Abbey of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre
The Abbey of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre was a Benedictine monastery in central France, dedicated to its founder Saint Germain of Auxerre, the bishop of Auxerre, who died in 448. The abbey reached the apex of its cultural importance during the Carolingian era; the source for its early history is an account of the Miracula Sancti Germani Episcopi Autissiodorensis ("Miracles of Saint Germain, Bishop of Auxerre") written before ca. 880. The earliest surviving architectural remains are also of the ninth century.
In 1927, beneath the 17th-century frescoed plaster walls of the crypt, were discovered ninth-century wall frescoes, the only surviving large-scale paintings of their date in France to compare to the illuminated manuscripts.[1]
During the Revolution, several bays of the nave were demolished and the secularized abbey was used as a hospital. The former nave extended beneath the present forecourt.
In the late twentieth century the abbey's residential and service buildings were remodeled as a museum, presenting prehistoric, Gallo-Roman and medieval finds from Auxerre. An exhibition in 1990 brought the abbey's cultural impact into focus. The former abbey church remains in use for worship at stated times.
Notes
- ↑ Edward S. King, "The Carolingian Frescoes of the Abbey of Saint Germain d'Auxerre" The Art Bulletin;; 11.4 (December 1929), pp. 357-375.
References
- Christian Sapin, La Bourgogne Preromane (Paris, 1986), pp. 41–63 (on the early building project)
- Abbaye Saint-Germain d'Auxerre: Intellectuels et Artistes dans l'Europe carolingienne, IXe - XIe siecles (Auxerre, 1990) Exhibition catalogue.
- Auxerre et les premices de l'art roman (Auxerre, 1999) Exhibition catalogue.
External links
Coordinates: 47°48′2″N 3°34′22″E / 47.80056°N 3.57278°E