Lavaur Cathedral

The former cathedral of Saint -Alain in Lavaur is the most prominent and largest building in the southern French town of Lavaur in the Tarn department. It is reported as a monument historique since 1911.

Location

The medieval Gothic cathedral is not in the center of the city, but at the eastern edge above a bend of the Agout.

History

The origins of the veneration of St. Alanus ( Saint -Alain ) go back to a supposedly died in the 7th century abbot of a monastery founded by himself in Lavaur, on the otherwise virtually nothing is known. It is the only church in the south of France, this saint is venerated. For the first time in Lavaur a church with this patronage in 1098 mentioned specifically as a priory of the abbey of Saint -Pons -de- Thomières. With the demolition and new construction of this church was probably begun shortly thereafter, but it was the new church as part of the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) - probably in 1211 - destroyed.

With the construction of the present church, which was initially conceived as still priory, was begun in the mid- 13th century. But in 1317, Pope John XXII. through the cultivation and trade in woad ( pastel) wealthy become Lavaur to a bishopric; thus became a bishop's church, so a cathedral from the priory. In the following years further building work was carried out - including the new building ( 1328 ) of a larger cloister on the north side of the church and the construction of ten chapels between the buttresses. However, the most important architectural innovations was carried out by the bishops Jean Vigier and Pierre du Rosier in the years 1469 to 1515 redesign of the originally rather unadorned western facade, by a monstrous westwerk -like structure with an octagonal tower and a - destroyed already in 1540 - helmet tip was upgraded. This work originates West - like the destroyed in the time of the French Revolution, the Episcopal Palace (palais épiscopal ) - from the late 15th century.

Already in 1790 the bishopric of Lavaur was dissolved by the revolutionaries. The Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, the waiver of the diocese was confirmed.

Architecture

The whole building is - built mainly of bricks - after tolosaner models; the herbeizuschaffende from afar and therefore expensive sandstone is found on some cornices and quoins or on the columns, capitals or Archivolts the portal. Outside the walls esp. in the lower part of the bell tower, a few fragments of sandstone are also walled up, which may have been made by the demolition of the older church and here as spolia found further use.

Exterior

The exterior impressed by his height; easily recognize the serving to stabilize the wall buttresses and the outer walls of the intermediate lateral chapels. Remove the window - such as in the southern French Gothic style common practice - not the entire space between the buttresses, but instead are usually reduced to small lancet windows, making the total defensive impression of the building is emphasized. The mighty West plant is square in the lower part; also rises the octagonal basement of the tower. In the re-entrant corners of the octagon, there are four - bottom round, top octagonal - turrets with little pointed helmets. By - orbiting at several levels - stone parapet grid of the castle-like character of the tower is more likely to strengthen. There is no entrance in the west of the church; the beautiful late-Gothic sandstone portal is located on the south side.

Interior

The nave and spanned with a fünfjochigen Gothic ribbed vault interior of the church is almost 14 meters wide, 53 meters long and about 23 meters high; he was in the 19th century - perhaps even earlier - equipped with vegetable and decorative geometric paintings. The sides of the ground floor open to the differently shaped chapels.

Equipment

The oldest piece of equipment is the - made ​​of an approximately 15 -cm-thick block of marble - Romanesque altar plate from the end of the 11th century, the edging is decorated with figural and vegetal motifs. The third chapel on the right has a complicated late Gothic ribbed vault; above the altar is to see an impressive Pietà figure. Multiple images with representations of the Passion of Christ ( Calvary ) adorn the walls of the choir and the apse. The great organ was in the west of the nave from 1876; it was manufactured in the workshop of Aristide Cavaillé -Coll.

Jacquemart

Already for the year 1523 is a bell tower is, but if there was at that time already a bell striker ( Jacquemart ), is uncertain. A legend in any case that a prisoner had to ring the bell every hour to ask in this way by the way his presence demonstrated; However, he had secretly - designed machines and was able to escape without anyone noticed his absence - coupled to the clock tower. While such figures in the northern half of France and Flanders are more common (eg, Notre -Dame in Dijon ), the Jacquemart of Lavaur is the only one of its kind in the south of the country.