Rheims and the Battles for its Possession Part 6

Before the fire of 1481, there was a lantern over the intersection of the transept.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CENTRAL DOOR OF THE NORTHERN TRANSEPT]

=The Central Door of the Northern Transept=

The sculptural decoration, while rich, is more sober than that of the doorway of the western facade. It is commemorative of the glory of the Archbishops of Rheims.

The statue of the Pontiff with a tiara, backing up to the dividing-pillar, is supposed to be that of St. Sixtus, first Bishop of Rheims. In the splaying, on the left, is St. Nicaise holding his head in his hands, between St. Eutropia, an angel and a figure improbably said to be Clovis.

The pediment was pierced by a sh.e.l.l and scarred with splinters. It is divided into five tiers, and represent the life of St. Remi and St.

Nicaise.

Beginning at the bottom, the figures represent: _on the first tier_, the beheading of St. Nicaise by the Vandals and the Baptism of Clovis by St.

Remi; _on the second_, St. Remi, as a child, restores sight to Monta.n.u.s and, as a man, exorcises the demons who had set fire to Rheims; _on the third_, the story of Job; _on the fourth_, the restoring to life of a young Toulouse girl, and the miracle of the cask filled with wine by St.

Remi; _on the fifth_, Christ between two angels.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LEFT-HAND DOOR OF THE NORTHERN TRANSEPT: THE LAST JUDGMENT _The dead rise from their graves._]

=The Left-Hand Door of the Northern Transept=

This door, which has long been walled up, is called _The Doorway of the Last Judgment_, on account of the carving on the tympanum.

In the upper part, Christ is supported on one side by the Holy Virgin, and on the other by John the Baptist. Below (_two rows_) the dead rise from their graves (_photo above_). Lower down, on one side are _The Virtues_, represented by seated women; on the other, _The Vices_, mutilated in 1780 on account of their realism. On the lowest tier, _to the left_, angels carry souls to Abraham's bosom: _on the right_, Satan leads a chain of d.a.m.ned souls to h.e.l.l (_photo below_), amongst whom are a king, a bishop, and a monk.

In the arching are three rows of angels carrying books or blowing trumpets, and the wise and foolish virgins.

Backing up to the dividing pillar is an exceedingly fine 13th century statue, which recalls the "_Beautiful G.o.d_" of Amiens Cathedral (_see the Michelin Guide: Amiens Before and During the War_); Jesus blessing with His right hand, holds the globe of the world in His left (_see photo p. 45_).

This statue was decapitated by a sh.e.l.l which struck the doorway in 1918, also taking off the head of the first statue on the left-hand portion of the doorway.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LEFT-HAND DOOR OF THE NORTHERN TRANSEPT: THE LAST JUDGMENT _Satan drags a chain of d.a.m.ned Souls to h.e.l.l._]

On the plinth of the dividing pillar is a bas-relief, remarkable for its delicate carving.

According to local tradition, this plinth was erected at the expense of a dishonest master-draper, convicted of selling by false measure.

_On the left_, the merchant is seen in his shop. In front of the counter, customers of both s.e.xes look at the outspread stuffs, while clerks write in books.

_On the right_, the merchant kneels before a statue of the Virgin in penance.

Near-by, burgesses talk together and seem to judge the delinquent's conduct severely.

The six statues against the walls represent the apostles: _on the right_, St. John, St. James and St. Paul; _on the left_, St. Andrew, St.

Peter and St. Bartholomew.

The rose is carved in a voussoir; the uprights are decorated with statues of Adam and Eve in long tunics, and the arch with twenty-two groups of small figures depicting, _from left to right_, the story of Adam and Eve, the various tasks to which they and their descendants were condemned, and the story of Cain and Abel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DIVIDING-PILLAR OF THE LEFT-HAND DOOR OF THE NORTHERN TRANSEPT _The statue of Christ was decapitated by a sh.e.l.l._ _On the plinth is the legend of the Master-draper_ (_see text opposite_).]

Above the rose an open-work gallery contains seven statues of the prophets. The statues are 13th century, but the gallery was restored in 1846.

The bal.u.s.trading and triangular gable flanked with pinnacles, which dominate the gallery, date from the beginning of the 16th century, but have been repaired in recent times. On the gable is a colossal =Annunciation=; the Archangel and Mary are under Flamboyant canopies.

=The Right-Hand Door of the Northern Transept (Norman Door)=

This little door formerly connected, by means of a vaulted pa.s.sage, the Cathedral with the Cloister (no longer existing) of the Chapter.

Its tympanum is a relic of the Cathedral built by Archbishop Samson. It depicts, in beautiful Romanesque relief, a majestic Virgin. The archivolt which frames it, doubtless belonged to a 12th century tomb. At the top of the arch, angels carry away a soul, while on the uprights, clerks officiate at a funeral service.

=The Chevet=

(_See photograph of Cathedral, taken from aeroplane, p. 30._)

The Chevet, begun by Jean D'Orbais and finished by Jean Le Loup, was inaugurated by the Chapter about 1241. It is one of the finest 13th century chevets in existence.

It is stayed by two rows of b.u.t.tresses supporting double flying-b.u.t.tresses. Like those of the nave, the b.u.t.tresses are surmounted with pinnacles, beneath which niches shelter statues of flying angels.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHEVET BEFORE THE WAR _One of the finest 13th century Chevets._]

All around the apse, between the windows of the radial chapels and on the main b.u.t.tresses, are statues of angels, some of them of great beauty.

The 13th century clerestory gallery, which surrounds the upper portion of the apsidal chapels, was restored by Viollet-le-Duc. It was partially destroyed by the bombardments. On April 19, 1917, three large calibre sh.e.l.ls, which burst on the chevet, destroyed forty to fifty feet of it.

At the same time, the b.u.t.tress jutting on the centre of the destroyed gallery lost its pinnacle, and behind, an arch of the flying-b.u.t.tress.

The b.u.t.tresses between the above-mentioned one and the corner of the South Transept Tower lost either a colonnette or their pinnacle with angel statue.

The slender spire which, before the War, rose above the chevet, was known as the =Angel Spire=, on account of a bronze angel which surmounted it, and which was removed in 1860 as unsafe. This spire, the work of Colard le Moine, was built in 1485, after the fire of 1481. Its pierced base with bal.u.s.trading was supported by eight leaden caryatids, some of which, in the popular costume of the Louis XI. period, became deformed in consequence of the rotting of their oaken core.

The fire of September 19, 1914, caused by the German sh.e.l.ls, entirely destroyed the spire and its caryatids.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHEVET IN 1919 _The roof with the "Angel Spire" was destroyed._]

The bombardments in the spring of the following year further damaged the gallery, also causing fresh mutilations to the flying b.u.t.tresses and the pinnacles of the apse.

A plain stone gallery with blind arcading, which formerly ran round the chevet on a level with the springing of the roof, was replaced by Viollet-le-Duc, with pierced battlemented arcading. Part of the original gallery which surrounded the entire building, level with the roof, still exists on the northern side.

On October 12, 1914, a sh.e.l.l destroyed about twenty five feet of the gallery round the chevet, which later was further damaged by another sh.e.l.l.

=The Lateral Facade and South Transept=

This facade and transept (_which should be seen from the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace_) are identical, as a whole, with the northern facade and transept (_see pp. 28 and 42_).

The gallery at the springing of the roof of the nave was entirely rebuilt in 1878 by Architect Millet, in a style foreign to that of the Cathedral.