Bourges' St. Etienne Cathedral, 2019

Bourges Cathedral, 2016

"We visited Bourges and its Cathedral of St. Etienne twice in 2013, and I posted several items on this, one of our favorite churches: http://roadeveron.blogspot.ca/2013/09/bourges-cathedral-again.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.ca/2013/05/bourges-cathedral-of-st-etienne-1.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.ca/2013/05/bourges-cathedral-of-st-etienne-2.html. So I won't do the whole thing again, much as I like looking at it all again. Here are just a few pix, hopefully not (much) duplicating previous posts."

Right. That intro was from the 2016 blog post on St. Etienne's: http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2016/10/bourges-cathedral-2016.html. This year I restrained myself mightily, taking only 162 pix of Bourges, mostly the windows. I've compared them with the 2013 posts--separately treating the windows, the architecture, the sculpture--and am satisfied to recommend the 2013 edition, and leave it pretty much at that.

In 2016, we walked in on the Mass of the Feast of Assumption, we assume, and had to leave until it was over. This year, we walked in on organ practice, the mighty instrument thundering away, and we simply sat down and listened. We have such good luck when it comes to music and cathedrals.

Anyhow, why, you ask, do we like Bourges so much? It's primarily the windows, 13th century mostly, with some fragments of 12th, many of which are so low down in the ambulatory you could (but wouldn't!) touch them. In other cathedrals you need binoculars to see anything much. Not Bourges. Other reasons include the fact that it's not a cruciform but rather more a basilica like the original Christian churches that simply adopted the Roman public building form. Nor is Bourges dedicated to the Queen of Heaven, as are most European churches of the age. It is one of the three or four "high" Gothic cathedrals, along with Chartres, Amiens, Reims, etc., neither transitional nor Flamboyant. And very, very big with four aisles in addition to the huge nave.

Happy cathedral-goers