Toulouse churches

Last Toulouse post!

First is the main basilica of the city, St Sernin.  It was built between 1080 and 1120 (relatively quickly for such a large structure of the time) on the site of an older church, and was one of the most important churches in medieval Europe.  The existing church was built to be so large and important because Charlemagne had taken a strong interest in the older church, eventually donating a lot of his religious relics and making it into a major pilgrimage site.

It's really hard to get a full picture of the church, but here are some of the outside.  This is one of the side entrances.

The tower from a corner - this is the newest part of the building, with the top two tiers being finished in the 1300's, and the spire dating from a hundred years after that.

The back

And one of the long sides.

This is the largest Romanesque church in Europe, and you can see it's clearly quite different from places like Notre Dame, the Orleans cathedral or Notre Dame de Reims.  Firstly, it's pink, like most things in Toulouse!  Secondly, as is the norm in Romanesque styling, everything is based on round arches and rounded additions (see the photo two above).  It doesn't have the pointiness and decoration of Gothic architecture.

The inside is extremely dark, and I only got a few passable pictures.  Strangely, there isn't too much inside; I would have expected the main church in Toulouse, and one of the most important ones in France, to be more decorated but it wasn't.  It does have a gorgeous organ, but my pictures came out too dark even with flash.

It's one of the earliest churches to have ceiling vaults like this.

There is a crypt below containing lots of saints' relics but we didn't go down.

Next is St Etienne, also known as the Toulouse Cathedral.  This is a truly bizarre structure - not only because parts of it date from vastly different architectural periods but because it's actually comprised of two different church plans that kind of got melded together.  A large cathedral was started here in the early 1200's, stopped about 1230, then another church planned and started on the spot in 1272.  This later one had a different planned layout and axis (since churches of the time were built in the shape of a cross this means the arms and long parts, etc, were on another axis).  These two plans weren't completely integrated into each other for another two hundred years, when the western facade (below) was added, and the tower was finished 100 years after that.  The church ended up completely asymmetrical and not in a cross shape.

Anyway, here is a good picture from Wikipedia of the western front.

We came in the side entrance - here is the approach to it.

This part of the side is sort of halfway between Romanesque and Gothic.

The side portal, which was a mid 15th century addition.

Zoomed in shot of a gargoyle, for my mother!

The trend in Toulouse was to have some of the darkest churches I've ever seen, so again the pictures aren't great.

This chapel was really pretty - the statue and stained glass are 19th century.

Lots of the chapels were in disrepair.

Some earlier stained glass - this church contains the oldest stained glass in Toulouse but I couldn't get a picture of it.

Now we're back in something I feel completely comfortable with (architecturally)!  This, called les Jacobins, is smaller than the others, and it used to be a convent.  It was built in a high Gothic style between the 13th and 14th centuries

Going inside it's very evident that this is not a typical church, and if you've studied much about medieval architecture it's clear it was built to be some kind of monastic space.

Firstly the inside is huge, airy, and not very fancy or decorated.  There are really no side chapels, and unusually, the supporting pillars go right down the middle of the space instead of being on the sides.

The walls are decorated in a simple geometric fashion, one of the indicators of a monastic order.  They believed in simplicity and not having a lot of over-the-top (or vain) decorations, statues, etc.  The colors surprised me - they're a lot brighter in person, but again the darkness messed up my pictures.

Definitely the most remarkable thing about this place was the stained glass, it was absolutely gorgeous.  It might have been just the time of day we went, towards sunset, but the red/orange themes windows made the light coming through look like fire.  This picture does absolutely no justice - the windows are very high up and it's hard to get a good view with the camera.

The design around the top of the pillars give the impression of even more height.  Here is a shot looking at the top of a pillar in a mirror placed at the bottom.

And looking up normally.

St Thomas Aquinas is buried here, this is his altar.

Attached to the church part is a lovely cloister.

This was definitely my favorite church we saw in Toulouse, it was really beautiful and airy.

So that's my final post on the lovely city of Toulouse!  Tomorrow I'm going on a mini-trip to the Loire Valley, so I'll have some posts on that next week, but I also have one scheduled to go while I'm gone!

