SAINT-MARTIN- DU-CANIGOU.

 

Located in Casteil, France in the Pyrenees, this church dates back to as early as 1001 to about 1026 CE.

It is a two story church that is capped by a massive stone tower sitting next to the sanctuary. It the First Romanesque that employs the term of Catalan architect. Inspired  by Catalunya, northeast Spain, southern France, and northern Italy to be exact. All of which began constructing all-masonry churches. It was patronized by the local Count Guifred, who took refuge in the monastery and died here in 104. This unique church is nestled into the Pyrenees on a building platform stabilized by strongly buttressed retaining wall.

Check out this virtual tour of the church:

INTERIOR, CHURCH OF SANT VINCENC, CARDONA 1020s 1030s.

 

The church of Saint Vincent is an Catalan-Lombard-style church located in Cardona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located at the top of a fortified hill. It’s interior is considered the finest examples of First Romanesque.

 

 

You entered the church through a two-story narthex into a nave with low narrow side aisle. With clerestory windows, the sanctuary was raised dramatically over an aisled crypt. It has raise plain walls and round barrel or groin vaults. Which were used as local materials such as small split stones, bricks, even river pebbles, and very strong mortar. It had very skillful stonework both inside and out. It originally covered the masonry with a facing of stucco and later added vertical bands of masonry called strip buttresses. These were joined by arches and to enrich the sculptural quality of the walls. The masonry strips projected from the piers and continued up and over the vault, creating a transverse arch. There were also projecting bands line the underside of the arches of the nave arcade. The compound pier works in concert with the transverse arches divided the nave into a series of bays. The system of bay division became standard in Romanesque architecture, modeling this church off of the Basilica Style from Constantine.

 

RELIQUARY STATUE OF SAINTE FOY (ST. FAITH)

 

   Located in the pilgrimage Church of Sainte Foy in Conques, France. Along the route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, an important pilgrimage site where the bones of Saint James were said to be located. This reliquary is a container which holds the remains of a saint or holy person, and is considered to be one of the most famous in Europe. Originally, it was located at Agen but the monks at Conques plotted and stole it to attract more wealth and visitors. Then, it held the remains of Saint Foy, a young Christian convert living in Roman-occupied France during the second century. She revered as a martyr because she was killed at the age of twelve for refusing to sacrifice to Pagan Gods, later becoming a very popular saint in Southern France.

The date of reliquary is not known but it was first spoken about in 1010. Many were afraid that the statue was too beautiful and would become an idol, given the the face stares boldly at the viewer. It is decorated in lots of fine jewels, many of which were given as homage by the pilgrims who journeyed there. It was thought to be the head of a roman statue of a child. The pilgrims still go to this church today to pay their respects to Sainte Foy and every October a celebration and procession are still held in the town.

 

VIRGIN AND CHILD AUVERGNE REGION, FRANCE

 

 

Dating back to 1150–1200, this statue was made in Auvergne. It has
Walnut with paint, tin relief on a lead white ground and linen. Sitting at a height of  31 in tall.

This pose is known as the Sedes Sapientiae or Throne of Wisdom.

It conveys the theological idea that Christ is Wisdom incarnate. He is referred to as “logos” in the Greek New Testament.

Mary, his mother, carried him in her womb and on her lap therefore as it is seen as his throne.

Originally, Christ was grasping a Bible which again shows that he is wisdom incarnate.

Images like this were made with increasing frequency. From the 1100s on as Mary became a more revered figure in the church.

Statues were then used as devotional objects and were carried in church processions

This one may have been a reliquary because there is a hole behind Mary’s shoulder.