Since the dawn of humanity, men have dedicated their most beautiful temple to the sun and its divine light. This creative madness reached its peak in the Middle Ages with the Gothic cathedrals and their incredible architecture of stone and glass lace. In 150 years, the builders of cathedrals cut, sculpted and piled up more stones than the Egyptians in 1000 years.
Here are the secrets of this extraordinary human and architectural adventure. An era of all possibilities, made of competitions, innovations, intrigues, struggles, power and drama. An era which left us the most beautiful masterpieces of all of Christianity.
It is June 21, 1144 in Saint Denis, ten kilometers north of Paris. All the political and religious elite of the kingdom, followed by numerous faithful, came to attend an exceptional inauguration. Abbot Suger, who directs the abbey of Saint-Denis, has completely restored the old abbey church.
The fruit of this incredible metamorphosis is a masterpiece unimaginable for the time. When Suger inaugurates the abbey church of Saint-Denis, all the nobles are there. The king is here.
He discovers this exceptional monument, a completely innovative architecture. There is something of amazement. He discovers a church of light.
That's completely revolutionary. That day, proud of his unprecedented architectural prowess, Abbot Suger was convinced that his marvel would remain unmatched for centuries. Unwittingly, on the contrary, he inaugurated a new art that would later be called Gothic, in reference to its French origins.
Gothic art is a revolutionary art. We build higher, we build wider, we build better and more efficiently. And so it is a true aesthetic and spiritual universe that is being established at this time.
However, this fabulous human and technical adventure almost never saw the light of day. To realize his ideal church, Suger first had to overcome the laws of gravity thanks to innovations like the ribbed cross. the Abbot also had to take all the risks to finance his pharaonic project.
The treasure of Saint-Denis, one of the most important in Christianity. He will, one might even say, squander the fortune and provoke a lot of criticism. Suger even had to challenge one of the most important figures in the church.
Fiercely opposed to his delusions of grandeur. Bernard de Clairvaux will send inflammatory letters to Suger. He will say that Saint Denis is the forge of Vulcan, the synagogue of the devil.
How did Father Suger overcome all these challenges? And where did his inspiration come from? This is the astonishing story of the first Gothic cathedral and its visionary creator.
At the dawn of the 11th century, Saint-Denis was a monumental church attached to the abbey of the same name. Located about ten kilometers north of Paris, the site owes its fame to one of the most powerful myths of Christianity. Saint Denis refers to this Christian missionary saint from the 3rd century who was martyred by the Romans.
His head would have been cut off on the Montmartre hill and he would have come with his head in his hands, led by an angel and a celestial light to this place. the Church honors the place where Saint Denis would have placed his head which would have transported him after his beheading. A first church was subsequently built in the 4th century, then the church which subsequently gave rise to the burial of the kings and queens of France.
This desire of the kings of France to be buried as close as possible to the saint gradually gave a political dimension to the abbey. In the 11th century. It is even the nerve center of royal power, because the one who directs it.
Abbot Adam, is also prime minister of the King of France, Philippe Iᵉʳ. Saint-Denis is the king's stronghold, a territory directly controlled by the king in the heart of the kingdom. The king governs with the council of prelates, the bishops, the great abbots.
But he governs a kingdom ravaged by incessant feudal wars and the resulting misery. During the 10th century, royal power gradually crumbled to the benefit of a whole mosaic of lordships and fiefs which were rivals for the King of France. The local lords have only one idea, which is to somehow eat away at the royal power.
These armed conflicts which are sowing death in the four corners of the Kingdom of France have lasted for so long that they have ended up plunging the French into deep despair. Medieval man, man of the 11th century. He is a man who is a worried man.
He has lived in famines, in wars, in situations such that his faith is shaken and he feels that God has abandoned him. Many think that these tragedies which strike their land are only the first fruits of the Apocalypse announced by the Bible in the Gospel of Saint John. Since the year 1000, everywhere in the kingdom, preachers have spread this mystical terror of the coming of the last judgment.
