Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre () is a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Indre
Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in central
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 ...
.
History
The town takes its name from its basilica which is a replica of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. The name of the town is written with an "h" in "sepulchre"; this is reportedly the work of a medieval monk who sought to underscore the beauty of the church by combining the words "sepulcrum" ("tomb") + "pulcher" ("beautiful").
The construction of an original church was finished in 1049; it was dedicated to
Saint James the Greater
James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...
(''Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur'' in French). The building of a new church modelled on the Saint Sepulchre was instigated by the cardinal
Eude de Châteauroux upon his return from the
crusade
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
s. Although the new church was originally to replace the older one entirely, the nave and parts of the ambulatory of the older church were kept when pilgrims reported that the Jerusalem church had been modified to fit a rectangular plan.
The church is surmounted by a dome with a diameter of 22 m. The site of the replica of the Holy Sepulchre lay in the middle of a rotunda of, at ground level, eleven columns representing those Apostles left after the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot. The church has been listed as a historic monument since 1847. In 2006, it was listed as a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
as part of the
.
Geography
The commune is traversed by the river
Bouzanne
The Bouzanne (french: la Bouzanne, ) is an long river in the Indre ''département'' of central France, and is a tributary of the Creuse. Its source is in the commune of Aigurande, northwest of the town itself, near the hamlet of ''la Bouzanne' ...
.
Population
See also
*
Saint-Benoît-du-Sault
*
Communes of the Indre department
The following is a list of the 241 communes of the Indre department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):[History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes
The early domes of the Middle Ages, particularly in those areas recently under Byzantine control, were an extension of earlier Roman architecture. The domed church architecture of Italy from the sixth to the eighth centuries followed that of the ...]
References
External links
Picture of Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre Basilica
Communes of Indre
World Heritage Sites in France
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