Church of the Holy Cross, Bordeaux

The Church of Sainte -Croix in Bordeaux is the church of a former Benedictine monastery. Since 1840 she has been classified as a monument historique. It stands in the southeast of the center of Bordeaux, on the Place Pierre Renaudel.

History

The Benedictine Abbey of Sainte -Croix was founded in the time of the Merovingian on an elevation near the Garonne river side and in a swampy area, which lay to the south of Bordeaux at the time. The exact year of the foundation is not known, however, is for a epitaph from the 7th century Mummolus, the second abbot of Fleury (now Saint- Benoît- sur- Loire) have died here at 679. The abbey was destroyed in 730 by the Saracens on a rampage and probably rebuilt in the late 8th century. Middle of the 9th century, it was the Normans, which the abbey was destroyed. The third building of the monastery to write to William the Good, who was for about 970 Graf and maybe Duke of Gascony († 996 well ) and who chose the site for the new building on the already got an oratorio for Mummolus.

For the possession of the abbey were the villages of Saint -Hilaire- du- Taillan and Soulac, and later included Saint- Macaire and Macau. The present church in Romanesque style dates from the late 11th or early 12th century and thus from the same time as the churches of Soulac ( Notre -Dame-de -la -fin -des- Terres ) and Macau.

Over the centuries, the abbots were the monastic buildings (kitchens, dormitories, refectory, etc.) expire, so that the monks of the Congregation of Saint -Maur (→ Maurists ) got permission in the 17th century to build the new monastery. Construction began in 1664 and the building was completed 1672.

1793, the abbey was converted into a hospice, the buildings are used by the École des Beaux -Arts of Bordeaux since 1890.

The Church of Sainte -Croix was merged into a community with the churches of Saint -Michel, Saint- Pierre, Saint -Paul and Saint- Eloi and 2009, the Communauté du Chemin -Neuf passed.

Architecture

The church has the shape of a Latin cross. It consists of a nave with five bays, a transept with large chapels on both sides and a polygonal apse. The ship is 39 meters long, 15.30 meters high, the apse.

The architect Paul Abadie restored the church in the 19th century and added it to the symmetrical bell tower on the left side de façade added.

Archivolte

Capital

Equipment

In the church there are two paintings by Guillaume Cureau (around 1595-1648 ) to Mummolus, "Santa Mummolus heals a demon-possessed " and "Santa Mummolus heals a sick person ," as well as an Exaltation of A. Bourgneuf from the year 1636th

Organ

A first organ already existed in the 16th century, it was replaced after 1661 by a simpler instrument that was built by Jean HaOn. In 1730 it was decided to install a larger organ, whose construction was entrusted to fifteen years later the organ builder Dom Bedos de Celles. 1811 called Charles -François d' Aviau Du Bois de Sanzay, Archbishop of Bordeaux, the organ of the Cathédrale Saint -André, where she remained until 1970. Then it was again installed in Sainte -Croix, and finally restored in 1983 to 1995. The instrument has 45 registers on five manuals and pedal today. What is striking is the range of the pedal ( à la Francaise ).