The last judgment is coming, everyone is aware of it. You have to prepare for this moment. The people are convinced.
In any case, he lives in anticipation of the end of the world. It is in this climate of chaos that Suger, which is sometimes pronounced suggests, was born. History has not remembered his first name.
And yet, what an incredible destiny is that of this man who will climb all the ranks of political and spiritual powers in just 40 years before writing one of the most glorious pages of medieval architecture. The trajectory of this subject is the trajectory of a shooting star. He is a man from a family, extremely humble and suddenly, at the age of 40, we find him in the position which is the equivalent of a Prime Minister.
So in the medieval context. Suger is an extraordinary journey. However, when Suger was born in 1081 in Chennevières-les-Louvres, a small town near Paris, nothing predestined him for this extraordinary journey.
Suger comes from a relatively modest family. His parents were undoubtedly laborers from the northern region of Ile de France. Suger was only ten years old when his mother tragically disappeared, victim of a flu epidemic which ravaged the surroundings of Paris.
He and his two brothers find themselves alone with their father. A burden far too heavy for the latter to assume, who then makes a decision that will change the destiny of his son. His father can no longer feed his children.
He will entrust his son to a monastery. His father decided to give him to the abbey of Saint-Denis so that he could complete his education. the monastic school of the famous abbey of Saint-Denis is the most prestigious in the kingdom.
Overnight. The subject thus moves from the harsh and uncertain world of the plowing fields to the much more opulent and promising world of the highest cultural place of its time. The abbeys have libraries near them which are the only places of access to the texts.
The text circulates little because there is no printing press and the places where they are copied and preserved are the monasteries. So you cannot become a brilliant intellectual if you are not trained in places where you have access to these manuscripts. The chance of life, so to speak , is to return as an oblate, as a future monk in Saint-Denis.
A young boy who is undoubtedly very very intelligent and without training perhaps he could not have given what he subsequently gave. Model student. Suger very quickly adopted the codes and customs of his new world.
At first, he actively helped with the various tasks of the abbey, then learned to read, write and count with a speed that surprised his educators. Saint-Denis is a bit of a hotbed of talent and Suger is one of those students who are immediately detected by their teachers as being exceptional. If the reputation of Saint-Denis is exceptional, it is because its immense library brings together all the important books of the time: theology, architecture, philosophy.
The boy is amazed by the thousands of manuscripts he discovers. So, when the young subject in the Saint-Denis library became interested in the works, he was undoubtedly attracted by those which dealt with the question of light, which was a fundamental theme for the thought of the 12th century. This adolescent's passion for light is undoubtedly explained by his ecclesiastical training.
Like all novices, Suger spends hours studying the Bible. However, in his eyes, the current dwelling of the Lord in no way resembles the descriptions that he was able to read in the Holy Book. Whatever the beauty of the Romanesque abbey of Saint Denis, he ends up convincing himself that it is not worthy of the Creator.
Especially since Saint Denis has a major disadvantage : the absence of large windows forces priests and monks to use large quantities of candles for lighting. So many time bombs capable of devastating the entire building as well as the neighboring neighborhoods. One of the main fears that people have when faced with these monuments is fires.
These monuments are in fact largely built of wood and in particular their frames, and sometimes all it takes is a spark to set fire to these exposed frames which often still characterize Romanesque architecture. Fire hazard. Safety of the faithful.
Insufficient. Low light. How can we remedy all these problems without giving up offering God the most beautiful home?
How can we bring the Lord's house from darkness to light for His greater glory? For the moment, Suger cannot find the answer in the abbey's architectural treatises. But little by little, the teenager begins to dream of one day finding the solution to reunite the Creator and his servants in a cathedral of light and magnificence never equaled.
In his desire for renovation and restoration of the church. Suger is haunted by the idea of making his church resemble the heavenly Jerusalem. It was in these biblical readings, and more precisely in the book of Revelation written by John the Evangelist, that he found the description of this heavenly Jerusalem.
