1.
Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes
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The Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes is a Gothic chapel within the fortifications of the château de Vincennes near Paris, France. It was founded in 1379 by Charles V of France to house relics of the passion of Christ, the naves construction continued but the works slowed during the Hundred Years War. The facade was completed in 1480, by Louis XI of France. Under Francis I of France, the almoner to the king, Guillaume Crétin, also served as the chapels treasurer. The interior decoration was finished under Henry II of France. The following year he inaugurated the chapel, in 1793, during the French Revolution, the interior decoration was destroyed, the stained glass windows smashed and the Baptistery of Saint Louis moved to the Louvre Museum. The chapel houses the tombs of Bernardin Gigault and Louis Antoine, the latter was executed in 1804 in the moat of the Château de Vincennes, near a grave which had already been prepared, in 1816, his remains were exhumed and placed in the chapel
2.
Parlement de Normandie
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The Parliament of Normandy, also known as the Parliament of Rouen after the place where it sat, was a provincial parlement of the Kingdom of France. It replaced the ancient court of the exchequer of Normandy, set up by Rollo, today, the building is the seat of the courthouse of the city of Rouen. Raised to a court and given a base in Rouen by Louis XII of France. The parlement de Rouen had responsibility for the seven great bailliages of Normandy – Rouen, Caudebec-en-Caux, Évreux, Les Andelys, Caen, Coutances and Alençon. It was thus made up of 4 presidents,13 clergy councillors,15 lay councillors,2 greffiers, following letters patent of 1507 from Louis XII, the archbishop of Rouen and the abbot of Saint-Ouen were ex officio honorary councillors to the parlement. When the court of the échiquier was made permanent, it was divided into two chambers, one to sit in the morning and the other in the afternoon and this second chamber later became known as the première des enquêtes. The chambre de la Tournelle, entrusted with criminal cases, was built in 1519, until 1 October 1506, the parlement de Normandie sat in the château de Rouen then in the palais. Many kings of France held lits de justice at the parlement de Normandie, Charles VIII held one on 27 April 1485 and at it confirmed Normandys privileges. Louis XII was accompanied there by the officers of his court on 24 October 1508. On 2 August 1517, Francis I held one there, accompanied by chancellor Duprat, some days later, the dauphin came to the parliament, where he was granted the same honors as the king himself, as the king had ordered. Charles IX was declared of age at the parlement, accompanied by chancellor Michel de LHospital, in 1540 chancellor Guillaume Poyet set the king against the parlement de Rouen, and the king banned it. In 1560, the parlement de Normandie and the provincial parlements were suppressed before being reestablished in June 1568 by Charles IX. Banned again in 1639, for not having opposed the revolt of the va-nu-pieds strongly enough, encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers by Diderot & d’Alembert, vol
3.
House of Lusignan
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It also had great influence in England and France. The family originated in Poitou, near Lusignan in western France, by the end of the 11th century, the family had risen to become the most prominent petty lords in the region from their castle at Lusignan. In the late 12th century, through marriages and inheritance, a branch of the family came to control the kingdoms of Jerusalem. In the early 13th century, the main branch succeeded in the Counties of La Marche, as Crusader kings in the Latin East, they soon had connections with the Hethumid rulers of the Kingdom of Cilicia, which they inherited through marriage in the mid-14th century. The Armenian branch fled to France, and eventually Russia, after the Mamluk conquest of their kingdom, the claim was taken by the Cypriot branch, until their line failed. This kingdom was annexed by the Republic of Venice in the late 15th century, the Château de Lusignan, near Poitiers, was the principal seat of the Lusignans. It was later destroyed during the Wars of Religion, and only its foundations remain in Lusignan, according to legend, the earliest castle was built by the folklore water-spirit Melusine. The lords of the castle at Lusignan were counts of La Marche, Hugh I Hugh II Hugh III Hugh IV Hugh V Hugh VI inherited by collateral succession the County of La Marche as a descendant of Almodis. Hugh VI Hugh VII Hugh VIII Hugh IX Raoul I Raoul II Marie Hugh IXs son, Hugh X, married Isabelle of Angoulême, thus securing Angoulême. Hugh X Hugh XI Hugh XII Hugh XIII Guy Yolande Yolande sold the fiefs of Lusignan, La Marche, Angoulême and they became a part of the French royal demesne and a common appanage of the crown. In the 1170s, Amalric de Lusignan arrived in Jerusalem, having been expelled by Richard Lionheart from his realm, Amalric married Eschiva, the daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin, and entered court circles. He had also obtained the patronage of Agnes of Courtenay, the mother of King Baldwin IV. He was appointed Agnes constable in Jaffa, and later as constable of the kingdom, hostile rumours alleged he was Agnes lover, but this is questionable. Amalrics younger brother, Guy de Lusignan, arrived at some date before Easter 1180, when he arrived is quite unknown, although Ernoul said that he arrived at that time on Amalrics advice. Many modern historians believe that Guy was already established in Jerusalem by 1180. But, Amalric of Lusignans success certainly facilitated the social and political advancement of his brother Guy, Agnes was said to have foiled these plans by advising her son to have Sibylla married to Guy. As the new King of France, Philip II, was still a minor and he owed the Pope a penitential pilgrimage on account of the Thomas Becket affair. Guy was a vassal of Richard of Poitou and Henry II, Guy and Sibylla were hastily married at Eastertide 1180, apparently preventing a coup by Raymonds faction to marry her to Baldwin of Ibelin, the father-in-law of Almaric
4.
Nicosia
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Nicosia is the largest city on the island of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaoria plain, on the banks of the River Pedieos, Nicosia is the capital and seat of government of the Republic of Cyprus, and as such is the farthest southeast of all EU member states capitals. It has been inhabited for over 4,500 years and has been the capital of Cyprus since the 10th century. The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities of Nicosia segregated into the south and north of the city respectively in 1963, following the intercommunal violence that broke out in the city. Today, the part of the city is the capital of Northern Cyprus. Apart from its legislative and administrative functions, Nicosia has established itself as the financial capital. In 2012, Nicosia was the 5th richest city in the world in purchasing power. Nicosia has been in continuous habitation since the beginning of the Bronze Age 2500 years BC, Nicosia later became a city-state known as Ledra or Ledrae, one of the twelve kingdoms of ancient Cyprus built by Achaeans after the end of the Trojan War. Remains of old Ledra today can be found in the Ayia Paraskevi hill in the south east of the city and we only know about one king of Ledra, Onasagoras. The kingdom of Ledra was destroyed early, under Assyrian rule of Cyprus, Onasagoras was recorded as paying tribute to Esarhaddon of Assyria in 672 BC. By 330 BC, Ledra was recorded to be a small an unimportant town, according to tradition, the city was rebuilt by Leucus, claimed to be the son of Ptolemy I, around 300 BC or 200 BC, and named after him as Leucoton or Lefkotheon. The main activity of the inhabitants was farming. During this era, Ledra did not have the growth that the other Cypriot coastal towns had. In Byzantine times the town was referred to as Λευκωσία or as Καλληνίκησις. In the 4th century AD, the became the seat of bishopric, with bishop Saint Tryphillius. After the destruction of Salamis, the capital of Cyprus, by Arab raids in 647, Nicosia became the capital of the island around 965. The Byzantines moved the islands administration seat to Nicosia primarily for security reasons as coastal towns were often suffering from raids, from that point on it has remained as the capital of Cyprus. On his way to the Holy Land during the Third Crusade in 1187 and he himself stopped first at Crete and then at Rhodes
5.