Marguerite of Angouleme, Queen of Navarre

1492-1549, Queen of Navarre and Duchess of Alencon

Unlike many of the women featured here, Marguerite's significance is less political and much more on a personal and cultural level.

Marguerite was the daughter of Louise of Savoy and the count of Angouleme.  Her father died when she was quite young, and as I described before, her mother took complete control over running their lands and was quite independent.  Louise fostered a love of Renaissance literature, philosophy, and art in her children, and they turned out to be the two central figures of the French Renaissance.

Marguerite was possibly the most educated woman of her time, as Louise of Savoy's daughter and the sister of the heir to the French throne.  She learned Latin, Italian, and Spanish, and was able to read all the newest publications, and later in life published her own works, some of which are still viewed as pillars of Renaissance and Reformation philosophy.  However, she was still a princess and therefore had to marry for political purposes.

First the king married her to the duke of Alencon, to keep his territory in the royal family.  The duke was kind but reputed to be very unintelligent, and functionally illiterate.  It was a marriage of convenience and they had no children.  Next she married the king of Navarre, a small kingdom wedged between France and Spain (roughly the modern day Basque region).  The Spanish had been giving Navarre trouble, so this marriage was cementing an alliance between France and Navarre.

This marriage was much happier, and Marguerite was allowed to play roles in governance and diplomacy.  When her brother, the king, was captured in Spain she personally rode twelve hours a day in winter weather to meet a diplomatic deadline to free him.  Stories say she used to walk through the streets of Navarrese cities alone, inviting people to come walk and talk with her, listening to their troubles, giving advice, and taking queries back to the king.

Even more important than this, however, was Marguerite's role in both patronizing Renaissance philosophers and artists, and actively writing herself.  You might remember, for example, my trip to Amboise, specifically the Clos Luce.  Marguerite and her brother were brought up here by their mother, and even in their childhood it was a center for artists and philosophers to congregate.  Later in their lives, Marguerite still lived there a lot of the year, and it was her brother, the king's, main residence.  They invited Leonardo da Vinci to come live there with them towards the end of his life, and sponsored him and many of his colleagues to come talk and debate there.  It was truly the center of the whole French Renaissance, and Marguerite was the organizer and moderator of everything that happened there.

Marguerite herself was not a Protestant, but she strongly favored major reforms in the Catholic Church - which at this period was overcome with corruption.  She patronized Protestant-leaning writers such as Francois Rabelais, and she herself actually wrote one of the most significant pieces of the the early Reformation.  After the death of her only son she wrote a theological poem, "Mirror of the Sinful Soul."  In a very interesting intellectual progression, it's very likely that Anne Boleyn, the famously beheaded and Protestant second wife of King Henry VIII of England, was at Marguerite's court and was influenced by the radical piece.  Her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, also Protestant, is known to have cherished the poem and recited it to her secretly Protestant, very influential and intelligent stepmother, Henry's last wife Katherine Parr.  Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, and Katherine Parr are easily the most important women of the whole Reformation movement, and it's likely that all of them were influenced by Marguerite's writing.

Marguerite was a truly remarkable woman of her time: a "Renaissance woman" quite literally, a good diplomat, intelligent, kind, and artistic.  She held an amount of cultural power that was nearly unheard of for a woman with her little political influence, and allowed geniuses like da Vinci to thrive under her watch.  It's safe to say that the world of culture is a far better place today because of her life.

(Also, for those who follow this series, continue to note the political, personal, and intellectual connections that are ongoing amongst the last few woman: Anne of Beaujeu, Louise of Savoy, Anne of Brittany, Marguerite, and the next one, her daughter Jeanne d'Albret.)

Have a Happy Halloween!

A rainy day in Paris

I went on a little outing to the American import grocery store, Thanksgiving, on Saturday, and decided to document my little walk.  It's about a 15ish minute walk, just under a mile, each way, and I have one or two pictures per minute probably.