An idealized vision of the Lord's dwelling, the perfect, universal Church, both immense and bathed in light, where only pure beings will have their place. The heavenly Jerusalem described in Revelation in extremely precise terms. A holy city with its walls of gold, with its walls adorned with precious stones.
A home of light. Well, this heavenly Jerusalem is Sujer's model for the church, of its dreams on earth. For now, even if the young man had the power and financial means, it would be impossible for him to turn his dream into reality anyway , if we are to believe the measures mentioned in the Bible.
The dimensions of this celestial Jerusalem are 4 to 5 times greater than the tallest Romanesque cathedrals of the time. It is found only in. the Apocalypse, there are many figures.
Which allow us to evaluate the size of this celestial Jerusalem, in particular the 144 feet, which therefore constitute an ideal measurement. Which represents in the Apocalypse the 144,000 people saved. We will have the number 40, which is the addition of 28 lunar cycles and twelve solar cycles.
And this number 40 can be found for example in the 40 pillars of Reims Cathedral, or in the length of the transept of Notre-Dame de Paris. To build such a monumental church. Suger needs a new technique which will allow it to quadruple the height of the nave.
Without it, this transition from shadow to light that he so desires will remain a chimera. What Suger cannot guess is that Providence is working for him behind the scenes. All the conditions necessary for the accomplishment of his great work are gradually being put in place.
Because while studying in the most prestigious monastic school in the kingdom, the young man successively made two encounters that were decisive for his future and that of Saint Denis. The first is that of Abbot Adam, Prime Minister of King Philip I. In other words, one of the most influential and powerful men in the kingdom.
Abbot Adam. He is an extremely important character for the abbey of Saint-Denis. He is administrative manager.
He manages the domains of the abbey and is also responsible for the instruction of young monks, notably Suger. Abbot Adam appreciates the personality and intellectual qualities of his novice. It is undoubtedly for this reason that he viewed favorably his budding friendship with another student of the abbey, the own son of Philippe I and future king of France, Louis VI.
In the subject's itinerary, there are providential encounters. The first he did at a young age, when he met the future King Louis VI, who was a young man like him, who for a certain time was educated in Saint-Denis. A priori, nothing predisposed Suger.
Coming from a relatively modest family, to become the friend of the king. It turns out that they were school friends, as we would say today in the 1090s. On one side, Abbot Adam, on the other the future King Louis VI, also well surrounded and strong in exceptional intellectual abilities.
Suggestions with all the cards in hand to experience a meteoric rise. We are in 1112. The years have passed during which subject has continued to confirm all the hopes that have been placed in him.
Abbot Adam has long understood that he had a possible successor there. Abbot Adam will use Sujer according to his talents, that is to say for almost all the important tasks of this time. Abbot Adam also understands that Suger's oratorical skills and persuasiveness could be used outside the walls of the abbey.
the Abbot of his monastery entrusted him with very, very important diplomatic missions. We noticed his negotiating skills. This is the start of his career which will take him to the highest spheres of power.
The subject becomes an essential ambassador that Abbot Adam soon sends throughout the kingdom. Over the next fifteen years. He also represents the king to the great people of Europe to forge new alliances.
And so Suger will thus forge links, relationships almost everywhere in the Kingdom of France and even beyond, which will later serve as his relational capital to carry out all these undertakings. Among these undertakings, there is of course the beautification of the abbey church of Saint-Denis. It is then that an event will change everything.
It is March 11, 1122. Suger returns from a long, grueling business trip , accompanied by a few faithful servants. At the end of the day, as we approach Saint Denis, the cathedral bell suddenly begins to chime.
The little troop feels that they are reaching their goal. But it doesn't take long for her to become disillusioned. The bell only rang four times before going off.
A characteristic signal that announces the death of an important member of the clergy. Suger does not have time to share his concern with his companions when the gallop of a horse is heard. And there, a rider approaches.