Gothic architecture
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the cathedrals, abbeys. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, for this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, the term Gothic architecture originated as a pejorative description. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème, Here enter no hypocrites, slipping in a slighting reference to Gotz and Ostrogotz. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, the Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic. Gothic architecture is the architecture of the medieval period, characterised by use of the pointed arch. As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, the greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the cathedrals of Northern France. At the end of the 12th century, Europe was divided into a multitude of city states, norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with other, or united for mutual weal. Civic building was of importance to these towns as a sign of wealth. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their kings, dukes and bishops, the Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the lords and they often ruled as virtual princes over large estates. The early Medieval periods had seen a growth in monasticism, with several different orders being prevalent. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great abbey churches vastly outnumbered any others in France, a part of their influence was that towns developed around them and they became centers of culture, learning and commerce
6.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
7.
Renaissance architecture
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Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the style was carried to France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact. Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance, the scholarly approach to the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of factors were influential in bringing this about, Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural members that expressed their purpose. Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Baptistery, Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. In the 15th century, Florence, Venice and Naples extended their power through much of the area that surrounded them and this enabled Florence to have significant artistic influence in Milan, and through Milan, France. Successive Popes, especially Julius II, 1503–13, sought to extend the Pope’s temporal power throughout Italy, in the early Renaissance, Venice controlled sea trade over goods from the East. Trade brought wool from England to Florence, ideally located on the river for the production of fine cloth, by dominating Pisa, Florence gained a seaport, and also maintained dominance of Genoa. In this commercial climate, one family in particular turned their attention from trade to the business of money-lending. The Medici became the chief bankers to the princes of Europe, becoming virtually princes themselves as they did so, along the trade routes, and thus offered some protection by commercial interest, moved not only goods but also artists, scientists and philosophers. This commenced in the mid 15th century and gained momentum in the 16th century, the construction of the Sistine Chapel with its uniquely important decorations and the entire rebuilding of St Peters, one of Christendoms most significant churches, were part of this process. In wealthy republican Florence, the impetus for church-building was more civic than spiritual, the unfinished state of the enormous cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary did no honour to the city under her patronage. The dome inspired further religious works in Florence, through Humanism, civic pride and the promotion of civil peace and order were seen as the marks of citizenship. Some major ecclesiastical building works were commissioned, not by the church. During the Renaissance, architecture became not only a question of practice, printing played a large role in the dissemination of ideas. The first treatise on architecture was De re aedificatoria by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450 and it was to some degree dependent on Vitruviuss De architectura, a manuscript of which was discovered in 1414 in a library in Switzerland. De re aedificatoria in 1485 became the first printed book on architecture, Sebastiano Serlio produced the next important text, the first volume of which appeared in Venice in 1537, it was entitled Regole generali darchitettura. It is known as Serlios Fourth Book since it was the fourth in Serlios original plan of a treatise in seven books, in all, five books were published
8.
English Gothic architecture
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English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished in England from about 1180 until about 1520. As with the Gothic architecture of other parts of Europe, English Gothic is defined by its arches, vaulted roofs, buttresses, large windows. The earliest large-scale applications of Gothic architecture in England are at Canterbury Cathedral, many features of Gothic architecture had evolved naturally from Romanesque architecture. This evolution can be seen most particularly at the Norman Durham Cathedral, English Gothic was to develop along lines that sometimes paralleled and sometimes diverged from those of continental Europe. Historians traditionally divide English Gothic into a number of different periods, Gothic architecture continued to flourish in England for a hundred years after the precepts of Renaissance architecture were formalised in Florence in the early 15th century. Many of the largest and finest works of English architecture, notably the medieval cathedrals of England are largely built in the Gothic style, so also are castles, palaces, great houses, universities, and many smaller unpretentious secular buildings, including almshouses and trade halls. Another important group of Gothic buildings in England are the parish churches, historians sometimes refer to the styles as periods, e. g. Perpendicular period in much the same way as an historical era may be referred to as the Tudor period. The various styles are seen at their most fully developed in the cathedrals, abbey churches, according to the originator of the term in 1817, Thomas Rickman, the period ran from 1189 to 1307, Rickman based his defining dates on the reigns of certain English monarchs. In the late 12th century, the Early English Gothic style superseded the Romanesque or Norman style, during the late 13th century, it developed into the Decorated Gothic style, which lasted until the mid-14th century. With all of early architectural styles, there is a gradual overlap between the periods. As fashions changed, new elements were used alongside older ones, especially in large buildings such as churches and cathedrals. It is customary, therefore, to recognise a transitional phase between the Romanesque and Early English periods from the middle of the 12th century, although usually known as Early English, this new Gothic style had originated in the area around Paris before spreading to England. There it was first known as the French style and it was first used in the choir or quire of the abbey church of St Denis, dedicated in June 1144. Even before that, some features had been included in Durham Cathedral, showing a combination of Romanesque, by 1175, with the completion of the Choir at Canterbury Cathedral by William of Sens, the style was firmly established in England. The most significant and characteristic development of the Early English period was the pointed arch known as the lancet, pointed arches were used almost universally, not only in arches of wide span such as those of the nave arcade, but also for doorways and lancet windows. It also allows for greater variation in proportions, whereas the strength of round arches depends on semicircular form. The barrel vaults and groin vaults characteristic of Romanesque building were replaced by rib vaults, the arched windows are usually narrow by comparison to their height and are without tracery. For this reason Early English Gothic is sometimes known as the Lancet style, although arches of equilateral proportion are most often employed, lancet arches of very acute proportions are frequently found and are highly characteristic of the style
9.
