From Paris with Love: Cité de l' Architecture and du Patrimoine: Gallery of Casts

The Cité de l’Architecture & du Patrimoine (City of Architecture and Heritage) is a museum located in the Palais de Chaillot on the Place du Trocadéro. The palace was built for the Worlds Fair of 1937 and features two wings shaped to form a wide arc. The wings are not connected, so between the buildings, the wide esplanade leaves an open view from Trocadero to the Eiffel Tower and beyond. The Cité de l’Architecture honors France’s architectural tradition and underscores the importance society attaches to architecture.

There are three galleries in the museum: Gallery of Casts, Gallery of Wall Paintings and Stained Glass, and Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Architecture. I’ll come back to describe the latter two galleries in another post. (I literally had to come back to visit these galleries because I couldn’t do it all in one day.)

The Gallery of Casts is a showcase for 350 full-scale plaster casts that have been taken from French religious and public buildings. Most of them were cast before 1900, so they represent the works before they were destroyed, worn by time or restored. The museum is unique in having life-size specimens of France’s Gothic and Romanesque architectural heritage.

This museum is a treasure trove of architectural replications. I was in awe of the incredible craftsmanship required to duplicate these architectural features. I was particularly struck when I saw in the museum something I had seen in situ, like the tympanum of the royal portal of Chartres Cathedral. On the one hand, the replicas are only a part of the whole; on the other hand, the buildings that the replicas represent are scattered far and wide all over France, and you would have to travel a lot to see each one of them firsthand. In this museum you don’t have to travel more than the length and breadth of the museum to witness examples of famous French architecture preserved in perpetuity.

Entry to the museum

Entrance to the Gallery of Casts

The following plaster casts are typically from Romanesque churches, that is, the design influenced mainly by classical Roman architecture as well as by elements of Byzantine and Islamic art. Romanesque design flourished during the late Medieval era (c. 800-1200). Romanesque churches characteristically incorporated semicircular arches for windows, doors, and arcades.

Portal of the Church of Saint Peter in Carennac, France

Christ in majesty surrounded by the apostles

The tympanum (semi-circular decorative wall above an entrance) shows Christ in a mandorla (almond-shaped frame) surrounded by the twelve apostles and the four evangelists: the eagle = John, the bull = Luke, the lion = Mark and the winged man = Mathew. The animal symbols for the four evangelists recur frequently in church architecture as does the subject of Christ at the Last Judgment.

Tympanum of the Abbey Church of Saint Foy in Conques, France, originally rendered in yellow-tinged limestone.

The Last Judgment

One of Christ’s hands is pointing to heaven, rewarding the Chosen Ones and the other is pointing towards Hell, condemning the unrighteous ones.

Abbey Church of Saint Mary (An abbey church was once part of a monastery, where monks resided) in Souillac, France

Isaiah

The bas-relief figure is of the prophet Isaiah. He prophesied the expansion of the Assyrian Empire in 742 BC, which threatened Israel, and which Isaiah proclaimed to be a warning from God to a Godless people.

Tympanum of the Abbey Church of Saint Peter in Moissac, France

The Apparition of Christ at the Last Judgment

At the end of the world, God will destroy the powers of evil and reward the forces of good. Christ at the Last Judgment is surrounded by symbols of the four Evangelists and the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse, described in the final book of the New Testament. The evangelist John wrote about a vision he had of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine and Death, harbingers of the Last Judgment. The end of the world becomes closer as evil becomes more frequent in the guise of false religions, false prophets and false messiahs; the increase of wars and natural disasters; and the growth of persecution, betrayal and loss of faith.

Priory Church of Saint Fortunatas in Charlieu, France

Tympanum of Christ in a mandorla surrounded by emblems of the evangelists. On the lintel is the Virgin Mary attended by 2 angels and the twelve apostles.

Tympanum of the Abbey of Saint Mary Magdalene of Vézelay in Vézelay, France

The tympanum was meant to function as a spiritual defense of the Crusades. Vézelay was the staging point for the Third Crusade, whose mission was to invade and take back the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Vézelay Christ is sending the Crusaders out—he is not judging them; in fact, the Crusaders were guaranteed remission of all sins if they participated in the Crusades.

Model of the 12th century Romanesque Abbey Church in Paray-Le-Monial, France, also known as the Sacred Heart Basilica because Jesus appeared to a young girl, Margaret Mary Alacoque, and inspired h er to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart.

Model of the Abbey Church in Paray-Le-Monial, France

Romanesque fresco of the Monks’ Chapel of Berzé-la-Ville Priory
Christ in his majesty surrounded by the apostles and saints

Close-up of the fresco

Romanesque architecture lasted until about 1150, by which time it had evolved into Gothic. Gothic characteristics include pointed arches, flying buttresses, vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows. Some of these advances had already been used during the Romanesque period, but Gothic architecture brought all of these together and thus allowed buildings to substantially increase in height. The flying buttresses and vaulted ceilings took the load away from the main façades and allowed stained glass windows to be used in greater spans. The following plaster casts are typically from Gothic churches, from the 13th century on.

Cathedral of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
Pillar of Angels serves as the central pillar of the south transept of the Cathedral of Strasbourg.

