Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral, or the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Clermont-Ferrand (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption de Clermont-Ferrand), is a
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 ...
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
and
French national monument
A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure.
The term may also refer to a spec ...
located in the town of
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...
in the
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...
. It is the seat of the
Archbishops of Clermont
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Claromontana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Clermont'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Puy ...
(bishops until 2002).
It is built entirely in black lava stone, which makes it highly distinctive, and visible from a great distance. Its twin
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
s are 96.1 metres tall, and tower above the town's rooftops. It has been listed since 1862 as 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 ...
'' by the
French Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...
.
[ Cathédrale Notre-Dame]
History
In the 5th century, bishop
Namatius
Saint Namatius ( French: ''Namace'') is a saint in the Roman Catholic church. He was the eighth or ninth bishop of Clermont (then called ''Arvernis'') from 446 to 462, and founded Clermont's first cathedral, bringing the relics of Saints Vital ...
laid the foundations of the city's first cathedral, allowing the Christian community to leave its ghetto, the "vicus christianorum". He dedicated the building to
Saints Vitalis and Agricola
Saints Vitalis and Agricola ( it, Santi Vitale e Agricola) are venerated as martyrs, who are considered to have died at Bologna about 304, during the persecution ordered by Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Legend
Agricola was a Christian citizen of Bo ...
, whose relics he brought from
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
. It was 43 metres long and on a
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
plan, as is known by the account of
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...
. It was ornamented in marble, with a nave, two parallel aisles, a transept and 70 columns. It was destroyed in 760 by
Pepin the Short
the Short (french: Pépin le Bref; – 24 September 768), also called the Younger (german: Pippin der Jüngere), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian to become king.
The younger was the son of ...
who, repenting of this act, gave a large sum to bishop Haddebert to finance his reconstruction work, which lasted from 764 to 768. This second structure was again destroyed, this time by the
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
, in 915.
Bishop Stephen II built a third
Romanesque cathedral, which was consecrated in 946. Unsurpassed, this building probably served as the model and prototype for many churches in the
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...
. The present crypt (made up of an
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 ...
and radiating chapels) dates back to this 10th century church, and included a 4th-century white marble
sarcophagus
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
.
In 1248, inspired by a visit on
Sainte-Chapelle
The Sainte-Chapelle (; en, Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France.
Co ...
on a trip to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, bishop
Hugues de la Tour decided to launch work on a new cathedral. Constructing a church in the prestigious Northern
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 would thus allow him to assert his supremacy over a city that had been put back into its bishop's power (rather than that of the
counts of Auvergne
This is a list of the various rulers of Auvergne.
History
In the 7th century Auvergne was disputed between the Franks and Aquitanians. It was later conquered by the Carolingians, and was integrated for a time into the kingdom of Aquitaine. The c ...
) just some decades earlier. Notre-Dame-du-Port, that had inspired the cathedral of Stephen II, would thus again be surpassed.
The most striking feature of the structure is the material used: it is the locally-cut volcanic "''pierre de Volvic''" (of the
Trachyandesite
Trachyandesite is an extrusive igneous Rock (geology), rock with a composition between trachyte and andesite. It has little or no free quartz, but is dominated by Sodium, sodic plagioclase and alkali feldspar. It is formed from the cooling of ...
type) that gives the building its dark colour and whose strength allows the construction of highly delicate pillars.
Jean Deschamps
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* J ...
(
fr) was entrusted with the work. He had already worked on the cathedrals at
Narbonne
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...
and
Limoges
Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...
. Inspired by
Beauvais
Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris.
The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...
and
Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
, he realized original plans in which the windows do not occupy all the available space between the supports and do not have any bracing arches, the ribs directly penetrate under the arch, the choir-rotunda pillars' elliptical plan allows all the light from the apsidal windows to penetrate into the sanctuary, together with the
flying buttresses
The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...
which allow the nave aisles to be flooded with light.
Jean worked from 1248 to 1287 on the choir, in which
Louis IX
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...
came to marry his son (the future
Philip III) to
Isabella of Aragon. The king financed (maybe for this occasion) part of the stained glass windows that appear to be from the same workshop as those in Sainte-Chapelle. The choir, the transept and the start of the nave were finished about 1295.