Edward Augustus Freeman
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Edward Augustus Freeman was an English historian, architectural artist, liberal politician during the late-19th-century heyday of William Gladstone, and a one-time candidate for Parliament. After the marriage of his daughter Margaret to Evans, he and he was a prolific writer, publishing 239 distinct works. One of his best known is his magnum opus, the 6-volume The History of the Norman Conquest of England, both he and Margaret died before Evans purchased the land from which he would excavate the Palace of Knossos. Freeman was born at Metchley Abbey in Harborne, now a suburb of Birmingham and his parents, John Freeman and Mary Ann, used the Latin name of the month in which he was born as his middle name. They were a family of modest means, however, the grandfather, Joseph Freeman, had been a wealthy man. On his death, his will was disputed, and lawyers fees consumed the bulk of the estate, edwards father, the oldest son, and his two paternal uncles, Keelinge and Joseph, received little to sustain them. Mary Annes family still displayed the coat-of-arms given to them, the family was never in good health. They delayed baptising Edward for a year, hoping to avoid exposure to contagious diseases. Emma died in 1826 when Edward was three years old, Freeman was educated at private schools and by a private tutor. Even as a boy, he was interested in matters, history. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford, and a class in the degree examination. While at Oxford he was influenced by the High Church movement, and thought seriously of taking orders. He married Eleanor Gutch daughter of his tutor, the Reverend Robert Gutch, on 13 April 1847 at Segrave, Leicestershire, England. He lived in Llanrumney Hall, Cardiff in the mid 19th century, Freeman later bought a house called Somerleaze, near Wells, Somerset, and settled there in 1860. From 1886 Freeman was forced by ill health to spend much of his time abroad, in February 1892 he visited Spain in company with his wife and two younger daughters. He fell ill at Valencia on 7 March, but on the 9th went on to Alicante and he died at Alicante on the 16th, and was buried in the Protestant cemetery there. He left two sons and four daughters, the inscription on his gravestone was written by his son-in-law Sir Arthur Evans. Freeman involved himself in politics, was a follower of Gladstone, and approved the Home Rule Bill of 1886, to enter Parliament was one of his ambitions, and in 1868 he unsuccessfully contested Mid-Somerset
10.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
11.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
12.
Rayonnant
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In French Gothic architecture, Rayonnant was the period between c. After the mid-14th century, Rayonnant gradually evolved into the Late Gothic Flamboyant style, the name Rayonnant derives from the attempts of 19th-century French art historians to classify Gothic styles on the basis of window tracery. Although such efforts are now regarded as mistaken, the terms have to some extent survived. On this basis, Focillon and his colleagues adopted the term Rayonnant specifically to describe the radiating spokes of the windows which flourished during this period. Although this church was destroyed during the French Revolution, its facade is well known from 18th-century engravings. The architect took various existing elements of the Gothic decorative vocabulary, whilst all phases of Gothic architecture were concerned to some degree with levels of illumination and the appearance of structural lightness, Rayonnant takes this to the extreme. Although changes in design are the most oft-cited feature of the Rayonnant style. The key precursor was a change in the construction of window tracery, bar-tracery probably made its first appearance in the clerestory windows at Reims Cathedral and quickly spread across Europe. The final architectural innovation that emerged as part of the Rayonnant style in France was the use of glazed triforia. Traditionally, the triforium of an Early or High Gothic cathedral was a horizontal band, usually housing a narrow passageway. Although it made the interior darker, it was a feature to accommodate the sloping lean-to roofs over the side aisles. This meant the outer wall of the passage could now be glazed. The resulting mixture of styles at Westminster has been characterised by some art historians as French architecture with an English accent, Rayonnant was also very influential in the Holy Roman Empire, as evidenced by the cathedrals at Strasbourg, Cologne and Prague. In Spain we find the best examples in the León Cathedral and the Burgos cathedral, the style even reached as far as Cyprus with the most prominent example being Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Famagusta. This combination of flexibility and portability may have been a key factor in the dissemination of Rayonnant and its various offshoots across Europe in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The transition from Rayonnant to Flamboyant Gothic was gradual and evolutionary in form, marked primarily by a shift towards new tracery patterns based on S-shaped curves
13.
Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois
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Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois was a celebrated French painter, draftsman, engraver and writer. He became known as the Norman Callot and he taught both his daughter Espérance Langlois and his son Polyclès Langlois and they often assisted him with drawings and engravings. Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois was born at Pont de lArche in Normandy on 3 August 1777 and his father, André-Girard Langlois, was an advisor to the king and Master of Forestry. Although he showed early interest in art, Eustache-Hyacinthe seemed destined for a career in the administration, however, the French Revolution broke out on 1789 and his father was forced to emigrate to escape lawsuits. Langlois was imprisoned, but was released through the intervention of Jacques-Charles Dupont de lEure, in 1793 he began to study art at the École de Mars in Paris under the painter Jacques-Louis David. In 1794 he was conscripted into the army, but managed to obtain his freedom with the help of friends, in 1798 he became a pupil of Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier, but there was friction between master and pupil and he returned to David. In 1806 Langlois was forced to return to his place of birth, Pont-de-lArche, in 1816 he moved to Rouen, a large city by the standards of the time, where he hoped to find work as an artist to support his wife and seven children. At first they had little money and lived in a slum room in extreme poverty. He managed to scrape a living from sale of these works, Langlois devoted himself to the study and preservation of his Norman heritage, and gradually became well known for his writings and illustrations on historical subjects. He was actively involved in almost all publications in Rouen, in 1824 he was named a member of the Rouen Academy, and began teaching art to young students. In 1827 the Duchess of Berry visited Rouen and he was assigned to act as her guide to the monuments of the city, the princess was impressed by his knowledge and spirit. Through her influence, the year he obtained the position of professor of drawing at Rouens municipal school of art. His pupils included Célestin Nanteuil, Frédéric Legrip and Gustave Flaubert, in 1830 he became a member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and in 1833 was appointed president of the Société d’émulation de Rouen. He was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1835, in 1837 he became head of the Rouen museum of antiquities. He died on 29 September 1837 at the age of 60, langloiss drawings of the church of St. Herbland are all that remain of this ancient building, since destroyed. His book Stalles de la cathédrale de Rouen published in 1838 included drawings of all the misericords in the stalls of Rouen Cathedral in the 19th century. In the bombardment of the cathedral in April and June 1944 during World War II some of the stalls and misericords were destroyed, langloiss book, illustrated by drawings made by his daughter, provides the main source of information on the destroyed stalls and misericords. Unfortunately the drawings do not show all the details, however, they do provide an accurate view of the way the misericords were arranged in the 19th century
14.
