Étienne de Bonneuil, also Estienne de Bonnueill, was a French master builder or

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

in the second half of the 13th century. He is remembered for participating in the design and construction of

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...

Biography

Bonneuil's name is recorded in various documents relating to his intention to go to

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, Sweden, to design the new cathedral. It was however only in 1287 that Philippe le Bel authorized his departure together with the colleagues and yeomen () he planned to take with him to cut and carve the stone. Work on the cathedral was in fact already well on its way when he arrived, no doubt because Archbishop Laurentius of the

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

had already planned the building in 1258. He appears to have arrived in Uppsala in 1288 where he continued building the chapels around the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

in a clockwise direction and completed the south arm of the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

around 1300 and the north arm a few years later.Christian Lovén, "La neige, les briques et l'architecte français. La cathédrale d'Uppsala 1272—"
Academia.edu. Retrieved 28 September 2013. He is credited with designing the cathedral's

ambulatory The ambulatory ( '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 century but by the 13t ...

and its chapels at the east end of the cathedral. Bonneuil appears to have implemented the plans of his unknown predecessor as no changes can be seen in the pillars and window frames following his arrival although he does appear to have altered the height of the chancel vaults and may also have redesigned the south portal. It is probable that later work on the cathedral was carried out under one of his students. It seems probable that the man with a knee-length skirt sculpted on one of the capitals in the eastern part of

in Uppsala Cathedral is in fact a likeness of Bonneuil who worked on the vaulting there. He is also no doubt the stonemason referred to as "Stefan stenhuggare" in a 1291 document.Jan von Bonsdorff, Christian Lovén and Herman Bengtsson, "Uppsala domkyrka"
Retrieved 2 October 2013.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonneuil, Etienne 13th-century French architects Gothic architects