Pierre Deschamps took over from his father (or perhaps grandfather) in the period up to 1325, pushing the works beyond the transept crossing. From 1325 to 1340, the towers of the transept arms were raised by an
anonymous master
In art history, an anonymous master is an Old Master whose work is known, but whose name is lost.
Renaissance
Only in the Renaissance did individual artists in Western Europe acquire personalities known by their peers (some listed by Vasari in hi ...
. One of them is familiar: the tour de la Bayette, the highest one, named after the watcher placed at its peak ("bayer" means "to keep watch").
From 1340 to 1355, Pierre de Cébazat, known to have worked on the
la Chaise-Dieu
La Chaise-Dieu (; Auvergnat: ''La Chasa Dieu'') is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. Its inhabitants are called ''Casadéens'', from the Latin name of the city.
Geography
La Chaise-Dieu occupies a 1082 m butte wh ...
, finished the three spans of the nave, that allowed it to be linked to the
Romanesque towers of the church of Stephen II, though the disturbances of the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
did not leave him time to finish his work. During the years that followed, the chapter was satisfied to have him sculpt a new doorjamb for the door of its
sacristy
A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.
The sacristy is usually located ...
.
The mainly blue
rose window
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...
over the north door and the mainly orange one overlooking the south door were made in the fourteenth century. They both fit into a square of 8.50 metres wide. Between 1444 and 1474, the so-called "
clocher du retour" was placed above the choir, covered in carved stone. It was demolished after 1741. Between 1507 and 1512 a high roof was raised covered with lead, replacing the original roof. A planned
flamboyant Gothic
Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tr ...
façade was refused by the chapter because it would cost too much.
During the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, the revolutionaries wanted to tear down the church, but the
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
Verdier-Latour managed to persuade them that it would be an excellent gathering place for the people. Only the
rood screen
The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...
, choir stalls, altar, statues and furniture (with the exception of an Easter chandelier by
Philippe Caffieri) were removed (the rood screen is preserved in a private house nearby), though three of the four corner transept towers were razed. La Bayette owed its survival only to its practical usefulness, for it has a seventeenth century bell at the top that strikes the hours. The
Romanesque façade of the cathedral of Stephen II was demolished in 1851.
It was not until 1866 that completion works began, built according to the plans of
Viollet-le-Duc by his pupil
Anatole de Baudot
Joseph-Eugène-Anatole de Baudot (14 October 1834 – 28 February 1915) was a French architect and a pioneer of reinforced-concrete construction.
He was a prolific author, architect for diocesan buildings, architect for historical monuments, a ...
. In 1884, the western façade with its
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
s and the last span of the nave were finally completed, with full respect for construction methods of the Middle Ages. Only the cleaner cutting of the more modern stone shows the difference. A little-noticed detail is that the building was completely painted with lines to imitate masonry and cut stone blocks. The access steps on the rue des Gras were not built, however, until the very beginning of the 20th century, to make space for which the birthplace of
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer.
He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...
was destroyed.
Dimensions
* Total length: 92 m.
* Length of the
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
: 36 m.
* Length of the
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 ...
and
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 ...
: 28.70 m
* Width of the transept: 32.70 m
* Height of the
crossing: 28.70 m.
* Height of the aisle: 14.30 m.
* Height of the ''Tour de la Bayette'': 50.70 m
* Height of the western spires: 96.1 m.
Photos
Clermont_Ferrand_Cathedrale_03.jpg, View from "rue des Chaussetiers"
Cathedrale clermont place victoire.jpg, Cathedral and statue of Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...
by night
Cathedrale_clermont.jpg, Façade of the cathedral
Clermont-Ferrand-Cathedral-0016.jpg, Overview
Bibliography
*
*
*
See also
*
List of Gothic Cathedrals in Europe This is a list of gothic cathedrals in Europe that are active Christian cathedrals (the seats of bishops), but also includes former cathedrals and churches built in the style of cathedrals, that are significant for their Gothic style of architecture ...
References
External links
Location of the cathedralVideo of the outside and inside of the cathedral* High-resolution 360° Panoramas and Images of th
Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral , Art Atlas
{{Authority control
Roman Catholic cathedrals in France
Monuments historiques of Puy-de-Dôme
Churches in Puy-de-Dôme
Buildings and structures in Clermont-Ferrand