Tracery
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In architecture, tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the floors on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out. There are two types, plate tracery and the later bar tracery. Romanesque church windows were normally quite small, somewhat taller than wide, from around the 1140s, the pointed-arch Gothic window started to take over. With this type of design, the spandrels are just blank wall, the rose windows of early- and high-Gothic cathedrals, such as the example in the north transept of Laon Cathedral or the west facade at Chartres, also employed plate tracery. This greatly limited the amount of light admitted to the interior by these windows. The earliest bar tracery designs were made for the windows at Reims around 1215. The cross-section of each mullion or tracery bar was important both for the integrity of the window and for the visual effect. As can be seen in Viollet-le-Ducs diagram there was normally a roll-moulding on both the inside and outside of the windows, which made the mullions appear even more slender than they actually were. The shoulder marked B on the diagram is the glazing slot, as bar tracery opened the way for more complex patterns, masons started applying those same patterns to other surfaces as well as the actual window openings. When used on an otherwise solid walls, such motifs are known as blind tracery, open tracery in particular was a key feature of the later phases of Rayonnant Gothic. Most 19th-century histories of Gothic architectural style used a series of rather arbitrary categories based on the evolution of the dominant patterns of window tracery. Such teleological models are now regarded as oversimplistic and are shunned by art historians. Because of the cost and size limitations of parchment sheets, such designs would normally be drawn by incising onto a board or a conveniently placed section of flat wall. In the latter case, the wall would be prepared with a layer of plaster. A number of churches and cathedrals still show the faint remains of these tracings, from where the compass points scratched through the plaster. A number of building sites originally had dedicated tracery chambers. This also meant that masons could carry on working through the winter season, the tracing floors themselves were covered with plaster of paris, which could be relaid and smoothed down after each set of designs were finished with
15.
Sondergotik
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Sondergotik is the style of Late Gothic architecture prevalent in Austria, Bavaria, Saxony and Bohemia between 1350 and 1550. At the same time the forms part of the International Gothic style in its origins. The style was contemporaneous with several unique styles of Gothic, the flamboyant in France, the perpendicular in England, the Manueline in Portugal. Like these, the Sondergotik showed an attention to both within and without. In many Sondergotik buildings, fluidity and a wood-like quality were stressed in carving and decoration, the rib patterns of Sondergotik vaults are elaborate and often curved, sometimes using broken and flying ribs. Outside, the buildings tended towards mass buttressing, among the most famous Sondergotik constructions is Saint Barbara Church in Kutná Hora, built by the Parlers, a family of masons. The Grove Dictionary of Art, Sondergotik
16.
Ogee
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An ogee is a curve, shaped somewhat like an S, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are parallel. It is a kind of sigmoid curve, the term has uses in architecture, mathematics, and fluid mechanics, as well as marine construction, clock design and plastic surgery. In architecture, the use of the term is to describe an arch composed of two ogees, mirrored left-to-right and meeting at an apex. Ogee arches were a feature of English Gothic architecture in the thirteenth century. Alternative names for such a true Roman ogee moulding include cyma reversa, the cyma reversa form occurs in antiquity. For example, in ancient Persia, the Tomb of Cyrus featured the cyma reversa, the cyma reversa is also evident in ancient Greek architecture. Ogee windows and arches were introduced to European cities from the Middle East, the ogee curve is an analogue of a cyma curve, the difference being that a cyma has horizontal rather than vertical ends. The ogee and Roman ogee profiles are used in decorative moulding, as such it is part of the standard classical decorative vocabulary, adopted from architrave and cornice mouldings of the Ionic order and Corinthian order. An ogee is also used in the crown moulding frequently found at the top of a piece of case furniture, or for capping a baseboard or plinth. An ogee moulding may be run in plaster or wood, or cut in stone or brickwork, ogee is also a mathematical term, meaning an inflection point. In fluid mechanics, the term is used for an aerodynamic profile. For example, a wing may have ogee profile, particularly on aircraft such as the Concorde. Also, the face of a dam spillway is usually formed in an ogee curve to minimize water pressure. An ogee washer is a washer with a large bearing surface used in marine timber construction to prevent bolt heads or nuts from sinking into the face of timbers. The term ogee is used due to the shape in radial symmetry around the centre. Due to the size and shape, they are manufactured as a cast iron product in accordance with ASTM A47 or A48. An ogee clock is a kind of weight-driven 19th-century pendulum clock in a simplified Gothic taste. It is rectangular, with ogee-profile moulding that frames a central door that protects the clock face
17.
Beverley Minster
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Beverley Minster in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, is a parish church in the Church of England. It is one of the largest parish churches in the UK, larger than one third of all English cathedrals and it is part of the Greater Churches Group and a Grade I listed building. Every year it hosts events in association with schools, including the Beverley Minster Primary School Nativity Performance. The minster owes its origin and much of its subsequent importance to Saint John of Beverley, the institution grew after his death and underwent several rebuildings. After a serious fire in 1188, the subsequent reconstruction was overambitious, work on the present structure began around 1220. The twin towers of the west front are an example of the Perpendicular style. These formed the inspiration for the design of the present Westminster Abbey, Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury, was named Provost of Beverley in 1154. Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, was buried in the church after being murdered by the citizens of York in 1489 during the Yorkshire rebellion over high taxes imposed by King Henry VII. As with many English churches during the wars of religion in the 16th century, Church authorities cracked down hard on those they felt were part of the Popish conspiracy contrary to Royal decrees. Both Levetts were suspended from the priesthood for keeping prohibited equipment and books, in the 18th century the present central tower replaced an original lantern tower that was in danger of collapse. This central tower now houses the largest surviving treadwheel crane in England, a distinctive feature of both the north and south transepts is the presence of rose windows, and a White Rose of York, with ten equal parts. Daily tours to the crane and rose windows are available to the general public, H. Crossley as one of the best surviving examples of Gothic art. A total of 68 16th century misericords are located in the quire of the minster, the misericords were probably carved by the Ripon school of carvers and bear a strong family resemblance to those at Manchester Cathedral and Ripon Cathedral. The church contains one of the few remaining Frith Stools in England, anyone wanting to claim sanctuary from the law would sit in the chair. The chair dates from Saxon times before 1066, the organ is mounted above a richly carved wooden screen dating from the late 19th century. There is a staircase in the aisle which would have been used in collegiate times to gain access from. Improvements to the choir were made during the 16th and 18th centuries and medieval glass, the Thornton family, great craftsmen of the early 18th century, were responsible for the font cover and the west door. Another notable feature is the series of carvings of musicians which adorn the nave, location sequences for the film Lease of Life were filmed in Beverley Minster
18.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
19.