When I woke up today there were a bunch of nice puffy white clouds in the sky..but somehow by the time I left my apartment it got entirely gray and had started to rain just a tiny bit.  I saw drops on the ground but figured it would pass quickly as it often does in the fall here.

So I started out.  Here I'm coming out of my dead end on onto the street, looking down towards the river, where I'll be headed.  You can just see one of the towers of Notre Dame.

The remnants of my neighborhood market which had ended about an hour before.

A block from the river, you can see the main part of Notre Dame behind the end of the street.  I love this little corner because to the right of the picture there is a Vietnamese produce market and restaurant, and to the left a bunch of cute pubs.

 By this time the rain had become more steady (and it was cold!) and the wind began to whip up.  I decided to keep going.  At the river now: you can see Notre Dame behind the trees, and it's just across the river.  In the foreground are the famous booksellers on the banks of the river.  A bunch weren't open because of the rain and cold - the average temperature this week is about 45, so it's our first colder weather.

I got to the bridge, and this is the view.  You're looking at Notre Dame from behind.  (Now I started to take more frequent pictures because it's very picturesque here!)

The bridge I'm about to cross, and the Right Bank in the background.  This is about 6 minutes away from my apartment.

When I go this way I generally cross this bridge, the Pont de l'Archevêché, aka the Padlock Bridge.  It's the new bridge where lovers put their locks, after the two old ones cleared them out a few years ago.

Oh look, there's me!  Self-portrait fail: it was getting too windy and cold now, my fingers were going  bit numb.

Crossed the bridge, and now on the Ile-de-la-Cite, the island where Notre Dame and the Conciegerie are. Notre Dame is on the left, and this is a good shot of the touristy kind of restaurants in this area.

I was only on that island for a moment, now I'm crossing to the other little island, Ile-St-Louis.  There is an awesome street jazz band that often plays on this bridge when it's nice out.

I was afraid my umbrella was going to blow into the Seine at this point!  You can see the waves on the river, which aren't usually there.  You'll see when I'm walking back, I crossed the bridge in the background.

One of the three main roads on Ile-St-Louis, which is mostly occupied by apartments and restaurants.

Crossing the third time, from the island to the Right Bank.

Already the Right Bank is more bustling than the Left Bank at this time on a Saturday.  I'm now in the Marais, where the store is.

 Going a bit farther into the 4th arr it becomes much quieter and more peaceful.  Mostly there are strolling families, people walking dogs, etc.  There aren't a lot of things to see in this area for tourists, although there are a lot of cool shops.  Also all the kosher stuff is closed because it's Saturday.

Just seems like a silly street name.

Taken from between the bars of the sports area at one of the larger schools in the 4th.  In the background is the back of this church.  (Photo from my post on the 4th)

I love the little streets in this area!  The American store is ahead on the right.

These streets near the river have a ton of amazing little shops that have all kinds of stuff - lots of antiques, from clothes and furniture to instruments; food shops; art and photo galleries, etc.

That's the end of my walk to the store.  I bought just a few things - red beans and rice, Jello (don't ask - I've been wanting it since I was sick a couple of weeks ago), and salt and vinegar chips.  It's always super crowded on Saturdays, especially now with people stocking up on stuff for Thanksgiving (the holiday, not this store!).

I took a slightly different path back, but didn't take too many pictures.

Here is a classic Paris bateau mouche (boat) tour on the river.  This bridge is from the Right Bank (left) to the Ile St Louis (right).

This is what all the banks of Ile-St-Louis look like.

This is the most famous ice cream shop in Paris (possibly the world?), on the island.

Now I'm on that bridge I saw while walking there, and you can see where I was, near Notre Dame.  This also shows how the two islands are situated - you can see the river going off to the right separating them, but they're very close together.

And finally here's a shot of the Tour d'Argent, one of the most well known restaurants in Paris (and also the world).  It's renowned for its duck dishes but I hear it's gone downhill in the last 20ish yeas - it now has only one Michelin star.  Parts of the adorable Pixar movie Ratatouille are set here!

So now I'm back on the Left Bank and I bid you au revoir!