It features 12 sculptures: the four evangelists, angels playing the trumpet and, further up, Christ the Judge surrounded by angels carrying the instruments of the Passion (associated with the crucifixion)

Long view of pillars & tympanum of Notre Dame de Paris

Tympanum of Notre Dame de Paris portal of the south transept

Scenes from the life of St Stephen, who was stoned to death for his religion. He is the first martyr of Christianity.

Reims Cathedral, interior of the west wall

This group of sculptures, Melchizedek, Abraham and King of Sodom, was carved shortly after the middle of the century for the interior west wall of Reims Cathedral. Melchizedek was a priest-king of Jerusalem who was honored by the warrior Abraham. Abraham was honored by the King of Sodom (a city of wickedness), but refused homage from him.

Abbey of Saint-Nicolas-Les-Citeaux, end of 15th c

Pleurant du Tombeau de Philippe Pot (Mourner at the tomb of Philippe Pot (1428-1493), a nobleman of Burgundy

Notre Dame Cathedral in Amiens, France

La Vierge Doré, (The Golden Virgin) is at the entrance on the south façade of the cathedral.

The statue, carved from a single block of limestone, was once painted with gold. The original, medieval statue is now sheltered inside. On the base of the sculpture is Saint Honoré, Bishop of Amiens, with his disciples.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Rouen, France, 14th century

L’Arbre du Bien et du Mal (Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil)

The disobedience of Adam and Eve, who had been told by God not to eat of the tree, caused their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. By yielding to the serpent’s temptation to eat the “forbidden fruit,” humanity inherited sin and guilt from Adam and Eve's failure to obey God. The sculpture is located in the baptismal chapel.

Chartreuse de Champ-Mol, a Carthusian monastery in Dijon, France, 1342-1404

Puits de Moise (Well of Moses) was an elaborate fountain in the garden of the monastery.

Representing Moses and five other prophets, the sculptures by Claus Sluter are set on a hexagonal base in the center of a basin and remain the most realistic figures ever crafted by a medieval sculptor.

Chartreuse de Champ-Mol, Dijon, France

Pleurants du Tombeau de Philippe le Hardi (Mourners at the tomb of Philip the Bold)

Figures carved by Dutch Renaissance sculptor Claus Sluter (1410) to decorate the tomb of Philip the Bold in the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy.

Palais de Justice, Poitiers

La Belle Cheminée (The Beautiful Chimney) 14th century

The Great Hall of the palace was decorated with a huge triple chimney. The wall of the chimney was adorned with statues of Charles the 6th , his wife Isabeau de Bavière, and Jeanne de Boulogne.

Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Beauvais, France

Baldachin (ornamental structure) over a side altar (on left)

Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Bourges, France

Sacristy entrance (middle image), where the cathedral’s treasure (liturgical objects made of copper, silver and gold) are kept.

Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Beauvais, France

A double door cast made on wood, with the plaster tinted to represent the original carved material.

On the left are scenes of Saint Peter curing a lame person, and on the right are scenes of the conversion of Saint Paul.

Basilica of Our Lady of Avioth (a tiny village on the border with Belgium)

A masterpiece of Gothic architecture, the basilica is at the location where shepherds discovered a miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin and Child. It became a place of pilgrimage in the 12th century. The pic is not of this basilica--it is of the recevresse.

Recevresse is the small, freestanding building on the left side of the portal of the basilica. It is unique in France and was built to receive pilgrims' offerings. (To me It looks like it should be a church tower with spire instead of a donation receiver. I had never heard of Avioth, population 150, but now I would like to go and see this massive Gothic Cathedral in the middle of nowhere along with its mini-tower structure built specifically to receive donations.)

Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France

L’adoration des Mages (Adoration of the Magi)

One of the scenes from the life of Christ that is part of the choir screen around the altar in Chartres Cathedral.

Saint Peter’s Abbey Church, Solesmes 1496

La Mise en Tombeau du Christ (Entombment of Christ) after the crucifixion

Saint Stephen’s Church in Saint-Mihiel, France, 1554-1564

La Mise au Tombeau du Christ (Entombment of Christ) by Ligier Richier

The sculpture is considered one of the finest examples of 16th-century sculpture in Lorraine. The 13 figures are slightly larger than life and are carved out of fine-grained Meuse limestone.

Church of Notre Dame in Montluçon, France
Piéta

Arch of the gate of the Great Clock of Rouen, France

The Gros-Horloge (Great-Clock) is a fourteenth-century astronomical clock in Rouen, Normandy.

The clock is installed in a Renaissance arch crossing the Rue du Gros-Horloge. The mechanism, made in 1389, is one of the oldest in France.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Rouen, France

Tomb of Louis de Brézé

Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II, had a magnificent tomb erected in the cathedral at Rouen for her husband, Louis de Brézé. The inscription of the tomb reads as follows: O Louis de Brézé, ce tombeau a été construit Par Diane de Poitiers, désolée de la mort de son époux. (Diane married him at the age of 15; Louis was 39 years her senior, and he died in 1531. It is generally believed that she became Henry’s mistress in 1534, when she was 35 years old and Henry was 16.