York
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York is a historic walled city at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The municipality is the county town of Yorkshire to which it gives its name. The city has a heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events in England throughout much of its two millennia of existence. The city offers a wealth of attractions, of which York Minster is the most prominent. The city was founded by the Romans as Eboracum in 71 AD and it became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and later of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jórvík. In the Middle Ages, York grew as a wool trading centre and became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England. In the 19th century, York became a hub of the railway network, in recent decades, the economy of York has moved from being dominated by its confectionery and railway-related industries to one that provides services. The University of York and health services have become major employers, from 1996, the term City of York describes a unitary authority area which includes rural areas beyond the old city boundaries. In 2011 the urban area had a population of 153,717, the word York derives from the Latinised name for the city, variously rendered as Eboracum, Eburacum or Eburaci. The first mention of York by this name is dated to circa 95–104 AD as an address on a wooden stylus tablet from the Roman fortress of Vindolanda in Northumberland, the toponymy of Eboracum is uncertain because the language of the pre-Roman indigenous population was never recorded. They are thought to have spoken a Celtic language related to modern Welsh, in his Historia Regum Britanniae the 12th century chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth, suggests the name derives from that of a pre-Roman city founded by the legendary king Ebraucus. Alternatively, the word already existed as an Old English word for wild swine. The Anglo-Saxon newcomers probably interpreted the part as eofor, and -rac as ric, while -um was a common abbreviation of the Saxon -heem. To them, it sounded as a home rich in boar, as is common in Saxon place names, the -um part gradually faded, eoforic. When the Danish army conquered the city in 866, its name became Jórvík, the Old French and Norman name of the city following the Norman Conquest was recorded as Everwic in works such as Waces Roman de Rou. The form York was first recorded in the 13th century, many company and place names, such as the Ebor race meeting, refer to the Roman name. The Archbishop of York uses Ebor as his surname in his signature, archaeological evidence suggests that Mesolithic people settled in the region of York between 8000 and 7000 BC, although it is not known whether their settlements were permanent or temporary. By the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, the area was occupied by a known to the Romans as the Brigantes
20.
Durham, England
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Durham is a historic city and the county town of County Durham in North East England. The city lies on the River Wear, to the west of Sunderland, south of Newcastle upon Tyne, founded over the final resting place of St Cuthbert, its Norman cathedral became a centre of pilgrimage in medieval England. The cathedral and adjacent 11th-century castle were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, the castle has been the home of Durham University since 1832. HM Prison Durham is also located close to the city centre, the name Durham comes from the Celtic element dun, signifying a hill fort, and the Old Norse holme, which translates to island. The Lord Bishop of Durham takes a Latin variation of the name in his official signature. The city has been known by a number of names throughout history, the original Nordic Dun Holm was changed to Duresme by the Normans and was known in Latin as Dunelm. The modern form Durham came into use later in the citys history, archeological evidence suggests a history of settlement in the area since roughly 2000 BC. Local legend states that the city was founded in A. D.995 by divine intervention, Aldhun, Bishop of Chester-le-Street and leader of the order, decreed a holy fast of three days, accompanied by prayers to the saint. During the fast, Saint Cuthbert appeared to a monk named Eadmer. After Eadmers revelation, Aldhun found that he was able to move the bier, the legend of the Dun Cow, which is first documented in The Rites of Durham, an anonymous account about the Durham Cathedral, published in 1593, builds on Symeons account. According to this legend, by later that day, the monks came across a milkmaid at Mount Joy. She stated that she was seeking her lost dun cow, which she had last seen at Dun Holm, the monks, realising that this was a sign from the saint, followed her. They settled at a wooded hill-island – a high wooded rock surrounded on three sides by the River Wear, there they erected a shelter for the relics, on the spot where the Durham Cathedral would later stand. Symeon states that a modest wooden building erected there shortly later was the first building in the city, Bishop Aldhun subsequently had a stone church built, which was dedicated in September 998. It no longer remains, having been supplanted by the Norman structure, during the medieval period the city gained spiritual prominence as the final resting place of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Bede the Venerable. The shrine of Saint Cuthbert, situated behind the High Altar of Durham Cathedral, was the most important religious site in England until the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury in 1170, Saint Cuthbert became famous for two reasons. Firstly, the healing powers he had displayed in life continued after his death, with many stories of those visiting the saints shrine being cured of all manner of diseases. This led to him being known as the worker of England
21.
Manueline
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This innovative style synthesizes aspects of Late Gothic architecture with influences of the Spanish Plateresque style, Mudéjar, Italian urban architecture, and Flemish elements. It marks the transition from Late Gothic to Renaissance, the construction of churches and monasteries in Manueline was largely financed by proceeds of the lucrative spice trade with Africa and India. Varnhagen named the style after King Manuel I, whose reign coincided with its development, although the period of this style did not last long, it played an important part in the development of Portuguese art. The influence of the style outlived the king, celebrating the newly maritime power, it manifested itself in architecture and extended into other arts such as sculpture, painting, works of art made of precious metals, faience and furniture. This decorative style is characterized by virtuoso complex ornamentation in portals, windows, columns, in its end period it tended to become excessively exuberant as in Tomar. Several elements appear regularly in these intricately carved stoneworks, elements used on ships, elements from the sea, such as shells, pearls and strings of seaweed. Botanical motifs such as branches, oak leaves, acorns, poppy capsules, corncobs. Symbols of Christianity such as the cross of the Order of Christ, the cross of this order decorated the sails of the Portuguese ships. When King Manuel I died in 1521, he had funded 62 construction projects, however, much original Manueline architecture in Portugal was lost or damaged beyond restoration in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and subsequent tsunami. In Lisbon, the Ribeira Palace, residence of King Manuel I, the city, however, still has outstanding examples of the style in the Jerónimos Monastery and in the small fortress of the Belém Tower. Both are located close to other in the Belém neighbourhood. The portal of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha, outside Lisbon, the church and chapter house of the Convent of the Order of Christ at Tomar is a major Manueline monument. In particular, the window of the chapter house, with its fantastic sculptured organic. Other major Manueline monuments include the arcade screens of the Royal Cloister and the Unfinished Chapels at the Monastery of Batalha, civil buildings in Manueline style exist in Évora and the Castle of Évoramonte of 1531), Viana do Castelo, Guimarães and some other towns. Its influence is apparent in southern Spain, the Canary Islands, North Africa, turner, J. Grove Dictionary of Art, MacMillan Publishers Ltd. 1996, ISBN 0-19-517068-7 The Rough Guide to Portugal, March 2005, 11th edition, ISBN 1-84353-438-X Smith, the Art of Portugal 1500-1800, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London,1968 ISBN 0-297-76096-3
22.