He's going to tell him some news that he absolutely didn't expect. Terrible news. Abbot Adam is dead.
Suger is devastated. Even more than the king's principal advisor or the person in charge of the abbey of Saint-Denis. It's his mentor who has just passed away.
If this disappearance is a tragedy for the monk, it is nevertheless an unexpected opportunity for the man of power that he is becoming. Suger's charisma and talent made him the natural successor to Abbot Adam and when the latter died, he was elected head of the abbey. Suger therefore becomes abbot in his turn.
He thus inherits all the responsibilities assigned to this function including the management of the abbey church of Saint Denis. It ultimately seems to be quite coherent because Father Adam had already given him a certain number of missions where he proved to be an excellent speaker and he had won over all the bishops. And so this is something extremely important.
Abbot Adam's succession not only gave him leadership of the abbey of Saint-Denis, it propelled him to the summit of royal power. Like his mentor before him, Suger in turn became the king's principal advisor. A king he knows well since the death of Philippe I, it is now his son Louis VI who reigns on the throne of France.
We must not forget that Louis VI, while not king, was Suger's childhood friend and as an advisor, he will have considerable weight on the new king's political decisions. And he can finally implement a wish that he has cherished for several years, that is to say rebuild his abbey. But at the time, construction techniques were still rudimentary.
The Romanesque art style in which all the churches are built does not allow us to reach the incredible heights of this biblical model that is the celestial Jerusalem. Suger had to face the facts, although he was surrounded by the best architects who were then called project managers. No one wants to risk building such a tall building.
If he wants to find the solution that will allow him to accomplish his great project, he must take advantage of his diplomatic missions to draw inspiration from what is being done elsewhere. During his travels for diplomatic missions. He notably discovered Italy.
For Suger, the trip to Italy was a wonder. Subject travels to Tuscany, then to Lombardy and meets several architects, some of whom designed splendid palaces in Venice and Rome. His travels allowed him to discover numerous technical innovations that would soon help him realize his dream.
The subject wants the walls of the church to disappear, for the light to penetrate. It becomes colored as it passes through the stained glass windows. We almost achieve a vision of the higher world, of the world of God.
Opening walls to light to open hearts to creative light is completely revolutionary. But this supposed that this thought was also served by new technical knowledge. In this first half of the 12th century, all the buildings of the Christian Empire were built in the Romanesque style.
This architecture requires builders to build very thick walls to support the weight of the barrel vaults. The walls must be reinforced on the outside by imposing triangular buttresses whose function is to contain the pressures exerted. Without them, the building would split open and collapse.
The system is effective, but it has its limits. Beyond a certain height, the buttresses are no longer enough to withstand the pressure. Another disadvantage is that it is impossible to open the walls widely without weakening them.
Windows are therefore reduced to a minimum and buildings are plunged into permanent darkness. If he wants to realize his dream, Suger must find a way to lighten the load that weighs on either side of a keystone. And he unearthed this crucial discovery in architectural plans that he brought back from Italy.
And he is fascinated by these new architectures and in particular the use of the ribbed arch which is a new technique which allows, thanks to arches which cross under the vault, to distribute the weight of the vault a little more over the walls. This cross of warheads. This is the solution Suger has been waiting for for years.
Until now, the weight of a vault only rested on two solid walls which absorbed all the pressure. From now on, this pressure can be divided into several ribs which meet at the level of the crossing, at the top of the vault. This division of the load relieves the walls so much that we can replace them with simple pillars, create large openings and why not, try to raise the building to dizzying heights.
Suger may have found the solution to create his masterpiece and thanks to the treasure of Saint Denis, he has colossal financial resources. He will therefore be able to go quickly. The Treasure of Saint Denis is one of the most important in Christianity.
For example, he has gold cups which serve as chalices, antique vases, reliquaries. And objects which are above all liturgical objects, but which are in a way monetary reserves. It is a priceless treasure.
