The first time Walt and I ever saw the cathedral at Bourges was in 1993. We had just spent two weeks in Provence and we were driving back to Paris. For some reason, we cut across the middle of France from Mâcon, I think, northwest toward Bourges. We came into the town from the south, then, and were stunned to be confronted with such a magnificent church! It was more than impressive; it was almost overwhelming. Neither of us was aware of its existence before we stumbled upon it. The last photo in this post shows it as we saw it that first time.
On another trip, in 2019, we drove past Bourges on our way home from a stay in Auvergne and I snapped the photo below from the window of the car. You can see how Bourges cathedral dominates the fairly flat Berry landscape.
On another trip, in 2019, we drove past Bourges on our way home from a stay in Auvergne and I snapped the photo below from the window of the car. You can see how Bourges cathedral dominates the fairly flat Berry landscape.
I've been to Bourges a few times now, but the most memorable visit was in 2009 with CHM. It was a year to the day before we went to the Château de Meillant, just a few miles south. I don't remember if CHM had been to Bourges before. We had a great lunch in a restaurant near the cathedral and spent a few hours taking photos all around the building as well as inside. Here are some of the exterior shots. In photo #1 below, the small crowd of people in front of the cathedral might give you an idea of the scale of the place.
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Here's one of the best views of the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Bourges. As far as the west front goes, nearby buildings make it hard to get a good photo. The cathedral was built starting in the year 1195. It was consacrated in 1324. The Cadogan Loire guidebook says it is "just as large and grand as Notre-Dame" in Paris.
Bourges is one of the great French cathedrals and, as you say can rival with Notre-Dame, but also with Amiens, Reims or Chartres. I have the impression that I was in Bourges before, but I wouldn’t give ma tête à couper that it is so. I see myself looking at the unusual five porches, and that doesn’t seem to be when the both of us were there. It might have been when I was in Jars in 1941? Sometimes memory plays tricks on you.
ReplyDeleteBut now what is very clear in my memory is this especially delicious foie de veau.
There are so many not really lesser known churches or cathedral like Rouen, Strasbourg, Laon, Metz, Albi, Toulouse, Orléans, Coutances and on and on... This heritage is one of the redeeming values of religion.
DeleteI think about churches like the ones at Pontigny, Senlis, l'Épine, Saint-Benoît, Saint-Savin, Lavardin, Cunault, etc. that we've seen over the past 15 or more years.
DeleteYes, all these you mention are treasures. They’re all the same and, at the same time, they’re all different.
DeleteFunny that you mention N-D de l’Épine, I was just looking at images of it in Google yesterday, a basilica in the middle of nowhere! Just like, more or less, the cathedral in Sées.
Photo #1 showing the scale of the people is remarkable. The place is huge! Is that chm in the last photo, stepping through the landscaping to get a photo of the yellow roses?
ReplyDeleteThat is CHM, but I'm not sure what he was taking pictures of. The flowers in that garden were so beautiful. I took dozens of pictures. I think I'll make a slideshow out of them.
DeleteYes, I was getting set to take a picture of this yellow rose. To ad to the many other flowers the pictures of I took in this lovely very French garden.
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Wow!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that I have been to see the cathedral in Bourges, but I teach about it. In that PBS video, CATHEDRAL, based on the book by David Macaulay, it's one of the Gothic cathedrals shown (along with Reims, Chartres, ND Paris, Laon, and Amiens).
ReplyDeleteThanks, Judy, for the info on the PBS video.
DeleteWithout the people in the first picture, you might think that the bottoms of those windows were at shoulder height and you could look in the windows easily. What a massive church! And beautiful gardens.
ReplyDeleteThere is another famous landmark in Bourges, a Renaissance palatial private home: la Maison Jacques Cœur. If I am not mistaken, he was le Grand Argentier, the Finance Minister of the king of France
ReplyDeleteGreat - thank you for having a photo of people in front of Bourges Cathedral to show how truly immense this Cathedral is! My Dad always encouraged me to show people in photos to give the viewer an idea of the size!
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