According to the Wikipédia article about it, the church in Selles-sur-Cher — l'église abbatiale Notre-Dame-la-Blanche — was built and re-built many times over the centuries since its founding sometime before the Viking invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries. The Vikings laid waste to the original magnifique église. Another church was built there in the 12th century. Part of the building collapsed and was re-built in the Gothic style in the 13th and 14th centuries.
In the 16th century, lightning struck the church's bell tower. And then Protestant forces burned much of the church later in the century during the French wars of religion. For the following two centuries, the church was basically a patched-up ruin. It was re-built in the late 19th century. Such is the history of many old French monuments. Still, Notre-Dame-la-Blanche is an impressive building.
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It is pleasing here to see a church that, in spite of its numerous avatars, shows a great unity. The 19th century architect must be commended not to have gone overboard with the New & Improved so dear to his colleagues at this point in time.
ReplyDeleteI should have put the word "avatar" in italics and within quotes because it doesn't seem to have the same meaning in French and in English. So, here, it meant destructions and rebuildings.
DeleteSort of like the second coming...
DeleteYes, and happy Bastille Day to you!
DeleteAs chm said it certainly doesn’t look cobbled together. I especially like photo #8.
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy Bastille Day!
I agree with you BettyAnn. This Romanesque capital is certainly period and was salvaged from the successive destructions! It is beautiful
DeleteHappy BD to you too.
DeleteIt is worth googling église de selles sur cher and get the images. On the outside, there are frizes on the absidioles that are very old.
Probably, the destructions weren’t as extensive as Wikipedia would like you to believe. The inside is beautiful and you can see one of Ken’s photos.
I'm sure we have gone to Sellesand into the church. What photo of mine did you find by googling?
DeletePhoto# 2.
DeleteAs-tu un lien à partager?
DeleteWhat do you mean by that? kenb.blogspot.com?
DeleteOn the photo it says 12 hours ago
DeleteBelow the photo
L’eglise de Selles-sur-Cher
Ckenb.blogspot.com
There is also photo # 4
in the same set of photos.
And one I cannot find when I google At the Church at Selles-sur-Cher which represents three stained glass windows.
IIRC we went to Selles-sur-Cher only once. We took photos of the chateau, just gave a passing look at the outside of the church and at the Jeanne d’Arc plaque. Then, we crossed the Cher to see if we could take photos of the chateau from that side. Then, blank!
DeleteIt was on June 27, 2004. We started on the other side of the Cher, and we took some photos of the château from over there. Then we went into the church, where I took some 15 or so photos. Then we drove up to the Château du Moulin near Romo. On the way back to Saint-Aignan, we stopped in Noyers to see the chapelle Saint-Lazare and look for the old windmill you can see from a distance.
DeleteI sure don’t remember going inside this church. If I had known you were going to do a post about it a few days ago, I would have paid more attention!
DeleteI do remember the chateau du Moulin and all the vintage cars there.
Bonne fête nationale!
ReplyDeleteThis is a good looking church, yes indeed :)
The exterior looks very unified. I'd never have guessed it was rebuilt. And...for the 14th:
ReplyDeleteAllons enfants de la Patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Merci David. I can recommend the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra’s rendition of the Hector Berlioz orchestrated version of La Marseillaise.
DeleteI'll bet that was great!
DeleteLove the lion column!
ReplyDeleteThat capital, Evelyn, is probably 12th century.
DeleteThanks for the word capital, CHM- it looks quite modern. The old sometimes becomes the new.
DeleteGreat church
ReplyDelete