So, when Suger finds himself propelled to the head of Saint-Denis, he is at the head of something he could never have imagined achieving. Suger obviously cannot put all these sacred objects on sale, but he has the idea of using them to indirectly finance his project. the Abbot knows in fact that the faithful are ready to pay to approach them, or even touch them.
Especially the relics of saints, teeth, skulls or bone fragments. It is certain that the possession of relics and important relics is a source of income for the clergy, because these attract the faithful and they always come to make an offering to accompany their prayers. These offerings could become particularly juicy for the coffers of Saint Denis.
But there is a problem. Most of these cult objects and relics are in poor condition or poorly presented. Suger will take old objects of worship and rework them to make real gems.
Naturally, this business is very expensive. For the investment to be profitable, you must therefore be certain that it will generate a maximum of donations. Here again, the subject's imagination works wonders to attract the faithful and their donations.
He dares what no one had done before him. Transform the mass into a grandiose spectacle. But it will also profoundly renovate the liturgical service.
That is to say that the mass, for him, will be a truly place of dramatization of the divine service. And the ambitious abbot doesn't stop there. If the humblest are willing to pay to enjoy such a spectacle, the rich can do it too.
All you have to do is solicit them by flattering their ego. A major project requires patrons. We see it clearly today and when they organize the consecration ceremonies, they invite all the powerful from the kingdom and they never forget to make them pass in front of the trunk.
The year is 1135. The coffers are now full. The restoration of the abbey church and its transformation into heavenly Jerusalem can begin.
More than 40 years after his arrival in Saint-Denis, Father Suger finally kicks off the project of his life, the one he has dreamed of since adolescence. He decided to rebuild the facade of the old Carolingian church even though he was 55 years old at the time. And it will go very quickly.
And what is happening in Saint-Denis At this point, it’s a formidable project. Very quickly. We must be concerned about the sources of supply of stone, wood and other materials.
And for all this, fortunately, Father Suger benefits from areas where he will be able to find a large part of his construction materials. With the best craftsmen of the time, well paid and therefore a site where Suger will spend lavishly to have what is most beautiful. This new monumental facade must house the narthex which is also called the front nave.
This is the large intermediate room where pilgrims are welcomed and then distributed throughout the nave. As this is their first contact with the building, it is important to do everything possible to impress them. Subject absolutely wants to cause an unforgettable visual shock.
He will create an exceptional facade with a two-tower project divided into three parts with battlements. A way of showing that the abbey must also be a defensive monument with for the first time the Last Judgment, presented in an exceptional way with the Trinity, with column statues which will be the first statues, columns which represent the kings of the Ancient Testament, therefore a completely innovative facade. This first stage of the restoration is a total success.
Once completed, the three floors of the new facade will constitute an elegant transition between Romanesque architecture and this art nouveau imagined by the abbot. Above the three large doors, the semi-circular porches and arcades are of Romanesque inspiration. But the vertical structure in three parts is already the signature of a resolutely innovative style which stands out from that of the traditional churches of the time.
More eager than ever to use this new facade to impress people, Suger goes even further by inventing an architectural piece of incredible complexity, inextricably mixing glass and stone. The rose window was born. We have for the first time the feeling that the Church, the religious building, becomes a real theater, the theater of an expression of all that is beautiful, because the stained glass windows are absolutely extraordinary.
It lets through a light made of blue, gold, green that we had never seen before. Although colored stained glass windows are not new, Father Suger nevertheless found a way to innovate once again by creating a new blue color which will bear his name. It is obtained by a particularly expensive chemical manipulation during which silica and nitrite are fused in immense furnaces specially created for the occasion.
Capable of rising up to 1500 degrees. The molasses that comes out is then tinted blue thanks to the addition of cobalt. This innovation alone sums up the madness of grandeur which then animated the abbot, who decidedly stopped at nothing to carry out his great work.
The construction of the glasses. Stained glass windows cost 3 to 4 times more than stone construction. It was considerable at that time.
