Albi Cathedral’s Choir Ceiling.
Photo: 4 August 2021.
Source: Own work.
Author: Didier Descouens
(Wikimedia Commons)
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Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.
A very ornate Baldaquin, in the Flamboyant Style of Architecture, was added to the Southern entrance in the 16th-Century.[9] In that Century, a major campaign of construction and re-decoration commenced under Bishop Charles Le Goux de la Berchère, who wished to remake the interior in the more Classical Style, more open to The Faithful.
This involved constructing a new Chapel between the base of the Tower to the Nave, and a new Altar, visible from the Chapel.
The new Chapel also received the Relics of Saint Clair of Albi, considered the first Bishop. The construction of the new Chapel required the destruction of a central portion of the Mural of The Last Judgement, including the figure of Christ.[11]
English: Pope Innocentius III excommunicating the Albigensians (left), Massacre against the Albigensians by the crusaders (right) (British Library, Royal 16 G VI f. 374v).
Deutsch: Papst Innozenz III. exkommuniziert die Albigenser (links), Massaker an den Albigenser durch die Kreuzfahrer (rechts) (British Library, Royal 16 G VI f. 374v).
Date: 14th-Century (after 1332, before 1350).
Source:
Author: Chroniques de Saint-Denis.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In the first half of the 18th-Century, the new Bishop, Armand Pierre de la Croix de Castries, installed a new Organ and continued to replace Gothic decoration with the Classical Style.
He concealed the Flamboyant decoration of the new Portal under a lath of plaster, and brought in Italian sculptors Bernard Virgile and Jacques Antoine Mazetti, pupils of the Renaissance sculptor Maderni, to redecorate the Axis Chapel at the East End, and to create a new Renaissance Bishop’s Seat, made of Marble and Stucco, which was placed on the Southern side of the Nave.[12]
The French Revolution in 1789 brought devastation to the Cathedral. The celebrated Reliquary of The True Cross and other treasures were seized, stripped of jewels and melted down for their gold in 1792. The most precious element of decoration, the Rood Screen, was also threatened.
The French Revolution in 1789 brought devastation to the Cathedral. The celebrated Reliquary of The True Cross and other treasures were seized, stripped of jewels and melted down for their gold in 1792. The most precious element of decoration, the Rood Screen, was also threatened.
15th-Century Gothic Rood Screen,
Sainte-Cécile Cathedral, Albi, France.
Photo: 26 June 2009.
Author: Benh LIEU SONG (Flickr)
(Wikimedia Commons)
The constitutional Bishop, Monseigneur Gausserrand, proposed the destruction of the Rood Screen, not for political reasons, but because he needed space to hold Sunday Services for the Congregation of the Parish; the Nave was occupied at this time by The Society of The Friends of The Constitution.
At the request of the Bishop, a decree was issued in 1792 for the destruction of the Rood Screen. Fortunately, an engineer of The Ministry of Bridges and Highways, François Mariès, learned of the plan and wrote to the Minister of the Interior and Religious Cults; “ . . . If we take upon ourselves the right to destroy that which we owe to the genius, the generosity, and the piety, of our ancestors, what right do we have to expect the preservation of those which the memorable events of our own time will inspire ?”
In response, the Minister set aside the proposed destruction of the Rood Screen.[13]
English: Albi Cathedral, France.
Français: Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile d’Albi,
vue de la rive opposée du Tarn.
Photo: 6 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Jean-Christophe BENOIST
(Wikimedia Commons)
Two years later, the Rood Screen was threatened again. The Cathedral was officially declared a Revolutionary Temple of Reason, and became the property of the local Revolutionary Council, which declared that the Rood Screen was “a symbol of fanaticism and superstition”.
They destroyed the statues placed on the exterior of the Rood Screen, sparing only the statues of Adam and Eve, but, fortunately, did not destroy the interior of the Screen.
In the Early-19th-Century, the statues destroyed were replaced with figures of Christ, The Virgin Mary, and Saint John, from another Church of the same period.[14]
Like the rest of the City, the Cathedral was built with “Foraine” bricks. Depicted, here, is the difference between a “Foraine” brick and a regular brick. In Southern France “Foraine” brick was the traditional building material of Cities like Albi, Montauban or Toulouse.
The “Foraine” brick is the traditional building material used in the Toulouse region of France since at least the 11th-Century.
This name would come from the Latin “foraneus”, meaning “which comes from elsewhere”, because the “Foraine” bricks were made in a brickyard and not on the building site itself (they were of better quality).
In the 19th-Century, the name used was still “Forane”, not “Foraine”, which tends to support the theory of a Latin origin.
This term, which used to indicate the quality of the bricks, has now become a generic term for all bricks of this format from the Toulouse region.
This explains why the literal translation “fairground brick”, for French “brique Foraine”, does not seem appropriate and is not used here. Inherited from the Roman brick, the ratio of width to length of a “Foraine” brick is 2/3 (as opposed to 1/2 for a regular brick), which is not conducive to the creation of a regular pattern with aligned vertical joints. This is why architectural decorations were mainly made with bricks cut to create Mouldings, Cornices and other decorations.
Photo: 7 February 2021.
Source: Own work.
Author: Frédéric Neupont
(Wikimedia Commons)
The first major restoration of the Cathedral took place in the second half of the 19th-Century, between 1849 and 1876.
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc reported that “the exterior of Saint-Cecile was never finished - the Buttresses were never crowned, and nor were the Walls completed.”
The restoration project was led by the Architect of the Diocese, César Daly. He added a Balustrade around the top of the Walls, raised and strengthened the Roof, and began to put into place a ring of thirty small Towers atop each Buttress. He also refashioned the Vault of the Baldaquin at the entrance with intertwining Flamboyant Ribs.[12]
PART FOUR FOLLOWS.
