| |
The restoration of the religious buildings.
Each year over the past several decades, the city has been investing millions of euros in operations to restore its listed buildings, which are mostly religious buildings. This is because churches are as precious as they are fragile, not only because limestone does not adapt readily to alternating drought and humidity but also because the drop in the level of the water table has led to disturbances in their foundations.
The art of stained glass or the “Memory of Glass"
EThis is one of the most wonderful legacies left to the City of the Counts of Champagne by the artists of mediaeval times. Stained glass reached its zenith in XIII c. The Master Glaziers worked closely with the Cathedral Builders’ Guilds and at Troyes the most famous artists founded their own School in XVI C.
The last known great artist was Linard Gontier at the beginning of XVII c. before the renaissance of the great dynasties of the XIX c. The “Memory of Glass” became a permanent feature of our city.
The method remained the same, while benefiting from the considerable technical improvements such as best-quality lead, improved soldering materials and a palette of colours that had started out with 10 shades and then increased to almost 3,000.
Troyes is a veritable experimental laboratory “in situ” for the protection and restoration of old stained glass windows. This includes the system of protection of certain stained glass windows in the cathedral, linked to a computer analysis system.
The département of the Aube has the greatest surface area of stained glass windows in France, with 9,000 sq m of stained glass dating between XII c. and XIX c. and Troyes has been called by the specialists the “Sacred City of Stained Glass”.
|
|
SAINT-PIERRE SAINT-PAUL
CATHEDRAL (XIII-XVII C.)
Place Saint Pierre
114 metres long and 50 metres wide, 28.5 metres high at the vault, characteristic of the Gothic period.
It has 1,500 sq m of stained glass from the XIII to XI C, making a fantastic Book of Images. The façade with its three flamboyant doorways is the work of Martin Chambiges.
The Saint-Paul Tower was left uncompleted in 1545. The choir grill was removed in the XIX c. and now marks the entrance to a hall in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
It houses a particularly interesting treasure including The Hunt of Saint-Bernard de Clairvaux, a wonderful ceremonial gown dating from the XIII c., (a liturgical ornament in red silk embroidered with 53 medallions) and a beautiful collection of Mosan and Limousin enamels dating between XII c. and XIII c.
Opposite the cathedral, the Cellier Saint-Pierre is the old cellar of the Cathedral chapter. Monks stored their wine and their wheat there. The roof structure dates from the XIII c. and is said to be the oldest still in existence in a civil building in France.
BASILICA SAINT-URBAIN
XIII C
Place Vernier
Saint-Urbain was the headquarters of the brotherhood of painters, glaziers and embroiderers (1645). Rue Urbain IV had been called Rue Pipejai (after a wigmaker), Rue de la Bourserie (purses, or bourses, were made here out of kidskin or gold thread), and Rue Moyenne, (meaning Middle Street – Vicus Medicus separated the city in two in 1260).
It was consecrated a basilica in 1964 and is a pure jewel of Gothic art similar to the Sainte Chapelle of Paris and the Saint-Ouen church at Rouen.
It was founded by Jacques Pantaléon who was born in Troyes in 1185 and elected Pope in 1261 under the name of URBAIN IV. It was constructed on the site of his father’s shoemaker’s shop. Urbain IV instituted the Fête-Dieu.
His remains were brought back from Perugia, Italy and deposited in the choir in 1935. The building went up in a very short time, between 1262 and 1286 but had to wait for six centuries for the vault of the nave to be constructed in stone.
Not to be missed, the tympanum of the main porch (XIII c.), depicting the Last Judgement, the gargoyles, masterpieces of realistic beasts,. In the south chapel there is a beautiful “Vierge au Raisin” (XVI c. Troyenne school), a Virgin whose robe was painted in very bright colours. At the chevet are XII c. glass windows.
SAINT PANTALEON CHURCH
(XVI-XVIII C.)
