Albi Cathedral, France (Part Five).

English: Choir and Rood Screen, Albi Cathedral.

Français: Chœur et jubé (Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile, Albi).

Magyar: Kórus és szentélyrekesztő,

Szent Cecília-katedrális, Albi.

Polski: Chór kapłański oraz łuk tęczowy

(katedra Św. Cecylii w Albi we Francji).

Photo: 2 July 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Pom²

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Because the Cathedral is built on the side of a hill, sloping down to The River Tarn, the entrance on the South-East side of the Chevet is located thirty feet (9.1 metres) below the level of the Nave and Choir, and those entering must go up an outside Stairway.

The Portal of Dominique de Florence, named for the Bishop who commissioned it, and also known as the Portal of Saint Cecilia, was built at the beginning of the 15th-Century, between the Chevet and one of the Towers of the City Wall.

It gives access to the Stairway which leads upward to the entrance into the Apse of Church. The Portal has a lace-like, open, Tympanum, containing statuary and is crowned by Quadrilobe, bearing the Coat-of-Arms of the Bishop who commissioned it.[17]

English: Decoration of the Choir Stalls, Albi Cathedral.

Italiano: Dettaglio del Coro, Albi Cattedrale.

Photo: 5 August 2018.

Source: Own work.

Author: Davide Mauro

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Nave, where the Congregation Worship, and the Choir, reserved for the Clergy, together are ninety-seven metres (318 feet) long, thirty metres (ninety-eight feet) high, and nineteen metres (sixty-two feet) wide.[17]

While the brick outside of the Church is austere and Solemn, the Interior is almost exploding with colour; the Vaults, Tribunes (Editor: Galleries], and Walls of the Chapels, are entirely covered with painting and decoration, most of it painted during The Renaissance.

The Choir is the portion of the Interior of the Church at the East End reserved for the members of the Clergy.

English: The Organ in Albi Cathedral, a masterpiece by Christophe Moucherel, completed in 1736, with a monumental buffet 16.40 m wide and 15.60 m high, one of the most beautiful South of the Loire.

Christophe Moucherel, being better known for the high quality of his buffets than for the reliability of his instruments, the Organ was revised in 1747 by François and Jean-François Lépine, then in 1779 by Joseph Isnard, nephew of Jean-Esprit, and in 1825 by Antoine Peyroulous.

Brought up to date during the romantic period by Jean-Baptiste Puget in 1904, and in poor condition in the 1950s, its restoration was decided upon and entrusted in 1977 to Bartoloméo Formentelli. The same will carry out a big lifting in 1996. It is from now on his son, Michel, who takes care of the Organ. Five Keyboards of fifty Notes (C1 to D5 without 1st C #): Dorsal Positive, G.O., Bombarde, Narrative, Echo, French Pedal, fifty-six Stops, 3578 Pipes.

Photo: 4 August 2021.

Source: Own work.

Author: Didier Descouens

(Wikimedia Commons_

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It has some of the most elaborate decoration, combining sculpture, painting, ironwork, and wood carving.

Every portion of the Choir, from the Choir Stalls, Floors, to the Walls, Tribunes, and Vaults above, is elaborately decorated and painted or coloured.

The Rood Screen, or Jubé, is a decorative framework that separates the Choir from the Nave and is located about midway in the Cathedral.

English: Geometric Wall-Painting, Albi Cathedral.

Français: Mur décoré, Albi Cathédrale.

Photo: 15 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jean-noël Lafargue

(Wikimedia Commons)

Its function was originally to allow the Clergy to Pray and meditate in a quiet atmosphere, undisturbed by people circulating in the Nave or other parts of the Church.

Rood Screens were very common in French Gothic Cathedrals until the 16th-Century, when most were removed as part of widespread reform of Church Doctrine begun by The Council of Trent (1545–1563), intended to combat the rise of Protestantism, and make the Interior of Churches more open and welcoming.

The Albi Rood Screen was kept, but then was threatened with destruction during The French Revolution as an example of “fanaticism and superstition”.

Many of the Statues on the outer face of the Rood Screen were smashed, but the Interior of the Rood Screen survived intact. [18]

The Rood Screen is made of filigree Stone Work, topped with a group of Polychrome Wooden Statues representing Christ on The Cross, The Virgin Mary, and Saint John the Evangelist. These Statues were not original to the Cathedral; they probably came from the former Church of The Cordeliers, Nancy, France, and were installed in the 19th-Century.[18]

PART SIX FOLLOWS.