Blois Cathedral, or the Cathedral of St. Louis of Blois (french: Cathédrale Saint-Louis de Blois), is a
Late Gothic Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
cathedral in
Blois
Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours.
With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It has been a
monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
(a
national heritage site
A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage registe ...
of France) since 1906.
It is the seat of the
Diocese of Blois
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Blois (Latin: ''Dioecesis Blesensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Blois'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese lies in western France, and encompasses the department of Loi ...
, established in 1697.
History
The cathedral is in the Late Gothic style. Before becoming a cathedral, the building was a collegiate church dedicated to Saint Solenne. Construction began in the 12th century. However, except for traces in the crypt and in the base of the bell-tower, nothing is left of the original structure. Construction on the current facade and bell-tower was begun in 1544. The nave was destroyed in a 1678 storm, and the reconstruction in
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style took place between 1680 and 1700 under the direction of the architect Arnoult-Séraphin Poictevin (d. 1720). This project was begun at the instigation of
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...
, whose wife was a native of Blois.
To celebrate the church's elevation to cathedral status in 1697,
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
presented the organ console in 1704. The new see thereupon took the dedication to
Saint Louis.
The Chapel of Notre-Dame was added in 1860, under the direction of Jules de La Morandière.
American bombardment during World War II destroyed most of the glass-work in the cathedral. On December 22, 2000, new stained-glass windows were dedicated, the work of the Dutch artist
Jan Dibbets
Jan Dibbets (born 9 May 1941, in Weert) is an Amsterdam-based Dutch conceptual artist. His work is influenced by mathematics and works mainly with photography.
Life and career
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he started as an art teacher at the ...
and the French master glass-worker Jean Mauret. This work was done as part of a general restoration project begun in 1985. The new windows cover thirty-three bays, upper and lower, and have a combined surface area of over 360m
2.
West front
The current west front, dating from the middle of the 16th century, represents a compromise between the Late Gothic and early Neoclassical styles. Represented are such medieval elements as
gargoyle
In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...
s, pinnacled
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es, and a pointed gable. The Neoclassical elements include the triangular
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
and the medallions in the round found in the
spandrel
A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
s.
The most notable feature is the bell-tower on the north façade, which dominates the skyline of the town. Although the foundations date to the 12th century, construction on the current tower began in 1544. The tower is in the Renaissance style, with
Ionic and
Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to:
*Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible:
**First Epistle to the Corinthians
**Second Epistle to the Corinthians
**Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox)
*A demonym relating to ...
columns. The uppermost story is topped with a dome and lantern-tower added in 1603. This dome appears to be a replica of the domes on top of the towers of
Tours Cathedral
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, image = Tours Cathedral Saint-Gatian.jpg
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.
The tower holds seven bells tuned to C, D, E, F, G, C# and D#.
The Interior
The cathedral consists of a long
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
with side aisles running along the north and south. Side chapels open onto the aisles. There is also a
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
with its
ambulatory
The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...
. There is no
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
.
The Chancel
The chancel has a pentagonal
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
from the 16th and 17th centuries. Surrounding the chancel is the ambulatory with its apsidal chapels dating from the 19th century. The upper windows retain their stained glass by the 19th century artist Lobin.
The ambulatory, which was not added until the 1860s, displays twisted pillars in a pastiche of the Louis XII style, an example of the architectural imitation that was common during the
Second Empire Second Empire may refer to:
* Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783
* Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
* Second French Empire (1852–1870)
** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
.
The Nave and Side Chapels
After the storm in 1678, only the façade, the apse, and the pillars in the chancel were retained. It was at this time that the sanctuary was first given a
rib vault
A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic ...
.
The church has but one ancient chapel, dating from the 12th century, and situated to the left of the nave beneath the tower. The chapel has a period rib vault which rests on capitals in the form of acanthus leaves. Across from the old chapel, the first chapel on the right side of the nave contains a
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
in marble that depicts the baptism of Christ, which was recovered from the tomb of the mother of the King of Poland and Duke of Lorraine
Stanislas Leszczynski, who died in Blois.
The cathedral contains another white marble bas-relief, called ''Memory and Meditation'', which is the work of
Louis II Lerambert and dates to 1660. The
Clicquot
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and ...
organ console was given by Louis XIV in 1704.
The Crypt
The Crypt of Saint Solenne is located beneath the chancel. Traces of a
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
church were discovered there in 1927. That structure is thought to have been built toward the end of the 10th century by the
Counts of Blois
During the Middle Ages, the counts of Blois were among the most powerful Vassal, vassals of the King of France.
This title of nobility seems to have been created in 832 by Louis the Pious, Emperor Louis ''the Pious'' for William, Count of Blois, ...
to house the relics of Saint Solenne,
Bishop of Chartres
The oldest known list of bishops of Chartres is found in an 11th-century manuscript of Trinity Abbey, Vendôme. It includes 57 names from Adventus (Saint Aventin) to Aguiertus (Agobert) who died in 1060. The most well-known list is included in the ...
. In the 12th century, upon the building of the new church, the chancel of the Carolingian structure was converted into a crypt.
Only parts of the nave and apse of the original church remain visible in the crypt. Traces of the semi-circular apse can be seen behind the altar. On the left side of the aisle is a vault containing the tombs of the Bishops of Blois.
References
Sources
* Pérouse de Montclos, Jean-Marie, 1988. ''Le guide du Patrimoine: Centre'', pp. 175–179. Val de Loire, Ministère de la Culture: Hachette, Paris.
External links
*
Catholic Encyclopedia: Blois*
*
Location
{{Authority control
Roman Catholic cathedrals in France
Churches in Loir-et-Cher
Blois