Rue de Vauluisant
Parish of the Polish community of Troyes. Built on the site of a synagogue, (according to tradition), a veritable museum of XVI c. Troyes statuary, because it was the hiding place for statues saved during the Revolution.
Some were created by Dominique le Florentin, an artist from Troyes and decorator for François 1st.
Not to be missed: grisaille glass from the mid-XVI C.
SAINT-MADELEINE CHURCH
(XII-XVI c.)
Rue de la Madeleine
Famous for its stone rood-screen, veritable chiselled lacework sculpted by Jean Guailde (early XVI c.) and legend has it that he is buried underneath it.
His epitaph said that “he was waiting for blessed resurrection without fear of being crushed”. The wooden enclosure that was beneath the rood-screen is now exhibited at the Vauluisant Museum.
Not to be missed: statue of Saint-Marthe, typical of XVI c. Troyes art, called the workshop of “The Master of Sad Faces”. Stained glass of the Champagne School, XVI c. (Creation of the World, Tree of Jesse).
SAINT-REMY CHURCH (XIV-XVI C.)
Place Saint-Rémy – in the market quarter
(pedestrian area)
During archaeological digs in the Saint-Rémy quarter in 1986, bones and more than 800 objects of daily life in XII c. were brought to light along with Gallo-roman remains and the remains of a cemetery.
Its originality comes from the 60 metre spiral spire. Curiously, the foundations of this church are almost non-existent and the church is built almost straight onto the ground.
Not to be missed: bas-reliefs in white marble and Christ in bronze, by François Girardon. Paintings by Jacques de Létin (Troyes painter during the XVII C.).
SAINT_NICOLAS CHURCH (XVI C)
Bd Victor Hugo - rue Huguier Truelle
Previously it was supported by the ramparts and did not have a west door. Two large doors were opened here after the demolition of the fortifications in XIX c.
Not to be missed: inside, a curious “Calvary Chapel” loggia, accessed by a monumental staircase. On the South Door (Rue H. Truelle), statue of David and Isaiah, the only one attributed to the Troyes sculptor François Gentil.
SAINT-JEAN-AU-MARCHÉ CHURCH (XIII-XVI c.)
Rue Mignard - Place du Marché
au Pain
(pedestrian area)
At the centre of the quarter of the Mediaeval Champagne Fairs, the wedding of Henry V of England and Catherine of France took place on June 2nd 1420. Marguerite Bourgeoys was christened here on April 17th 1620.
Not to be missed: high altar tabernacle by François Girardon (1693). Above, painting of “Christening of Christ” by Pierre Mignard (1667).
SAINT-NIZIER CHURCH (XVI C)
Place Saint-Nizier - behind the Cathedral
It is good to stroll around this square, with its fountain, well and bronze statues that are reproductions of those created by sculptors from Troyes and the Aube region (Dubois, Boucher and Simart).
Interesting church due to its Gothic Renaissance architecture (1522-1619). The facade porch has a triangular pediment decorated with the coat of arms of Charles IX.
Not to be missed: the roof, covered with multicoloured varnished tiles. “The entombment” and “Piéta”, XVI c. Stained glass from XVI c.
SAINT-MARTIN-ES-VIGNES CHURCH
(End XVI-XVII c.)
Rue de la Reine Blanche
Saint Martin was a village on the outskirts of Troyes until 1856. Over the doorway of the façade are sculpted the arms of Henri de Montmorency-Luxembourg, abbey of Montiéramey and lord of “Saint Martin”.
Not to be missed: remarkable stained glass windows from the XVII c. by the master glazier from Troyes, Linard Gontier.
NOTRE-DAME DES TREVOIS (XX c.)
97, bd Jules Guesde
It was the first building of XX c. to be listed and was built between 1931 and 1934 by Dom Bellot (monk-architect (1876-1944), who built 15 churches around the world (Argentina, Canada etc.) of which seven are in France.
This “Brick-Poet” creates a happy marriage between brick and mosaics in Byzantine style using hispano-mauresque colours. |
|
|