Paradoxically, this rose window, which still symbolizes all the sumptuousness of Gothic art today, is not to everyone's taste. While no one yet knows what the Saint-Denis abbey church will look like once the restoration is completed. Father Suger's limitless imagination collides head-on with ambient conservatism.
We must see that the innovations brought by Suger are absolutely revolting in a world which is as if fixed, people are used to a certain architectural code and suddenly, this man comes and shakes everything up. Worse still, Suger made two errors which caused such an outcry in public opinion that the rest of the restoration was threatened. The first of these errors is a sin of pride that is difficult to excuse for a man of the Church.
Bay Suger who built this facade in 1135 1140. This front nave was represented at least twice, and in particular at the feet of Christ in the Last Judgment, and was also represented in the stained glass window of the 'Annunciation at the feet of Mary. And to prevent it from being forgotten above his head, he had the Abbot write it down.
By acting in this way, the subject attracts the wrath of detractors who, even within the clergy, begin to suspect him of dangerous megalomania. The other error concerns the financing of the work. the Abbot has seen so big that the reserves are disappearing visibly.
His stratagem to generate new income is no longer enough to fuel his gigantic project. He will even squander the fortune and provoke a lot of criticism. Lavish ceremony.
Taste for richness of ornaments. We can therefore question the subject's relationship with wealth, power, magnificence. However, the one who asks the most questions about the real motivations of the subject abbot is also a very influential man within the Church.
This man is the monk Bernard of Clairvaux, leader of a reform movement in full ascendance. the Cistercian Order. Because of him, the Gothic cathedrals that we all admire today almost never existed.
Bernard de Clairvaux is the founder of a completely lost abbey in a clearing deep in the woods where he brings together a few mystics. They want to isolate themselves. They are in extremely hostile lands, in woods, in swamps, in extremely harsh living conditions.
This lost abbey is Notre-Dame de Cîteaux, in Burgundy, which gave its name to the Cistercian Order. There, the watchwords are silence, rigor and above all poverty. Nothing should disturb the monk from the meditation of the word.
Bernard of Clairvaux also wanted religious buildings to reflect the austerity of the monastic life that he advocated. the Cistercian Church is a church without figured ornaments, without colored stained glass windows, without painting, without precious objects. It is the most, the most absolute stripping.
However, the Pope is also very sensitive to this new approach to religion. He even made Clairvaux one of his closest advisors. For Suger, this proximity between the two men is a catastrophe because the ideas of Bernard of Clairvaux continue to gain ground and directly threaten his project of building the celestial Jerusalem.
The religious life of the time is subordinated to austerity and intimacy outside Suger, it is ostentation, it is pomp. And at the time, it goes Deeply shocked. On the one hand the magnificence of Suger for whom nothing is too beautiful or too expensive to glorify the Lord.
On the other, the ascendant Puritan stoicism of Clairvaux. Between these two diametrically opposed visions of the Church, the pope will have to decide to be sure of winning. Bernard of Clairvaux then decides to publicly attack Suger.
At the time, we wrote a lot of personal letters to each other, open letters, that is to say which were intended to be known to everyone. And Bernard de Clairvaux is not at all stingy with his correspondence. And he is someone who, despite everything, seeks provocation quite a bit.
Bernard de Clairvaux will send inflammatory letters to Suger. He will reproach him for abandoning the monastic rule, for having links with the world of money which is the world of the demon. Bernard of Clairvaux will criticize this way of life, this behavior like that of an abbot who lives like a great lord.
He will say that Saint Denis is the forge of Vulcan, the synagogue of the devil. The blows are harsh. Suger falters after attacks on his lavish spending and his architecture deemed too innovative.
This calling into question the very foundation of his approach. Risk of giving him the final blow. Subject, loves the beautiful, he loves the grandiose, he loves the splendor.
and in this age of austerity where everything is subordinated to the idea that religion is something interior and austere, we ask ourselves whether this Suger, a man of the church, is not at the limit of sin. But how can we react without definitely turning public opinion against him? If he is wrong, the Abbot of Saint-Denis knows that he will lose the game and that the masterpiece of his dreams will never see the light of day.
