How France Built Her Cathedrals Part 2

Coutances Cathedral loveliest in Normandy, begun after the fire of 1218--Its three towers notable--Aisles of choir are of different height.

Gothic art of Brittany--Brittany more a land of shrines than cathedrals--Her religious soul best expressed by her Calvarys--XIII-century cathedral at Dol has fine eastern window--Cathedral at Nantes possesses the last great work of Gothic sculpture--Cathedral of Quimper very Breton in spirit--St. Pol-de-Leon Cathedral entirely complete--The Kreisker is Brittany's grandest tower--St. Yves of Brittany helped build Treguier Cathedral.

Summing up--Gothic art gave way before the pagan Renaissance and the contempt for legends roused by the Reformation. In the World War France again displayed the spirit that had built cathedrals. Unquenchable idealism of the French race.

INDEX 583

BIBLIOGRAPHY 605

Ill.u.s.trations

SOISSONS CATHEDRAL. THE TRANSEPT'S SOUTHERN ARM (C. 1180) _Frontispiece_

POISSY. AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF GOTHIC VAULTING (C. 1135) _Facing p._ 54

ST. DENIS-EN-FRANCE AND ITS ROYAL MAUSOLEUMS " 68

NOYON'S CHAPTER HOUSE (1240-1250) _Page_ 83

SENLIS' TOWER (C. 1230-1250) _Facing p._ 90

THE INTERIOR OF LAON CATHEDRAL (XII CENTURY). VIEW FROM THE TRIBUNE GALLERY " 98

THE OXEN ON LAON'S TOWERS " 106

NOTRE DAME OF PARIS. VIEW FROM THE SOUTH _Page_ 127

NOTRE DAME OF MANTES (1160-1200). THE CONTEMPORARY OF PARIS CATHEDRAL _Facing p._ 162

THE CATHEDRAL OF MEAUX, VIEWED FROM THE NAVE'S AISLE " 168

THE CATHEDRAL OF CHARTRES (1194-1240). THE SOUTHERN ASPECT _Page_ 178

THE ANGEL APSE OF RHEIMS (C. 1220) " 196

THE TRANSEPT OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL (1220-1280) _Facing p._ 204

THE APSE OF BOURGES (1200-1225) " 214

ST. URBAIN AT TROYES (1264-1276) " 236

LE MANS CHOIR (1217-1254). THE DOUBLE AISLES " 270

ANGOULeME CATHEDRAL. A XII-CENTURY CUPOLA CHURCH OF AQUITAINE WITH A TYPICAL FAcADE OF POITOU'S ROMANESQUE SCHOOL " 290

THE PLANTAGENET TOMBS AT FONTEVRAULT " 298

THE PLANTAGENET GOTHIC CHOIR OF ST. SERGE AT ANGERS (1220-1225) " 312

NOTRE DAME DU PORT AT CLERMONT-FERRAND. TYPICAL XII-CENTURY CHURCH OF AUVERGNE'S ROMANESQUE SCHOOL " 338

LE PUY IN OLD AUVERGNE " 344

THE JACOBINS', OR DOMINICANS', CHURCH AT TOULOUSE (XIII CENTURY) " 358

ALBI CATHEDRAL (1282-1399). A MIDI FORTRESS CHURCH " 370

THE MEDIaeVAL CLOISTER OF ARLES " 398

THE XI-CENTURY SANCTUARY OF CLUNY AS IT WAS UNTIL THE REVOLUTION _Facing p._ 414

VEZELAY'S XII-CENTURY ABBEY CHURCH OF THE MADELEINE " 436

NOTRE DAME AT DIJON (1220-1245). BURGUNDIAN GOTHIC " 452

THE CRYPT OF THE ABBAYE-AUX-DAMES AT CAEN (1059-1066) " 484

BELFRY OF ST. PIERRE AT CAEN (1308-1317). PROTOTYPE FOR THE GOTHIC TOWERS OF NORMANDY AND BRITTANY " 490

THE HALL OF THE KNIGHTS AT MONT-SAINT-MICHEL (1203-1228).

SECOND STORY OF THE MERVEILLE " 500

THE CHOIR OF BAYEAUX CATHEDRAL (1210-1260). TYPICAL OF NORMANDY'S ELABORATE GOTHIC " 546

How France Built Her Cathedrals

[Ill.u.s.tration]

How France Built Her Cathedrals

INTRODUCTION

"We may live without architecture, and worship without her, but _we cannot remember without her_. How cold is all history, how lifeless all imagery, compared to that which the living nation writes and the uncorrupted marble bears. There are but two strong conquerors of the forgetfulness of men, Poetry and Architecture, and the latter in some sort includes the former, and is mightier in its reality; it is well to have, not only what men have thought and felt, but what their hands have handled and their strength wrought and their eyes beheld, all the days of their life."[1]

So wrote John Ruskin in one of his flashes of genius, and never was word truer. Architecture is the living voice of the past. Architecture is history. By architecture the forefathers from whom we come relate to us their progress in knowledge, their prowess in handicrafts, their economic conditions, their sorrows, their rejoicings, their aspirations.