Sens Cathedral is one of the earliest of Gothic buildings, sometimes cited as the first completely Gothic
cathedral. It is indeed old, as these things go, by a few decades, building having started c. 1140. Sens was an important place in the 12th century: its bishop ruled over those in Paris, and most of the other cities in the Ile de France. Interestingly, it's modest transept was added only in the 13th and 14th centuries.
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| West facade from the pretty city square |
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| Not one of the great sculptural programs |
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Again, we had to wait, this time on baptism ceremonies... did they clear this with
Office of Tourism? But Vicki got lots of pix of cute babies in cute baptism outfits |
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Knave; at this point they were experimenting with alternating piers and double-
columns |
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| Thus; a bit of the elevation too; aisle, tiny triforium/gallery, small clerestory |
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Harvest is underway big-time in France (except for grapes) and so here
apparently is an offering to Ceres or Demeter or the patron saint of harvests
or whatever |
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| One of the later transept rose windows |
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| With devil |
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Another Becket window; very popular with bishops as a
cautionary tale... |
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| Beautiful old windows...Prodigal Son and Good Samaritan |
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| Up close from an Old Testament window |
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| Non-Gothic altar |
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| Another beautiful rose window, the Celestial Concert |
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| Detail |
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| Transept view from altar |
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Important discovery department: according to the plan, the pier in the center
there should have been a double column...the opposite one is a double column...
did they forget, change their minds, run out of funds?! Need some more support
for the tower? |
1 comment:
We had never heard of the Sens cathedral until we watched the Cathedral series of The Great Courses. Now it is on our bucket list. I want to see Vicki's photos of the baptism children.
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