everyday life, here processes of agriculture Christian centuries the common people.

Another unique feature is the architecture and location- related incidence of sunlight in the church. Depending on the sun position and season specific points are illuminated. Extremely aesthetic effect and the color change in the transverse arches which support the vault. This " shift change " had already been 100 years previously introduced with the begun around 1020 Abbey of Tournus in the Burgundy architecture.

Vézelay is still very much its own building. Many other churches of Burgundy (eg Paray -le- Monial, St.Lazare in Autun ), are characterized in their architectural style of the church of the powerful monastery of Cluny, which, among other things there shows in a three-part wall structure ( arcade, triforium, window) or the strong emphasis on the vertical.

In Vézelay is different: The wall structure is two stories, and overall the horizontal is more emphasized. Vézelay must therefore be classified and assessed by the absence of immediate role models as an independent invention of the Fabric operating there. It may be surprising that of the so- impressive architecture of the nave in turn went out only a relatively small effect on the Burgundian architecture. As an immediate Nachfolgebauten apply to the church in Anzy -le- Duc also St. Lazare in neighboring Avallon. The reason for the low response is clear: the new Gothic style was more modern than Vezelay.

Eustace chasing the deer

Vices: despair and lust

The death of the rich Prassers

The Four Winds

Jacob wrestling with the angel

The blessing of Jacob by Isaac

The dance around the golden calf

David defeated Goliath

Daniel in the Lion's Den

The organ

The organ was in 1922 by the organ builder Reygaërt (Auxerre ) built; the cabinet has been created by the artist Lebrun ( Vézelay ). The purely mechanical instrument has 16 stops on two manuals and pedal. The pedal stops are transmissions.

• Couplers: II / I, I / P, II / P