Germigny-des-Prés: the only Carolingian mosaic in France
[Today our visit of the Carolingian oratory of Germigny-des-Prés comes to an end. These are the last four photographs.]
We have left the abbey of Fleury but our first stop will not take us very far: just a few kilometers down River Loire. In fact, we are still within what was in the 800s the abbey’s domain. There was probably a small settlement here, and in the hope of creating a real village, Theodulf, abbot of Fleury and also bishop of Orléans, had the church built between 803 and 806. It is not a very large church, but not a small one either, and this time span of only three years says a lot about how fast construction activities could go when the proper will and means were applied...
Perhaps an explanation can be found in the fact that, contrary to what was believed, the church was not built ex nihilo in the early 800s: in 2019, a non-destructive survey demonstrated that some of the structural walls can be dated as early as the mid-600s, i.e. a century and a half before the Carolingian church... Some of that structure was re-used in the 800s.
Of course, the monument was remodeled and added to later. The nave was never vaulted, and thus prone to fall victim to fire, which happened as early as the 850s. In 1060–1067, Hugh I, abbot of Fleury, rebuilt parts of the nave, and yet more repairs and reconstructions were carried out after the Wars of Religion, the nave being almost entirely rebuilt in the 16th century. Extensive reconstruction also took place in the 19th century after the church was listed as a Historic Landmark on the very first list 1840. Long thought to be the oldest church in France, the most authentic parts of the monument today (which started out in life with a simple quatrefoil floor plan) are the eastern apse, the choir, and of course the Carolingian mosaic, which was preserved.
The church is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
As in the previous photo, this view of the nave looking to the West shows the almost total symmetry of the architecture, the like of which I have almost never seen in an authentic Mediæval monument, much less one from Carolingian times...
Why? Because, even if perfect symmetry had been the intent of the original builders, they didn’t, back in the day, have the measuring tools that would allow them to achieve such industrial-grade identity!
Germigny-des-Prés: the only Carolingian mosaic in France
[Today our visit of the Carolingian oratory of Germigny-des-Prés comes to an end. These are the last four photographs.]
We have left the abbey of Fleury but our first stop will not take us very far: just a few kilometers down River Loire. In fact, we are still within what was in the 800s the abbey’s domain. There was probably a small settlement here, and in the hope of creating a real village, Theodulf, abbot of Fleury and also bishop of Orléans, had the church built between 803 and 806. It is not a very large church, but not a small one either, and this time span of only three years says a lot about how fast construction activities could go when the proper will and means were applied...
Perhaps an explanation can be found in the fact that, contrary to what was believed, the church was not built ex nihilo in the early 800s: in 2019, a non-destructive survey demonstrated that some of the structural walls can be dated as early as the mid-600s, i.e. a century and a half before the Carolingian church... Some of that structure was re-used in the 800s.
Of course, the monument was remodeled and added to later. The nave was never vaulted, and thus prone to fall victim to fire, which happened as early as the 850s. In 1060–1067, Hugh I, abbot of Fleury, rebuilt parts of the nave, and yet more repairs and reconstructions were carried out after the Wars of Religion, the nave being almost entirely rebuilt in the 16th century. Extensive reconstruction also took place in the 19th century after the church was listed as a Historic Landmark on the very first list 1840. Long thought to be the oldest church in France, the most authentic parts of the monument today (which started out in life with a simple quatrefoil floor plan) are the eastern apse, the choir, and of course the Carolingian mosaic, which was preserved.
The church is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
As in the previous photo, this view of the nave looking to the West shows the almost total symmetry of the architecture, the like of which I have almost never seen in an authentic Mediæval monument, much less one from Carolingian times...
Why? Because, even if perfect symmetry had been the intent of the original builders, they didn’t, back in the day, have the measuring tools that would allow them to achieve such industrial-grade identity!