Beauvais: Church of Saint-Etienne

There was another church of interest in Beauvais, the older church of St. Stephen, begun in the early 1100s, and clearly showing the transition from Romanesque to Gothic. It is said to be the place where ribbed vaulting began, "Norman" in this case, but I did not see much difference between here and the Plantagenet vaulting we saw a couple weeks back. The difference in ceiling height between Romanesque and Gothic at St. Stephens is 12 meters! But the Gothic choir is much younger than the Norman nave. Whatever...

St.Etienne in Beavais, west facade; the
typanum is a Mary coronation; the
Revolution was not kind to this church

Nave shot

Nave vaulting and elevation; blind triforium,
tiny clerestory windows

Crossing; note the difference in height, nave versus choir

Looking into choir...

And its fancy later Gothic ribbing...

Aisle view

Interesting interior staircase at the transept

South transept; the north transept has a rose
window, well, actually a "wheel of fortune"
we'll see from the outside

Here's the view where you can really see the difference:
under the crossing, just into the north transept; on the
left, the fancy later Gothic ribbing and the huge lancet
windows; on the right, the much lower Norman vaulting
with its much smaller clerestory windows

Outside the north transept...WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!!!!!!!
(it's in the sculpture around the window, depicting the
transience of material possessions...