Isabelline Gothic
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The Isabelline style, also called the Isabelline Gothic, or Castilian late Gothic, was the dominant architectural style of the Crown of Castile during the reign of Catholic Monarchs. Emile Bertaux named the style after Queen Isabella of Castile, one of the Catholic Monarchs, the Isabelline style introduced several structural elements of the Castilian tradition and the typical Flanderss flamboyant forms, as well as some ornaments of Islamic influence. Many of the buildings that were built in this style were commissioned by the Catholic Monarchs or were in some way sponsored by them, a similar style called Manueline developed concurrently in Portugal. Also characteristic of this period is ornamentation using beaded motifs of orbs worked in plaster or carved in stone, many of these monuments were built at the command of the Queen, thus Isabelline Gothic manifested the desire of the Spanish ruling classes to display their own power and wealth. This exuberance found an expression in the extreme profusion of decoration which has been called Plateresque. Until the Renaissance took hold in the Iberian peninsula, the transition from the Modern to the Roman in Spanish architecture had hardly begun, regardless of the spatial characteristics of the interiors, Gothic buildings utilized proven structural systems. This made for an original style, yet more efficient construction. A unique style with modern elements evolved from the Gothic inheritance in Spain, Isabelline architects clung to the Gothic solution of the problem of how to distribute the weight burden of vaults pressing on pillars, that is, by propping them up with flying buttresses. After 1530, although the Isabelline style continued to be used and its decorative ornaments were still evolving, Spanish architecture began to incorporate Renaissance ideas of form and structure
23.
Abbeville
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Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is one of the chef-lieus of the arrondissement of Somme and it was the capital of Ponthieu. Its inhabitants are called the Abbevillois, Abbeville is located on the Somme River,20 km from its modern mouth in the English Channel. The majority of the town is located on the east bank of the Somme and it is located at the head of the Abbeville Canal, and is 45 km northwest of Amiens and approximately 200 kilometres from Paris. It is also 10 kilometres as the flies from the Bay of Somme. In the medieval period, it was the lowest crossing point on the Somme, just halfway between Rouen and Lille, it is the historical capital of the County of Ponthieu and maritime Picardy. This place is considered by some to be the origin of Abbeville, because it was the location of the first château of the Counts of Ponthieu and it is assumed that this place could have been the location of the farm of Abbatisvilla, dependent upon the Abbey of Saint-Riquier. The suburbs of La Bouvaque and Thuison are located to the north of the city, the municipal park of La Bouvaque, bordered by the Boulevard de la République, consists of the La Bouvaque pond and Collart meadows, former settling ponds of the Béghin-Say sugar factory. It was in Thuison that the Carthusian monastery of Saint-Honoré was founded in 1301 by William of Mâcon and this was a property of the Order of the Temple, sold to the latter by Gérard de Villars, the last master of the province of France. The sale was confirmed by Hugues de Pairaud, then visitor of France, the suburb of Saint Gilles Rouvroy is to the west, and the origin of the name comes from Rouvray indicates the presence of an oak wood or a remarkable oak. Mautort, beside Rouvroy, is a stronghold located between Cambron and Abbeville. It is at the origin of the name of de Mautort, surviving in the name of the Tillette de Mautort family or, for example. The name tort is attested in Old French with the sense of détour, Menchecourt, in the north-west, is known for its sugar factory and for its football club. Abbeville is served by trains on the line between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Amiens and between Calais and Paris, Abbeville was the southern terminus of the Réseau des Bains de Mer, the line to Dompierre-sur-Authie opened on 19 June 1892 and closed on 10 March 1947. Abbeville is located just near the A16 autoroute, and is about 1 hour 50 minutes by car from Paris, Abbeville has an oceanic climate due to its proximity to the ocean. The summers and winters are temperate and rainy, days of snow are fairly common, the highest temperature was 37.8 °C on 1 July 1952 and the record low is −0.8 °C, which occurred during a particularly cold spell on 17 January 1985. In 2012, the commune had 24,237 inhabitants, the evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses carried out in the town since 1793. The population of the commune is relatively old, the rate of persons over 60 years of age is higher than the national rate and the departmental rate
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Auch
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Auch is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Occitanie, it is the capital of the Gers department, Auch is the historical capital of Gascony. The River Gers flows through the town, Auch is well connected to nearby cities and towns such as Agen, Toulouse and Tarbes by Routes Nationales. Auch is an ancient town, whose settlement was noted by the Romans during their conquest of the area in the 50s BC. At that time, it was settled by an Aquitanian tribe known to the Romans as the Ausci and their name for the town was Climberrum or Elimberris. Following their conquest, the Romans renamed the town Augusta Auscorum or Ausciorum, Augusta Auscorum was one of the twelve civitates of the province of Novempopulana and became the provincial capital after the 409 destruction of Eauze by the Vandals. The common term Augusta was eventually dropped and the name evolved into the modern Gascon Aush, the town became the seat of a Catholic archdiocese which lasted until the French Revolution. Its archbishops claimed the title of Primate of Aquitaine, Novempopulana, and Navarre. R
25.
Gers
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The Gers is a department in the Occitanie region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River. In the Middle Ages, the Lordship of LIsle-Jourdain was nearby, the Gers is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the provinces of Guyenne. In 1808 it lost Lavit on its side to the newly created department of Tarn-et-Garonne. The culture is largely agricultural, with emphasis on the local gastronomical specialties such as, Armagnac brandy, Côtes de Gascogne, Floc de Gascogne, Foie gras. Also, some prominent cultivated crops are corn, colza, sunflowers, the Gascon language is a dialect of Occitan, but it is not widely spoken. The department is characterised by sleepy bastide villages and rolling hills with the Pyrenees visible to the south, alexandre Dumas, père created the famous Gersois dArtagnan, the fourth musketeer of The Three Musketeers. A museum to dArtagnan is found in the Gersois village of Lupiac, a horse race at the Auteuil Hippodrome has been named after André Boingnères, a notable local race-horse owner and the successful mayor of Termes-dArmagnac between 1951 and 1976. The President of the General Council is Jean-Pierre Pujol of the Socialist Party, located in southwestern France, the Gers is part of the Occitanie region. It is surrounded by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne, Landes, the Gers is often referred to as amongst the least densely populated, or most rural, areas in all of Western Europe. List of the 10 most important cities of the département, The annual rain varies from more than 900 mm in the south-west of the department, to less than 700 mm in the North-East. The winters vary, with only occasional freezing temperatures, but the climate mild and dry. The summers are hot and dry, the temperatures often is exceeding 40°. Auch is together with Toulouse and Millau one of the hottest cities of France, with often more than 300 sunny days in the year
26.
