Reims, Cathédrale Notre-Dame

    Images
    Date

    Begun ca. 1212

    Plan

    Aisled basilica intersected by a deeply projecting transept and five-aisled chevet. The chevet of this basilica was entirely replaced by Abbot Pierre de Celles starting in the 1160-70s. The new chevet has double aisles and is terminated in the east by a hemicycle with a five generous radiating chapels, the axial one deeper than the rest. Slender columns placed in the chapel mouths receive the ribs and arches of the ambulatory and the chapels, allowing the spaces to fuse together. Soon thereafter a new western frontispiece was built incorporating the twin turrets of the older church where sumptuous articulation includes spolia from Roman monuments. The nave was retrofitted with the extension upwards of a tall clerestory and the installation of rib vaults.

    Elevation

    The chevet has a four story elevation with linked clerestory and triforium. There are flying buttresses and enormous expanses of glass, especially at gallery level. Delicate articulation includes spectacular columns in the mouths of the chapels.

    Chronology

    In the 11th-century a great basilica with galleries and a wooden roof, vaulted aisles with an intersecting transept was built. Starting 1160-1170s the chevet was entirely replaced and nave retrofitted by Abbot Pierre de Celles. The building was badly ruined in the bombardments of WWI.

    Significance

    Saint-Remi was a great fortified monastery going back the 4th and 5th-centuries that held the saint-ampoule - with the unction used in the coronations of the Kings of France and the burial place of Saint-Remi. The old galleried nave with its wooden roof is thought to resemble that of many similar great churches in the North including, for example, Jumièges b-1134. The chevet figures importantly in the story of early gothic architecture. The delicacy of the slender columns refers to Suger's new chevet at S-Denis b-1182. The double columns in the mouth of chapel linkage include Soissons cathedral b-1054 (south transpet), Notre-Dame-en-Vaux, Lagny (never built) and Saint-Germain at Auxerre b-1085 and the Cathedral of Auxerre b-1084. Saint-Remi also has long-reach flyers like those of Notre-Dame of Paris b-1164. Saint-Remi is also a testimony to the antique revival and use of spolia.

    "La Basilique Saint-Remi à Reims et sa remise en état." Monuments historiques de la France 5 (1959): 1-25.
    Abbaye de Saint-Remi de Reims (Reims France), and Gaston Robert. Les fiefs se Saint-Remi de Reims depuis ;e Xve siècle jusqu'en 1550. Reims,
    Paris,: L. Michaud;
    A. Picard, 1913.
    Beumann, Helmut. Beiträge Zur Bildung Der Französischen Nation Im Früh- Und Hochmittelalter. Sigmaringen: J. Thorbecke, 1983.
    Brichet, Robert. "La Basilique Saint-Remi À Reims." Construction moderne, no. 2 (1959): 64-69.
    Caviness, Madeline H. "The Twelfth-Century Ornamental Windows of Saint-Remi in Reims." In Cloisters, Studies in Honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary, edited by Elizabeth C. Parker, ed. New York, 1992.
    Clark, William W. "Notes on the Original Design of the Choir and Chevet of Saint-Rémi at Reims." In Pierre, Lumière, Couleur : Études D'histoire De L'art Du Moyen Age En L'honneur D'anne Prache, edited by D. Sandron. Paris: Presses de l'université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1999.
    Crosby, Sumner McKnight, André Chastel, Anne Prache, and Albert Chatelet. Études D'art Médiéval Offertes À Louis Grodecki. Paris: Ophrys, 1981.
    Crouvezier, Gustave, and Louis Paul Bocquet. Saint-Remi De Reims. Saint-Brice-Courcelles (Marne), 1963.
    Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. "La Sanctuarisation Du Chevet." In L'architecture Gothique Au Service De La Liturgie : Colloque Organisé À La Fondation Singer-Polignac Le Jeudi 24 Septembre 2002, 2002.
    Gosset, Alphonse, and Flodoard. La Basilique De Saint-Remi À Reims; Histoire, Description, Construction. Paris,: Librairies-imprimeries réunies; etc. etc., 1900.
    Grodecki, L. "Les Plus Anciens Vitraux De Saint-Remi De Reims." BEITR Z KUNST MITTELALT (FESTSCHR F H WENTZEL) (1975): p 65-77.
    Héliot, Pierre, and Anne Prache. "L'architecture À Reims Et Dans Ses Environs Entre 1150 Et 1300." Saint-Thierry; une abbaye du VIe au XXe siècle (1983): 457-77.
    Humann, Nicole. "Les Constructions Mauristes À Saint-Remi De Reims." Mémoires de la Société d'agriculture, commerce, sciences et arts du Département de la Marne 74 (1959): 34-60.
    Kramp, Mario. Kirche, Kunst Und Königsbild : Zum Zusammenhang Von Politik Und Kirchenbau Im Capetingischen Frankreich Des 12. Jajrhunderts Am Beispiel Der Drei Abteien Saint-Denis, Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Und Saint-Reims. Weimar: Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenschaften, 1995.
    Leflon, Jean. Histoire De L'église De Reims Du Ier Au Vme Siècle. Reims,: Imprimerie du Nord-est, 1942.
    Louis, Julien. "Identification De Vestiges Du Tombeau De L'abbé Odon De Saint-Remi (1118-1151) Au Musée Saint Remi De Reims." Bulletin Monumental 162 (2004): 193-95.
    Martel, G. de. "Une Notice Inédite Sur Pierre De Celle. ." Mémoire de la Société d'Agriculture, du Commerce, des Sciences et des Arts de la Marne Châlons-sur-Marne 97 (1982): 77-88.
    Michler, J¸rgen. "Eckonflikte - Ecklösungen in Der Gotischen Baukunst." Architectura 38 (2008): 49-76.
    Paillard-Prache, Anne. "Saint-Remi De Reims, Église De Pèlerinage." Memoires de la Société d'agriculture, commerce, sciences et arts du Département de la Marne 74 (1959): 61-87.
    Prache, Anne. "La Façade De Saint-Remi De Reims Avant Les Restaurations Du Xiie Siècle." Société nationale des antiquaires de France Bulletin (1971): 11-13.
    -- -- -- . "Saint-Remi De Reims." Congrès archéologique de France 135 (1977): 109-21.
    Prache, A. "A Propos Des Voûtes De La Nef De La Cathédrale De Noyon." Bulletin Monumental 136 (1978): 73-77.
    Prache, Anne. Saint-Remi De Reims : L'Ouvre De Pierre De Celle Et Sa Place Dans L'architecture Gothique. Genève: Droz, 1978.
    -- -- -- . "Saint-Remi De Reims: L'oeuvre De Pierre De Celle Et Sa Place Dans L'architecture Gothique." Société française d'archéologie Bibliothèque, no. 8 (1978): 1-164.
    -- -- -- . "Le Vitrail De La Crucifixion De Saint-Rémi De Reims. ." In Études D'art Médiéval Offertes À Louis Grodecki, edited by Sumner McKnight; Chastel Crosby, André; Prache, Anne; Chatelet, Albert, 145-54. Paris: Ophrys, 1981.
    -- -- -- . Reims : La Cathédrale Notre-Dame : Saint-Remi. La Pierre-qui-Vire: Zodiaque, 1984.
    Ravaux, J. P. "L'eglise Saint-Remi De Reims Au 11 Siecle." Bulletin Archeologique Du Comite Des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques 8 (1972): 52-98.
    Roth, Gertrud. "Polyptychon Der Abtei Des Heiligen Remigius. Eine Sprachliche Untersuchung." Carthaus, 1917.
    Scott, Glenn Trayer. French Romanesque Architecture