The church of Notre-Dame is a forgotten masterpiece, its past glory ruthlessly suppressed. The crusaders had brought back eastern techniques to transform Notre-Dame into a beacon of mystical exploration. They longed to join the angels in passionate union with the divine and built this church to make that possible.
Notre-Dame was provided with vast sums of money to turn the promise of transcendence into a daily reality. Yet today we sense the contradiction between the magnificence of the architecture and its present role as the local parish church. We know it must have been more.
What it was has been taken.
After only 70 years, Notre-Dame's mission was brutally suppressed, its unique beauty silenced, the Glory window sealed, sightlines erased until it became a shell of its former self. Yet the secrets in the architecture whisper still. They describe the clash between a very personal search for mystical union and the hierarchic policies of the Church that insisted only the clergy knew how to guide the soul.
What one king had cherished his successor deemed heretical and ruthlessly suppressed. Why the brutal reversal? Why the violent resistance from the congregation? Why suppress its mystical ambitions and why hide the facts? Was it a heresy that was too dangerous to tolerate? The clash between faith and power remains etched in the silence of the masonry, so we may still unravel the distant echoes of their quest for spiritual union, a quest that still resonates in the shadows of this remarkable church.
"Glory and Tragedy in Notre-Dame d'Etampes" unravels the forgotten saga of a silenced masterpiece, where religious intrigue and architectural brilliance collided. It remains a poignant reminder of the persistent struggle between institutional power and individual enlightenment. It is a tale of breathtaking triumph with devastating consequences.
Les mer
The church of Notre-Dame is a forgotten gem where vast sums of money were combined with eastern mysticism to turn transcendence into a daily reality
Chapter 1 - From Glory to Suppression 1
Chapter 2 - Set and Setting 5
The experience 6
In practice 9
Can words express this experience? 12
Pilgrimage13
Crusades 14
The Cistercians 16
Cistercian lords of war 18
Chapter 3 - A visionary theology 21
Consequences of meeting the east 22
Centralised spaces for group worship25
The Glory axis 28
The Glory axis takes priority 29
The Way was not direct 30
To summarise 30
Chapter 4 - Darkness and the worship of the dead 33
Darkness enhanced the light 34
The sepulchre and the bones 36
Chapter 5- Architecture - the story in the masonry 39
Architecture with purpose 40
The evidence for the story 41
The mysterium on the cross axis 44
Notre-Dame and the First Gothic 48
Chapter 6 - Politics - the promise and the reality 61
Consequences of the second crusade 64
All gone by 1200 65
Singular journey or spiral labyrinth? 66
What was their heresy? 67
Whitewashing heresy 68
The end of the commune 69
Chapter 7 - Sculpture and sculptors 67
Workshop methods 69
Organisation of the data 71
Defining stylistic boundaries 71
The Transition of the 1170s 73
Chapter 8 - Construction 75
Concerning mortar and measure76
Concerning campaigns 78
Concerning geometry 79
Crusades impact on construction 81
Chapter 9 - Dating and the model 83
Building campaigns in the model 84
Concerning precise dates 86
Chapter 10 - The First Church 89
Three small remnants 91
Chancel in front of the apse 92
Entry into the south aisle 94
Cornices in the sky 96
Size of the east tower 100
How old is the ossuary? 101
The First Church 102
Two stories on the western tower 103
Chapter 11 - Interlude 1 - Papillon a local carver 111
Chapter 12 - Second Church I - the nave 113
Summary of the nave 115
Nave arcade, first phase 115
Nave arcade, second phase to 1113 118
The "Cistercian" bases 1114 121
Concerning stability of the nave 1115 122
South aisle 1113-1116 124
Misplaced south doubleau 1113-1116 124
North aisle 1116-1118 126
Maintaining services while building 128
South clerestory wall 1116-1118 128
North clerestory wall 1117-1119 130
The strut 1118 132
Transverse arches and groin vaults 1118-1121 132
Building the groin vaults 138
Junction between tower and nave 139
Chapter13 - Second Church II - the lesser chamber 141
Lower chamber and the canon's door 143
Straighten the aisle entry 1114 144
Sepulchre window, the "Glory" 147
The sepulchre 1115 149
North aisle: the other wide windows 1115 151
North clerestory window 1119 154
Chapter 14 - Second Church III - pilasters-S and -N 159
Pilaster-S 164
Pilaster-N 167
West pilaster 171
Chapter 15 - Second Church IV - the choir 179
Priority to the chamber 1128-1135 180
Two bays in the choir 182
Pilaster-E 1126-1131 184
To separate or to merge? 185
Choir paused at the clerestory 1129 187
Concerning stability in the choir 1128 190
Chapter 16 - Second Church V - the greater chamber 193
Cornices under the roof
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780975742570
Publisert
2024-09-17
Utgiver
Vendor
West Grinstead Publications
Vekt
1376 gr
Høyde
297 mm
Bredde
210 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
320
Forfatter