Auxerre - the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne - interior

The Rose & Lancet windows on the South Side

Lillian :  As promised, this post will be all about the inside of Auxerre's Cathédrale Saint-Étienne.
Audrey :  No photos of us dollies this time.  Let's start with some of the stained glass windows.

The Rose window on the North

Lillian :  Lots of blue & red glass in these windows depicting various biblical and saints' stories.

Lillian :  More blue around a rather grumpy looking Jesus surrounded by the animals & angel that represent the 4 evangelists - St Matthew / angel, St John / eagle, St Luke / bull & St Mark / lion.

Audrey :  Perhaps he is grumpy because the window needs some cleaning? 

Audrey :  This marvelous window shows Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) - it is not as old as the others and is signed "Ed. Socard ... Paris 1914"

Lillian :  According to Auxerre's Office of Tourism's web site  "Joan of Arc came through Auxerre on two occasions. The first time was on 27 February 1429 ... she stopped off in Auxerre to hear the mass at Saint-Etienne Cathedral and to pray. The second time was on 1 July 1429: the Auxerre residents refused to open up the town to King Charles VII and Joan of Arc who were walking to Reims. They only agreed to offer supplies in exchange for money. They had negotiated with the lord of Trimouille, in return for a sum of money, so as to remain neutral in the conflict between the King, the Burgundians and the English. "

Audrey :  Here is a close up of the angel - lots of lovely blues & pinks.

Audrey : With all of that wonderful coloured glass in the windows you get pools of coloured light on the floor & walls - like this...

Lillian : Such intense colour in the glass was expensive - the ruby red was made using gold (gold chloride)  the blue was cobalt ... this web site has a list for the colours in glass.

Lillian : Architecturally this Cathedral is quite lovely inside - here we look along the nave into the sanctuary.   Lovely & lofty with lots of vertical lines, high windows and vaulting.

Audrey : What sort of vault are they?  And did you notice that some are red, some white?

Lillian :  Groin vaults, sometimes called Cross vaults ...

Audrey :  Let's use the 2nd name.

Lillian : OK, here we are looking up into that decorated vault - I think this is where the Sanctuary, which was built in the early 1200s, and the later (1300s) Nave meet.

Audrey : What about this vaulting? 

 Lillian : Oh dear - we really need an expert on all this architecture - but I think that is probably Ribbed Vaulting, it is very elegant with the those thin pillars.  I also think some of the window on the RH side needs cleaning.

Audrey :  There are some really old, Romanesque, Frescoes, which were very difficult to photograph as they are quite faint - guess I would be too if I were so ancient.   The people all in a row are all wearing bishops' hats and have their names written underneath, the one in the middle is St Romanus - next to him, in the yellow is St Etherius, Bishop of Auxerre - and the seated bishop on the edge is named as St Agnarius (might be a strange spelling of Ignatius).

    

  Lillian :  Some more frescoes and usually a saint holding a lamb is St Agnes but that saint has a beard, perhaps he is John the Baptist but I don't know who the other person is.

 Audrey :  Hmmm, I like that nice pointy version of a Bishops' hat. 

Let's finish with some more random photos of the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne - things that caught our fancy, though we are not quite sure what they are all about!

Lillian :  This column top is a bit naughty - seems not everything in a Cathedral is high-minded and spiritual.

Audrey :  There were some ancient tomb-stones set into the floor and we liked this bit of carving - bones all tied up like a gift for a dog - or pirate!

And finally - this chap caught in a strong up-draft - or perhaps he was an early experimenter in the effects of electricity.

Auxerre - the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne

Lillian :  We also took a day-trip to Auxerre last spring when we were visiting Bourgogne.

Audrey :  Auxerre was easier to get to than Vézelay - we took the train.

View from the train - somewhere between Avallon & Auxerre

Auxerre's train station

Lillian :   Auxerre is a major town - and whereas Avallon & Vézelay are perched on top of hills, Auxerre is in a valley and sits beside the Yonne River.

Audrey :   But just like those other towns, Auxerre has a famous church - the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne.  This Cathedral is very decorated compared to the other ones - though only one of its towers was built.

Lillian :  This more ornamental style gets called Gothic, later than the Romanesque Basilica in Vézelay.  Although most of the Cathedral was built in the early 1200s, this western facade wasn't finished until the 1500s. 

Audrey :  Well, it still isn't really finished - they forgot about that other tower!  

 

Though that one they did build is very nice - did you notice how the falls of the wisteria flowers echoed the decoration on the tower?

Lillian :  The three doorways on the Western side have wonderful Tympanum.  

This is right-hand side as you are facing the Cathedral and probably completed close to 1240.   The central part tells the story of David and Bathsheba and the tympanum portrays the story of John the Baptist. 

The South Portal

Audrey :   The Main doorway has even more people and they have fancy little platforms to stand on.

The Main Portal

Lillian :   This work was done later - about 1400.  The Last Judgment is shown in the centre - on those little platforms are scenes from the lives of the apostles.  Amazing delicate filigree carving.

Here is a close up

Audrey :  Unfortunately all the people down low and within reach, had been beheaded - the poor things! 

Audrey :  The door itself is quite gorgeous with Fleur de Lis carved and painted.

   Lillian :  Let's walk around to the Northern side - round that tower

And on this side - in the middle - the north transept and another wonderful tympanum and lots of filigree carving. This dates from the end of the 1400s.

Audrey :   So, if I have this correctly - the Gothic style has lots of fancy, filigree carving, and pointy arches and lots of gargoyles.  This Cathedral has wonderful gargoyles.

Two Faced Gargoyle

 

Lillian :  Yes, and they function as waterspouts - which was originally the purpose of gargoyles. 

A monk with an animal's face?

Audrey :  I thought they were there to make us laugh!
Lillian :   I think they are meant to be scary - here is a Wikipedia article. 
Audrey : Well, that man with the lizardy skin doesn't look happy and he might club you but the dragon is lovely - look how he is sitting on the corner, like he'll fly off any minute.

And these Gargoyles aren't scary at all.

Smiling Lion sheltering a child

A GoatGoyle

Audrey :  This one is clever - we'll show it turned round - the water pours from the jug on his shoulder and he has a sweet little doggy.

Lillian :  This is the apse or chevet - it is at the Eastern end which is the tradition.  Some of that was built in the first half of the thirteenth century - you can also see the buttresses.

And one last photo of the exterior of the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre with roofs and cherry blossom, well it was spring time.

Audrey : Next post we'll show you photos of the inside of this Cathedral - it has some splendid stained glass windows.