Atun

Today was market day in Beaune. After breakfast we wandered up to have a look around.

There were some beautiful stalls of fresh vegetables, dried sausages and all sorts of deli delights.

We had the prerequisite coffee in a cafe looking out onto the merry go round.

Geoff and I spied some Vitenamese rolls so we decided on these for our lunch. Don't think Mike was too impressed but we thought they were perfect for lunch on a hot day.

Then we set off for Autun which is an ancient town that was old when the Romans arrived.

We explored the Cathedral first and learnt more from Mile about Medieval church architecture.The cathedral is famous for its Romanesque sculptures by Gislebertus and it is a highlight in Romanesque art in Burgundy. It was started in 1120 and mostly completed in 1146.

 

Then we climbed some stairs to the carvings that Mike had been raving about. These are some of the original carved stone capitals (square bit on top of a column). These ones in the church are actually replicas.

They were amazing. They were simple almost childlike but carved in a way that told the story of what they represented eg Cain killing Abel and trying to hide it from God, Judas hanging himself and Mike's absolute favourite, the angel telling the wise Men not to go back via Herod. This capitals depicts the angel's attempt to wake the three sleeping magi. The angel points to the star in attempt to have the three magi to follow the star. The narrative of the three magie extends along the columns in the nave. Each capital shows great detail and a vivid depiction of the story it is telling.

 

The door of the cathedral was amazing as well. The carving was a similar style and apparently by the same stone mason. It is a huge scene of judgement and was saved from being destroyed in the revolution because the monks didn't like it and they plastered it over. Thus it was hidden. Christ's head was knocked off because it jutted out but this later was found as an ornament in someone's garden and restored to its rightful place.

This tympanum would have inspired terror in believers that passed beneath it and viewed the detailed high relief sculpture. The bottom of the tympanum underneath the weighing of the souls has an inscription that states, "May this terror terrify those whom earthly error binds for the horror of the images here in this manner truly depicts what will be".The artwork was a means of teaching the illiterate masses of Christian ethics with dramatic scenes of heaven and hell. Not sure how much it helped to spread the gospel however?

Gislebertus' "Temptation of Eve" was originally the lintel of the north door of the cathedral. It is thought that the Temptation of Eve was created around the 1130s at the same time in which the Last Judgement and the narrative capitals were made. This large sculpture is now displayed in the Musée Rolin next door. This museum is housed in a 15th century house built by Chancellor Rolin who was the instigator of the Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune.

Then it was onto the Musee Rolin. Very interesting. It had heaps of Roman finds, beautiful Roman mosaics and glass and all sorts of things. There was also a 3 D film that had a really close look at all the different sculptures that made up the sculpture over the cathedral door.

There were many of the remains of the previous church on the site, St Nazaire which had been build apparently to house the remains of St Lazarus who somehow had married Mary Magdalene and moved to France! Again there were amazing sculptures and paintings.

Then we went exploring to find one of the Roman Gateways. La Porte D'Arroux

It has four arches, the largest two for vehicles and the smallest two for pedestrians. The gate was originally flanked by two towers now completely disappeared. On the country side the decoration on the gate is well preserved and quite complex. The gates date from 15BC.

And the last stop of the day was to find the Temple of Janus. It's a Fanum (a temple of Gallic origin); the God that was honoured in this temple is unknown. The name Janus comes from the deformation of the name of the area "La Genetoye", the place where brooms grew.

Then it was time to return to Beaune for our last night before moving further south. Geoff not well today and headachey. Probably the result of too much wine and cheese!