And Suger will defend himself and he will defend himself brilliantly by writing to Bernard of Clairvaux that his only goal is to glorify the Christian faith. The Abbot of Saint Denis is ultimately of fairly modest origins. He is not used to an aristocratic life.
So in a way, when he arrives in the abbey, he lives a relatively sober life. He has a modest pallet in a small cell and he will insist that he, as a man, does not benefit from his riches. It is his community, his church and through it the Church with a capital E, the community of believers which benefits from its riches.
So when Suger transforms and invests so much money, it is not for himself, it is for his God. To ease tensions, Suger decides to make a symbolic gesture to show Bernard de Clairvaux that he also subscribes to his cause. For this, he imposed on the monks of Saint-Denis the same rigor and the same austerity as those in force at the Notre-Dame de Cîteaux abbey.
Things will calm down a little because Suger is going to undertake a reform, which undoubtedly means he himself will apply a much simpler, much simpler way of life. And also for monks, place more emphasis on the practice of fasting. We can say that he will rather apply half measures in a way.
So this is something that is finally enough to convince Bernard de Clairvaux. It's a masterstroke. Now that his main detractor has rallied to his cause, the future is finally clear for Father Suger.
But as soon as this threat is over, another immediately arises. The year is 1137. At the age of 56, Suger lost one of his most faithful allies in the person of King Louis VI, his childhood friend, with whom he shared his desire to one day build the celestial Jerusalem of the Bible.
has just passed away, struck by illness. However, his son Louis VII did not share his father's enthusiasm for ecclesiastical architecture. Will he oppose the completion of the works of Saint Denis?
Suger cannot rule it out and understands that he must act quickly. A race against time begins to finish the restoration of the abbey church as quickly as possible. Especially since the next phase is also the most critical.
After the success of its facade. Now he will find out if the technical innovations discovered in Italy are as brilliant as he thinks. Suger, faithful to his grandiose dream, always sees higher.
The nave must truly rise to the sky as high as possible, with the risks that this naturally entails of collapse. To raise the cathedral to heights never before reached. The subject's project managers have the idea of systematizing the use of the flying buttress.
This recent innovation makes it possible to take support several meters from the building, further than the old buttresses. The flying buttresses can thus withstand the greater pressures imposed by higher walls. These are stone arches which support the walls in a way, which absorb the thrust of the vaults.
And thus, thanks to this process, the walls will no longer be load-bearing and will be replaced by stained glass. The genius of the subject is to have combined the use of these flying buttresses on the outside with the ribbed windows inside the nave. Unlike the old barrel vaults which distribute the load on the two side walls, the ribbed vault allows the weight of the vault to be distributed over several arches which intersect at its top.
The combination of these two innovations makes it possible to raise the building to 29 meters high. An incredible record for the time. The cathedral is experienced as an antechamber of paradise, so this is true for the quality of its architecture, work by its lines.
When you stand in front of a cathedral facade, you are forced to look up and look up at the sky. When you're inside. Also, led by the stained glass windows.
The high windows become monumental and are adorned with increasingly rich stained glass windows which tell us the story of Saint Denis, the popes as well as the kings and queens of France. Now that the outlines of the building are complete, Suger can tackle the most important part of his project, highlighting the most venerable of its relics, that of Saint Denis. Because it is also for her that he built this sumptuous setting.
Unlike the other relics of the basilica, the bone fragments of the saint are kept underground in the crypt of the building, where he was buried in the 4th century. A crypt is installed in the church of Saint-Denis with an ambulatory which allows pilgrims to circle around the tomb of Saint Denis going down on one side, going up on the other. But this crypt is far too narrow for the thousands of faithful who want to approach these relics to venerate them.
They regularly provoke dramatic crowd movements which the abbot himself witnessed. And besides, Suger tells us in his first writings that this space was much too cramped and that people overflowed from the windows on holidays. It is said at that time that there was pushing and shoving, that we were stepping on each other, that the only way to get out was to shout.
