new :
cestas
aire - a stop on the french wild west, bordeaux to the spanish
border - the n10 and a63 
Transbordeur
bridges in France and the world 2: focus on Portugalete, Chicago,
Rochefort-Martrou
Germans
in France - St. Quentin cathedral
Germans
in France
Reims
cathedral
Cambrai
cathedral
Soissons
cathedral
Arras
cathedral
Gustave
Eiffel’s first work: the Eiffel passerelle, Bordeaux
a
dream unfulfilled - the transporter bridge [pont transbordeur],
Bordeaux
a
fifth bridge coming to Bordeaux: pont Bacalan-Bastide, a new
vertical lift bridge
the
6th bridge at Rouen: Pont Gustave Flaubert,
new vertical lift bridge
Ile
de France, Paris: in the context of Abelard and of French
cathedrals
France’s
western isles: Ile de Ré
France’s
western iles: Ile d’Oleron
on first arriving in France - driving
France is not England
Marianne - a French
national symbol, with French definitive stamps
the
calendar of the French Revolution
la
belle époque
Grand Palais,
Paris
Pic
du Midi - observing stars clearly, A64
Carcassonne,
A61: world heritage fortified city
Futuroscope
Vulcania
Space
City, Toulouse
the
French umbrella & Aurillac
50
years old:
Citroën DS
the
Citroën 2CV:
a French
motoring icon
the
forest as seen by francois mauriac, and today
places
and playtime
roundabout
art of Les Landes
le pique-nique
Hermès
scarves
bastide towns
mardi gras!
carnival in Basque country
what a hair
cut! m & french pop/rock
country
life in France: the poultry fair
short biography of Pierre
(Peter) Abelard
|
1953 postcard of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame, Lausanne
[Note, wavy lines are postal franking marks]
 When
its construction was started in 1170, the building that became the Cathedral
Notre Dame de Lausanne was an alien apparition, like a meteorite fallen
from the sky. At that time, outside the “native” Gothic zone
of Ile-de-France and Picardy in France, and Anglo-Norman England, there
was no similar building. And so the clerestory of Lausanne cathedral has
clear similarities to the choir at Canterbury, both following French Gothic
design. The style of cathedral is for the most part described as “primitive
Burgundian Gothic”. Regarded as the most beautiful Gothic cathedral
in Switzerland, this building has arguably
one of the most impressive rose windows in the world.
During the Middle Ages, the cathedral was a place of pilgrimage , with
about seventy thousand people visiting each year. At this time, the population
of the city of Lausanne was only about seven thousand.
History
- 1170, construction started with an ambulatory, using
Roman materials. Most of the dressed stone used in the cathedral is
molasse.
1190, a second builder started the present church;
this took until
1215, Jean Cotereel, the third and main architect,
continued by constructing the western
- section, its porch and two towers, one with a belfry, though the other
tower was not completed.
- 1275, the cathedral was consecrated by Pope Gregory
X in the presence
- of King Rudolf of Habsburg
- 1536, during the Reformation, the cathedral was
stripped of almost all its
- decoration - altars, statues and paintings, leaving the building’s
interior remarkably uncluttered and neat. The 12th century gold and
silver Virgin and child statue were melted down for coins, and liturgical
vestments and tapestries were put in a Bern museum.
Thus the Catholic cathedral came under Protestant control.
- 18th century, several restorations works effectuated
- 1873, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
started
- restoring the cathedral, which restoration is still on-going. Viollet-le-Duc
died at Lausanne in 1879.
- 2007, the most recent restoration of the exterior
stonework, damaged by rain
- and other atmospheric pollution, was completed.
Cathedral
dimensions
- Length
- The cathedral: 80 metres/262 feet long
including choir: 20 metres/66 feet long
- Width
- Total aisle width: 26 metres/85 feet
including main nave: 19.3 metres/63 feet wide
- Height
- Nave arches: 32.5 metres/106.6 feet
choir arches: 24.3 metres/79.7 feet.
Facade towers: 44 metres/144 feet
These are topped by an oak cross 4 metres/13 feet high.
- South rose window
- diameter: 8 metres/26 feet
stone tracery: 1205
glass: circa 1230
- Bell tower (Burgundy tower)
- A Burgundy oak frame supports 6 bells, the largest weighing between
8,000 and 9,000 kg /17,600 and 19,800 pounds and measuring 2.07 metres/6.8
feet in diameter!
Stained glass
Maquette of the rose window’s stone tracery
The rose window
[1231–35] in the south facade is considered to be one of the most
important roses in Europe, together with those at Notre Dame in Paris
and at Chartres. The Lausanne South Rose was made by a wandering artist
from Picardy, Pierre d’Arras, and is related in style and iconography
to that of the Laon
workshop.
