Fécamp Abbey
The Abbey La Trinité de Fécamp is a Benedictine Abbey in Fécamp ( Seine- Maritime, Normandy ). The Abbey is classified as a monument historique since 1840.
History
To year 1000 began born in Fécamp Duke Richard I. with the rebuilding of the monastery. His son Richard II asked the monastery reformer William of Dijon for help in restoring the monastic community. Wilhelm traveled with monks after Fécamp, which he entrusted to the Benedictine monastery for rule. About the abbey church of which nothing remains, reported Dudo of Saint -Quentin, they have several towers was built both in stone and brick, exterior whitewashed and painted inside. William of Dijon, who died in Fecamp 1031, was buried in the church.
Duke William, the future conqueror of England, celebrated in 1066 in Fécamp Easter, after the abbot of Fécamp had secured the financing of the campaign. 1106, the abbey was enlarged and in 1168 fell victim to a lightning strike. A new church in the Gothic style was completed in the 13th century.
1789, the abbey was pillaged and abandoned shortly afterwards by the monks.
Architecture
The abbey church is 127 meters long, making it two feet longer than Notre- Dame de Paris. Today she has a neoclassical facade that does not fit with the rest of the building. Access is lined with statues of the Dukes Richard I and Richard II as the most important for the Abbey founders who are also in the Church, in the south transept, buried. The Gothic bell tower above the crossing is 65 meters high. The nave with two aisles has a length of ten arches. The only remnants are from the Romanesque period on the north side of the church. In the choir is the main altar, which dates back to the Renaissance.
Middle and aisle
Choir
Crossing tower, interior view