There were so many people that after a few hours, women were squeezed between the men of the time and we had to evacuate them over their heads and some of them ended up dying in the meadow. next door , uttering cries as terrible as if they were giving birth. How to solve such a space problem?
How can we ensure that thousands of pilgrims can venerate the relics of Saint Denis in a place that is both secure and sufficiently open? Suger and his architects soon found the solution. The construction of an apse, an elevated place located in the heart of the cathedral.
And suggests raising its apse by approximately three meters compared to the level of the nave. The purpose of the Bay suggests is that upon entering the church one should see the relics which previously were in the dark crypt and which this time are in full light visible to all. Subject thus meets the expectations of the Christian people who want to see, who want to touch, who want to kiss the relics.
And this is a big novelty. The faithful are associated with what is most sacred within the Church. Abbot Suger at 63 years old, when his life's work ended at the beginning of 1144.
But before taking office, a religious building must be consecrated by the authorities of the Church . This consecration marks, in a way, the official inauguration of the new site. For Suger, that of Saint-Denis must absolutely leave a mark in the history books.
Faithful to the madness of grandeur that has driven him since the start of the restoration work, he naturally decided to do things big once again. What appears to the eyes of the common people must be something that can be lastingly imprinted on their memory. June 11, 1144, the day of the consecration of the apse of the abbey of Saint-Denis.
There are around 20 archbishops and bishops from all over France and England who are invited, and they discover this exceptional monument, a completely innovative architecture, that is to say a true luminous work, a monumental apse. And the idea is to show a completely open space which presents the relics of Saint Denis which was previously in the crypt. And that day, King Louis VII accompanied by Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Well, these characters take the relics of Saint Denis and carry them up to the bedside in a large procession. This consecration is not only that of a religious building, it is also that of a lifetime for Father Suger. He won, the mythical heavenly Jerusalem of the Bible became a reality.
And we owe it to him. What struck contemporaries was the light. It is the dematerialization of the monument, it is the fact that the supporting surface is reduced in the temples of ancient Egypt.
The walls The pillars represent 35% of the mass of stones used. Here, we are at 10%. When cathedrals truly become structures of light.
The altar that we can admire today was restored in the 19th century. But the three reliquaries dripping with gold and silver which contain the bones of the saints are the same as those of the abbot's time. With the building itself, its incredible dimensions and its masterful stained glass windows.
It gives us an idea of the unprecedented visual shock that the faithful may have felt when entering for the first time. When people discover Saint-Denis. He can't believe their eyes.
Quite simply because in previous centuries, they were used to seeing extremely intimate buildings, religious buildings in which everything was focused on the interior. And there, they discover an entire building dedicated to light. There is something on the order of amazement, that is to say that there it is, Suger has succeeded in doing what he wanted.
That is to say that we are a Church in which the Lumen, that is to say the physical light, coincides with the Lux, the spiritual light. History has not remembered the name of Abbot Suger's chief architect, the man who allowed him to make his wildest dream come true. This oversight will become a constant in all future cathedrals, generally signed with the name of a bishop.
One way may be to recognize that, like Abbot Suger in Saint-Denis, each of these monumental marvels is first and foremost the fruit of an extraordinary vision and tenacity, that of the sponsor who dreamed it before all others. Abbot Suger, when he died in 1151, perfectly succeeded in his challenge of rebuilding and renovating the entire abbey of Saint-Denis. For the first time we have a true gem, a hitherto unknown architectural and artistic feat.
The Saint Denis Basilica, consecrated as a cathedral in 1966 and the first manifesto of what would later be called Gothic art. An architectural masterpiece which will soon be copied, transformed and magnified throughout Europe. During this brand new golden age of cathedrals.
A new glass and stone vessel, directly inspired by that of Abbot Suger, will emerge every five years. Without doubt the most beautiful tribute that men of the church could pay to this visionary genius.
