Chapelle des Moines. frescoes from the Twelfth Century
If you are ever driving between Macon and Cluny take the old road. Its slower but you drive through the Val Lamartine and through a number of pretty villages . One of these is the village of Berze-La-Ville, if you drive in to the village it does not look so special . You might explore and you will come across a small chapel called the Chapelle des Moines. You might pass by as it looks rather ordinary . However if you do venture inside you will find one of the true masterpieces of Byzantine art in Europe. These frescos from the early twelfth century were whitewashed over till 1887 . They were restored by an English woman Joan Evans in the 1950s the work was supported by a group of people from Fort Worth in Texas. I have visited the chapel many times we used to stay regularly in a nearby hamlet called Sommere . Once I saw a concert there by a string quartet its a small chapel so no more than forty people could attend the concert . To listen to Mozart and gaze on these murals was an unforgettable evening
More info if you are interested
A unique example of Burgundian Cluniac mural paintings which are of a remarkable quality, attests to a Cluniac style with Italo-Byzantine influences and therefore underlines the close links that the abbots of Cluny maintained with Rome and Monte Cassino, the source of the Benedictine Order, which maintained links with the Byzantine Empire.
Located ten or so kilometres from the abbey, the villa in Berzé-la-Ville served as a place for the abbots of Cluny to spend their vacations and was particularly appreciated by Abbot Hugh of Semur. The construction of the chapel of Berzé-la-Ville is attributed to this abbot and builder, and the paintings—they have a very distinctive style that distinguishes them from surviving examples of French Roman mural paintings—may be the work of artists who had come to work on Cluny abbey.
The painted decorations in the chapel, which seem to have been confined to the apse[are arranged in three sections. In the lower section, busts of saints seem to emerge from behind a hanging that covers the lower half of their bodies. Inscriptions identify them as saints of eastern and western origin.
The middle sections is pierced with three apertures flanked by two blind arches, in which are represented the scenes of the martyrdom of St Blaise to the north and St Vincent to the south. I
In the centre of the cul-de-four vault that constitutes the third section, Christ is in Majesty he is represented on a throne in a mandorla: He is bestowing a blessing on St Paul with his right hand and is handing a phylactery to St Peter with his left hand.
THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT TO MY STREAM.
I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL IF YOU COULD NOT FAVE A PHOTO WITHOUT ALSO LEAVING A COMMENT .
Chapelle des Moines. frescoes from the Twelfth Century
If you are ever driving between Macon and Cluny take the old road. Its slower but you drive through the Val Lamartine and through a number of pretty villages . One of these is the village of Berze-La-Ville, if you drive in to the village it does not look so special . You might explore and you will come across a small chapel called the Chapelle des Moines. You might pass by as it looks rather ordinary . However if you do venture inside you will find one of the true masterpieces of Byzantine art in Europe. These frescos from the early twelfth century were whitewashed over till 1887 . They were restored by an English woman Joan Evans in the 1950s the work was supported by a group of people from Fort Worth in Texas. I have visited the chapel many times we used to stay regularly in a nearby hamlet called Sommere . Once I saw a concert there by a string quartet its a small chapel so no more than forty people could attend the concert . To listen to Mozart and gaze on these murals was an unforgettable evening
More info if you are interested
A unique example of Burgundian Cluniac mural paintings which are of a remarkable quality, attests to a Cluniac style with Italo-Byzantine influences and therefore underlines the close links that the abbots of Cluny maintained with Rome and Monte Cassino, the source of the Benedictine Order, which maintained links with the Byzantine Empire.
Located ten or so kilometres from the abbey, the villa in Berzé-la-Ville served as a place for the abbots of Cluny to spend their vacations and was particularly appreciated by Abbot Hugh of Semur. The construction of the chapel of Berzé-la-Ville is attributed to this abbot and builder, and the paintings—they have a very distinctive style that distinguishes them from surviving examples of French Roman mural paintings—may be the work of artists who had come to work on Cluny abbey.
The painted decorations in the chapel, which seem to have been confined to the apse[are arranged in three sections. In the lower section, busts of saints seem to emerge from behind a hanging that covers the lower half of their bodies. Inscriptions identify them as saints of eastern and western origin.
The middle sections is pierced with three apertures flanked by two blind arches, in which are represented the scenes of the martyrdom of St Blaise to the north and St Vincent to the south. I
In the centre of the cul-de-four vault that constitutes the third section, Christ is in Majesty he is represented on a throne in a mandorla: He is bestowing a blessing on St Paul with his right hand and is handing a phylactery to St Peter with his left hand.
THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT TO MY STREAM.
I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL IF YOU COULD NOT FAVE A PHOTO WITHOUT ALSO LEAVING A COMMENT .