Angouleme Cathedral
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| Front facade of Cathed |
Angouleme Cathedral is located at Angouleme,
Charente, France. It is also known as Saint Pierre Cathedral. Angouleme sits on
a plateau above junction of Charente and Anguienne River. During the Hundreds
Years’ War, the French and the English were fighting over this piece of land.
Then during the late sixteenth century, Angouleme was once again being
disturbed and affected by war, this time is the religious wars. During the reign
of King Francis I, Giovanni da Verrazzano was count Angouleme, so when he
discovered the harbor, he named it after himself. (1)
The Saint Pierre Cathedral was constructed around 12
century (1105- 28). It took on a Romanesque Byzantine style, in which the west
façade is covered with Romanesque sculpture. It was one of the very first
examples of sculptural program that occupies the whole façade of a church. This
to a certain extent suggested that the architect might have been inspired from
scaena frons of Roman theatre. (2)
In comparison to the elaborate exterior façade, the
interior is an aisle-less nave, with three bays, a transept, a choir in which
radiates apsidal chapels. The nave and crossing are spanned by large domes that
were supported by pendentives. As for the transepts and choir, it was covered
with barrel vaults. The design of the church takes on a cruciform with one
entrance. Since it’s in a cruciform, it is very symmetrical in plan and it was
designed with various geometry shapes. The Cathedral of Saint Pierre was
restored in the 19th century by Paul Abadie.
Cited Work:
1. Britannica.
Com. Angouleme France written by editiors of Britannica.
2. vialucispress.wordpress.com.
Paul Abadie and the Restoration of the Cathedral Saint Pierre d’Angouleme. By
Dennis Aubrey.
3. "IMAGES OF MEDIEVAL ART AND
ARCHITECTURE." Medieval
Angoulême -Plans and Drawings. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.
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