Images
Exterior, general views
Exterior, western frontispiece and towers
Exterior nave
Exterior transept
Exterior chevet
Interior narthex (if present) and nave
Interior crossing and transept arms
Interior chevet
Panoramas
VR Tour
Historical Images and Plans
Notes
Date
Begun ca. 1157
Plan
A basilica intersected by a deep transept terminated by a chevet with radiating chapels with two slender columns in the mouth of each chapel. Twin towers nestle in the eastern end. The building has a superficial unity with arcade and spacious gallery and triforium. However, closer inspection reveals that the older gallery elevation, it was most certainly a wooden roofed galleried structure with groin vaults. The nave is remolded in tandem with the reconstruction of the chevet. Several features link this building with Saint-Remi at Reims including the linked triforium and clerestory including the two slender columns in the mouths of the radiating chapel.
Chronology
The nave was retro-fitted around 1100's. Later modification of the nave took place in mid-12th-century and also in the chevet during the 1180's and afterwards. In the transept arm one can see what the original elevation looked like (photo). Ultimately it is the tectonic expression can be found in Normandy, such as the nave of Mont-Saint-Michel (photo comparison).
Significance
Notre-Dame-en-Vaux is located in a town that is flourishing with agriculture of Champagne. The church had the relic of Saint-Nombril, the umbilical cord of Christ, which served to place the church as a stop on the pilgrimage route. The rebuilding reflects the experience of the rebuilding of Saint-Remi of Reims which was conducted under Bishop Pierre de Celles.
Location
Bibliography
Bony, Jean, French Gothic Architecture of the 12th and 13th Centuries, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1983
Christ, Y., "Le cloître de Notre-Dame en Vaux," Archeologia, vol. 119, 1978, pp 16-20
Clause, G., and J. P. Ravaux, Chalons en Champagne : panorama monumental et architectural, Contades, Strasbourg, 1986
Corsepius, K., Notre-Dame-en-Vaux: Studien zur Baugeschichte des 12. Jahrhunderts in Châlons-sur-Marne, Stuttgart, 1997
Fusier, J., Vitraux des églises de Châlons-en-Champagne: Notre-Dame-en-Vaux, Saint-Alpin, Saint-Étienne, Langres, 2005
Kulemann, M. R., Autour du cloitre de Notre-Dame-en-Vaux. Memoire de la Société d'agriculture, du commerce, des sciences et des arts de la Marne Chalons-Sur-Marne. vol. 96: 1981, pp. 139-141
Lafond, J., Les vitraux de Châlons-sur-Marne et de Saint-Quentin et l'oeuvre de Mathieu Bléville, Paris, 1961
Ottaway, J. "Traditions architecturales dans le nord de la France pendant le premier millenaire." Cahiers de civilisation médievale Poitiers. 23.3, 1980, pp. 221-239.
Prache, Anne. "L'art dans la Champagne du Nord." Congrès archéologique de France, 135e, 1977, Champagne pp. 9-51.
-----, "L'église Notre-Dame-en-Vaux de Chalons". Congrès archéologique de France, 135e, 1977, Champagne, pp. 279-297
----, Notre-Dame-en-Vaux de Châlons-sur-Marne: campagnes de construction, Châlons-sur-Marne, 1966
Pressouyre, Leon., "Les sculpteurs du cloitre de Chalons-sur-Marne." Bulletin de la Société Nationale des antiquaires de France Paris. 1976, pp. 205-206.
-----, "Le cloitre de Notre-Dame-en-Vaux à Chalons-sur-Marne." Congrès archéologique de France, Champagne, 135e, 1977, pp. 298-306.
Rocard, J., "les charpentes de l'église Notre-Dame en Vaux à Châlons," Monuments historiques de la France, vol. 16:4, 1970, pp 53-67