In medieval times, large rose windows were often a representation of
the universe. Thus, Lausanne’s large rose contains images representing
the four seasons, four elements, four winds, four rivers of paradise,
as well as the twelve labours of the months and the signs of the zodiac.
[The rose was restored in 1894-98 by E. Hosch. Missing panels were replaced,
while others, such as the centre, were improvised.]
As well as the medieval rose, Lausanne cathedral also holds twentieth-century
glass that combines both medieval and Art
Nouveau - Jugendstil - motifs. The glass was executed during the inter-war
years by French Swiss glass artists Marcel Poncet, Louis Rivier and François
de Ribaupierre, Alexandre Cingria, Charles Clément and Edmond Bille.
Taller twentieth century stained glass above, shorter
13th century glass below
  
Twentieth-century stained glass
The organ
[Note central trumpet pipes ]
When the 1955 organ developed ‘breathing’ problems, the chosen
builders, Massachusetts-based C.B. Fisk, and Italian designer Giugiaro,
made the new 7,000-pipe, 100-stop organ. Giugiaro, who designs Lamborghini
and other cars, modelled the body of the organ on an angel floating floating
on a cloud of light.
To see in the cathedral
- Chapel of the Bourbon, south aisle:
- Front portals have medallions depicting the Creation, the life of
St. John, and the signs of the zodiac.
Stained glass in upper row of windows dates from 1501.
- Choir:
- 13th-century stalls. When the choir was refurnished after the Revolution,
these stalls were purchased from the abbey at Cluny, which had put them
on sale.
- High altar:
- Two crosses commemorating the union of the Greek and Latin Churches
- the Union of Lyons, proclaimed at the 14th
Ecumenical Council in 1274.
- South door - the Apostles’ or Painted Doorway:
- Medieval churches were known for their multicoloured [polychrome]
decoration of walls, doorways and statuary. This remarkable example
at Lausanne, reputedly one of the best in Europe, was constructed between
1230 and 1235. Although it was not damaged by the destruction of the
Reformation, the painted statuary was covered in whitewash. The portal
was cleaned and restored between 1974 and 1991, and in 2007 when the
statuary was consolidated and high-tech glass panels were installed
to protect the porch.
The statuary of this portal includes:
Tympanum: the crowning of the Virgin and Christ in Majesty in a mandala.
Lintel: Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin.
Central pier: Archangel Gabriel and St-Michel.
Column statues, divided into four groups of three at the four corners
near the doorway:
Moses, St-Jean-Baptiste and Simeon; and St. Peter, St. Paul
and St. John.
to the outside:
Isaiah, David, and Jeremiah; and St. Matthew, St. Luke and St.
Marc.
- South transept:
- Some medieval painting still extant.
- Entrance to sacristy, south transept:
- Fine 18th-century grillwork
Visitors can climb the 225 steps to the observation deck of one of the
two towers, overlooking the city of Lausanne and with views across Lake
Geneva. About half a million people visit the Cathedral de Notre Dame
every year.
Regular concerts are held in the cathedral to which the general public
is welcome.
1924 postcard of Lausanne City, with Cathedral de
Notre Dame,
Lake Geneva and the Alps beyond
Lausanne Cathedral is now the only city in Europe to follow a tradition
started in 1405, of a night watch. This was very important in earlier
times, when most buildings were made of wood, to prevent the all-too-common
threat of devastating fires. The watchman walks up to the top of the tower,
every hour on the hour from 22:000 to 02:00 (10pm to 2am). At the tower
top, he calls out to the four points of the compass: C‘est le
guet; il a sonné l’heure (“This is the night watch;
the hour has struck”). Since 2002, this task has been performed
by Renato Häusler.
Each year, on December 31 at midnight, to mark the transition to the
new year, a display of sounds, light and smoke gives the impression that
the tower caught fire.
Nowadays, Protestant services are held on Sundays at 10:00 and 20:00,
the cathedral being closed to non-worshipping visitors during these periods.
From time to time, Catholic services are held.
Opening times
and entrance charges
- April to September:
- Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:30/8am-6:30pm,
Sat: 08:30-18:00/8:30am-6pm
Sun: 14:00-19:00/2-7pm
- Oct-Mar:
- Mon-Fri 07:30-18:00/7:30am-6pm
Sat 08:30-17:00/8:30am-5pm
Sun 14:00-17:30/2-5:30pm.
- Entrance to cathedral: free
- to the tower: 2 F
end notes
-
- Dormition:
- A major Christian festival is the commemoration of the death of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, called in liturgical language the “Dormition
of Our Lady”. The Dormition is the first of the three days
that Mary lay before her ‘translation’ into heaven,
on Assumption, 15th August.
|