Beauvais
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Beauvais archaic English, Beawayes, Beeway, Boway, is a city and commune in northern France. It serves as the capital of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, Beauvais is located approximately 75 kilometres from Paris. The residents of the city are called Beauvaisiens, together with its suburbs and satellite towns, the metropolitan area of Beauvais has a population of 103,885. Beauvais was known to the Romans by the Gallo-Roman name of Caesaromagus, the post-Renaissance Latin rendering is Bellovacum from the Belgic tribe the Bellovaci, whose capital it was. In the ninth century it became a countship, which about 1013 passed to the bishops of Beauvais, who became peers of France from the twelfth century. At the coronations of kings the Bishop of Beauvais wore the royal mantle and went, with the Bishop of Langres and its name is Gaulish for place where judgements are made, from *bratu-spantion. Some say that Bratuspantium is Beauvais, others theorize that it is Vendeuil-Caply or Bailleul sur Thérain. From 1004 to 1037, the Count of Beauvais was Odo II, in a charter dated 1056/1060, Eudo of Brittany granted land in pago Belvacensi to the Abbey of Angers Saint-Aubin. In 1346 the town had to defend itself against the English, the hoard, which contained a variety of rare and extremely rare Anglo-Norman pennies, English and foreign coins, was reputed to have been found in or near Paris. Beauvais was extensively damaged during World War I and again in World War II, much of the older part of the city was all but destroyed, and the cathedral badly damaged before being liberated by British forces on 30 August 1944. Beauvais lies at the foot of wooded hills on the bank of the Thérain at its confluence with the Avelon. Its ancient ramparts have been destroyed, and it is now surrounded by boulevards, in addition, there are spacious promenades in the north-east of the town. The average annual temperature is 9. 9°C, the annual average of 1669 hours. Hills Bray are provided to the precipitation of Beauvais, the precipitation is 669 mm on average per year, while it is 800 mm on average per year in Bray. However, the frequency of rainfall is high, the average number of days per year above the precipitation of a 1 mm is 116 days, or every third day. The fog is present, it is estimated at about 55 days a year. The department is affected by 41 days of average wind year, the citys cathedral, dedicated to Saint Peter, in some respects the most daring achievement of Gothic architecture, consists only of a transept and quire with apse and seven apse-chapels. The vaulting in the interior exceeds 46 m or 150 feet in height, the cathedral underwent a major repair and restoration process in 2008
27.
Bourg-en-Bresse
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Bourg-en-Bresse is a commune in eastern France, capital of the Ain department, and was capital of the ancient province of Bresse. It is located 70 km north-northeast of Lyon, the inhabitants of Bourg-en-Bresse are known as Burgiens. Bourg-en-Bresse is located at the base of the Jura mountains, on the left bank of the Reyssouze. It lies 70 kilometers northeast of Lyon and 50 kilometers south-southwest of Lons-le-Saunier, roman remains have been discovered at Bourg, but little is known of its early history. Raised to the rank of a town in 1250, it was at the beginning of the 15th century the capital of the dukes of Savoy in the province of Bresse. In February 1535 it was conquered by France during an invasion of Savoy, but was restored to Duke Philibert Emmanuel in 1559. The duke later built a citadel, which afterwards withstood a six-months siege by the soldiers of Henry IV during the Franco-Savoyard War of 1600–1601. The town was ceded to France in 1601. In 1814, the inhabitants, in spite of the condition of their town, offered resistance to the Austrians. The church of Notre-Dame has a built in the Renaissance. In the interior there are stalls of the 16th century, the other public buildings, including a handsome prefecture, are modern. The town hall contains a library and the Lorin Museum with a collection of pictures, while another museum has a collection of old costumes, among the statues in the town there is one of historian Edgar Quinet, a native of Bourg. The church of Brou, a suburb of Bourg-en-Bresse, is of artistic interest. Margaret of Bourbon, wife of Philip II of Savoy, had intended to found a monastery on the spot, the church was actually built early in the 16th century by her daughter-in-law Margaret of Austria, wife of Philibert le Beau of Savoy, in memory of her husband. The exterior, especially the façade, is ornamented, but the chief interest lies in the works of art in the interior. The most important are the three mausoleums with the effigies of Marguerite of Bourbon, Philibert le Beau, and Margaret of Austria. All three are remarkable for perfection of sculpture and richness of ornamentation, the rood loft, the oak stalls, and the reredos in the chapel of the Virgin are masterpieces in a similar style. The Gare de Bourg-en-Bresse railway station offers connections to Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon and Geneva by high-speed rail, the A39 motorway connects Bourg with Dole and Dijon, the A40 with Mâcon and Geneva
28.
Ain
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Ain is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône and it has an excellent transport network and benefits from the proximity to the international airports of Lyon and Geneva. Ain is composed of four different areas which – each with its own characteristics – contribute to the diversity. In the Bresse agriculture and agro-industry are dominated by the cultivation of cereals, cattle breeding, milk, in the Dombes, pisciculture assumes greater importance as does wine making in the Bugey. The high diversification of the industry is accompanied by a strong presence of the plastics sector in. Due to its industrial character and the cooperation of small and medium enterprises. Its unemployment rate lies far beneath the national and regional average, besides the export-oriented SMEs, several large enterprises, with a prominent position on national and international markets, have settled in the department. The first inhabitants settled in the territory of todays Ain about 15000 BC, the menhir of Pierrefiche in Simandre-sur-Suran dates from the mid-Neolithic era, in the fourth or third millennium BC, it is the sole standing stone in Burgundy. The late-second century BC Calendar of Coligny bears the longest surviving Gaulish inscription, in the year 58 BC Julius Caesars military action against the Helvetians advancing through Gaul on the territory of todays Ain marked the beginning of the Gallic Wars. Under the Merovingians, the four regions of the modern département belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy. In the beginning of the 6th century AD the diocese of Belley was created, abbeys of the order of Saint Benedict were established in the valleys. In 843 the Treaty of Verdun assigned the territories that comprise the Ain to the kingdom of Lothar I, the first big fiefdoms emerge between 895 and 900 in Bâgé-le-Châtel, which formed the nucleus of the pays of Bresse, and in Coligny. Numerous castles were erected in a low rolling terrain that was not otherwise easily defended, in the 12th century the Romanesque architecture prospered. In the 11th century the Counts of Savoy and Valromey settled in the region of Belley, in the beginning of the 15th century almost the whole region of Ain is united under the house of Savoy. New monasteries are founded in the cities, churches are constructed or reshaped according to the Gothic style of architecture. In the beginning of the 16th century – the Duchy of Savoy was at the peak of its power – Ain was inherited by Margaret of Habsburg, in Brou she erected a church and a monastery in late-Gothic style. The Treaty of Lyon of 17 January 1601 ends finally the conflict, in the 17th century sculpture, painting and literature prosper. During the 18th century streets and small industries emerge, on 28 March 1762 the Count of Eu, son of the Duke of Maine, cedes the region of Dombes to Louis XV
