A Roger Underwood
St Peters Cathedral - Saintes
Fujifilm X-T5
XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR
In the original 15th. century plans it was intended for the cathedral to have a Gothic spire, however such was the flamboyance of the design, note the profusion of smaller highly decorated towers in the lower part, that funding ran out before this could be achieved and the diocese had to settle for a copper dome, which does seem a little out of place. There is probably a moral in there somewhere.
The cathedral has had the misfortune to be situated in a part of France with a particularly turbulent history; there was the 14th. century hundred years war against the English, the 16th. century wars of religion which saw the city occupied by protestant and then catholic armies, the Frond rebellion in the 17th. century, the French Revolution in the 18th. which saw worship transferred to a 'Supreme Being' and the execution of its bishop. All these events exacted their toll on the structure of the building which necessitated repeated and often extensive repairs and sometimes unsuccessful reconstruction, In rebuilding the nave the architect had to settle for a considerable reduction in the roof height compared to the original structure with the result that the original flying buttresses, still standing, are left supporting nothing in mid-air. But perhaps the final indignity was the loss of formal cathedral status by Napoleon's decision to transfer the departmental capital from Saintes to La Rochelle.
St Peters Cathedral - Saintes
Fujifilm X-T5
XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR
In the original 15th. century plans it was intended for the cathedral to have a Gothic spire, however such was the flamboyance of the design, note the profusion of smaller highly decorated towers in the lower part, that funding ran out before this could be achieved and the diocese had to settle for a copper dome, which does seem a little out of place. There is probably a moral in there somewhere.
The cathedral has had the misfortune to be situated in a part of France with a particularly turbulent history; there was the 14th. century hundred years war against the English, the 16th. century wars of religion which saw the city occupied by protestant and then catholic armies, the Frond rebellion in the 17th. century, the French Revolution in the 18th. which saw worship transferred to a 'Supreme Being' and the execution of its bishop. All these events exacted their toll on the structure of the building which necessitated repeated and often extensive repairs and sometimes unsuccessful reconstruction, In rebuilding the nave the architect had to settle for a considerable reduction in the roof height compared to the original structure with the result that the original flying buttresses, still standing, are left supporting nothing in mid-air. But perhaps the final indignity was the loss of formal cathedral status by Napoleon's decision to transfer the departmental capital from Saintes to La Rochelle.