Larchant, Église Saint-Mathurin

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Description

Date

Begun ca. 1170

History

Saint Mathurin was a local thaumaturgical saint of the third century who, it was claimed, healed the daughter of the emperor Maximien. In 1005 Renault de Vendôme gave the church and the fief to the chapter of Notre-Dame of Paris. There was a tranfer of relics in 1176 at which time the new church was under construction. The healing properties of the saint attracted a pilgrimage cult. Around 1330 a magnificnet new chapel dedicated to the Virgin was added to the east of the north transept The church was ruined in the Wars of Religion.

Plan

The aisless nave was intended to have three bays with sexpartite vaults with a quadripartite vault over the shorter western bay. A mighty tower flanks the nave on the north side providing access to a portal with a Last Judgement tympanum. Deep transept arms with sexpartite vaults and a short choir without aisles or ambulatory terminating in a five-segment apse

Significance

The architectural spaces and forms point directly to Notre-Dame of Paris. This includes the use of sexpartite vaults; the skinny en délit shafts and molding forms. The new Virgin chapel also points to Notre-Dame, particularly the choir chapels

Elevation

Two stories throughout.

Location

Bibliography

Bellier de la Chavignier, E., Chroniques de Saint-Mathurin de Larchant en Gastinais, Pithiviers, 1863
Edward, C. O., Grandeur et décadence de Saint-Mathurin de Larchant, Paris, 1933
J. Henriet, "Le choeur de Saint-Mathurin de Larchant et Notre-Dame de Paris," Bulletin monumental, 1976, 289-307.
-----, "La chapelle de la vierge de Saint-Mathurin de Larchant--une oeuvre de Pierre de Celles," Bulletin monumental, 136, 1978, 35
Lheure, Michel, Le rayonnement de Notre-Dame de Paris dans ses paroisses, Picard, Paris, 2010, 201
Verdier, M., L'église Saint-Mathurin de Larchant, Coutances, 1969