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Royal Monastery of Brou
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The Royal Monastery of Brou is a religious complex located at Bourg-en-Bresse in the Ain département, central France. The complex was designed as a burial place in the tradition of the Burgundian Champmol and Cîteaux Abbey. The church is known as the Église Saint-Nicolas-de-Tolentin de Brou in French, the church was built between 1506 and 1532 in a lavishly elaborate Flamboyant Gothic style, with some classicizing Renaissance aspects. The tall roof is covered in coloured, glazed tiles, the monastery is the property of the town of Bourg-in-Bresse, which installed the municipal art collection in the buildings in 1922. The museum presents religious statues of the 13th to 17th centuries on the floor. The church and monastery have been classed as a monument historique since 1862, the buildings are in the care of the French state, and are managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux. Conrad Meits career led him from his birthplace at Worms on the Rhine, to the Wittenberg court, there he is recorded as court sculptor for Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands from 1512 to 1530. These are at the newly built Royal Monastery of Brou, today in France. Philibert had died at the age of 24 in 1504, so Meits images of him are based on other portraits and his majestic grave monument is placed in the middle of the Abbeys choir, with the two female tombs set against the wall on either side of it. The three aligned figures are turned towards other, as though in communication. Though to the side, Margarets tomb is the largest, philiberts tomb consists of two levels and two effigies, one above the other. The upper part, in expensive imported white Carrara marble, represents the Duke in ceremonial costume, below this, ten little female figures, the sibyls point towards the effigy. To the north, the tomb of Margaret of Bourbon consists of a single effigy placed within an enfeu and lying upon a piece of marble, with pleurants beneath. The princess is dressed in a cloak and her feet rest on a greyhound. Behind the effigy, putti bear etuschons with the initials of Margaret, Margaret of Austrias tomb also has an upper effigy in marble and a lower one in alabaster. In the upper one she is shown as a woman in dress of state. Below she is shown in her youth, wearing a robe with her long hair unbound. Below their formal effigies, the couple are shown in their most perfect state, Ministry of Culture database listing for Ancienne abbaye de Brou, with link to Ministry of Culture photos
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Caudebec-en-Caux
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Caudebec-en-Caux is a former commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Rives-en-Seine, caudebec-en-Caux is located 27 miles W. N. W. of Rouen, on the right bank of the River Seine. The tidal bore in the estuary of the Seine which is known as the mascaret in French, the development of the industrial polder towards Harfleur has changed the geometry of the estuary so that mascaret now seems to be a phenomenon of the past. Caudebec is one of places in Normandy having names which are clearly derived from a Scandinavian language. Caldebec Abt 1025 derives from the old Danish kaldr bekkr, cold stream, in May 1592 during the French Wars of Religion Caudebec had been taken by Spanish and French Catholic League forces of Duke of Parma but was trapped by an army under Henry IV of France. Parma though wounded then made a miraculous escape avoiding complete defeat, the chief architectural interest of the town lies in its Flamboyant church, which was constructed during the 15th and the early 16th centuries. Round its top run balustrades formed of Gothic letters, which read as part of the Magnificat and its west portal, the decoration of the spire of the tower, and its stained glass are among the features which make it one of the finest churches of the Rouen diocese. In the town are also Maison des Templiers from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the building was saved by a society set up for the purpose and houses a small museum of local archaeology and history. A domestic building of this period is a rarity, the former prison from the fourteenth century. Hôtel du Bailli, a town house, hôtel de ville from fround 1800. Musée de la marine de Seine, on the history of river navigation, monument du Latham 47 Fontenelle Abbey, in the nearby village of Saint-Wandrille-Rançon. Its industries include tanning and leather-currying, and there is trade in grain, the port has a small trade in coal, live-stock and farm produce. Caudebec-en-Caux is the site of the death of the character Captain William Bush, in C. S. Foresters novel Lord Hornblower, part of the popular Horatio Hornblower series set during the Napoleonic Wars. Bush, Hornblowers loyal companion for much of the series, was killed due to an explosion in a military operation in the Seine estuary near to the town of Caudebec. Much of the action in They Wouldnt Be Chessmen by A. E. W. Mason takes place in Caudebec, thomas Basin, historian, was born here in 1412. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury was raised here after his father, the 10th Earls mother was the French-born Françoise Soulier, daughter of Georges Soulier. François Duprat, French writer, was killed here, hippolyte Sebron, painter and associate of Louis Daguerre, was born here
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Seine-Maritime
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Seine-Maritime is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, until 1955 it was named Seine-Inférieure. 1815 - Occupation After the victory at Waterloo of the coalition armies,1843 – Railways and industry In Rouen, Elbeuf, and Bolbec, the number of textile factories is increasing. Metallurgy and naval construction as well, world War II Occupied by the Wehrmacht, Seine-Inférieure is the witness of two Allied military raids in 1942, the Bruneval raid and Dieppe raid. The department can be split into three areas, The Seine valley. The Seine flows through the provincial capital Rouen, the northern coastline, including the towns of Dieppe and Le Havre. The Norman Pays de Bray, with its hills and bocage landscape, the département was created in 1790 as Seine-Inférieure, one of five departements that replaced the former province of Normandy. In 1800 five arrondissements were created within the département, namely Rouen, Le Havre, Dieppe, Neufchatel and Yvetot, in 1843 the railway from Paris reached the region. The département is connected to the adjacent Eure department via the Tancarville, madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert is set in Seine Maritime. The first story of long-running series Valérian and Laureline is set in Seine-Maritime, with the character Laureline originating from the area
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Eure
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Eure is a department in the north of France named after the river Eure. Eure is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 and it was created from part of the former province of Normandy. After the allied victory at Waterloo, Eure was occupied by Prussian troops between June 1815 and November 1818, in the wake of Louis-Napoléons December coup of 1851, Eure was one of the departments placed under a state of emergency in order to avert resistance to the post-republican régime. In the event fewer than 100 government opponents in Eure were arrested, Eure is part of the current region of Normandy and is surrounded by the departments of Seine-Maritime, Oise, Val-dOise, Yvelines, Eure-et-Loir, Orne, and Calvados. The department is a wooded plateau intersected by the valleys of the Seine River. The altitude varies from sea level in the north to 248 metres above it in the south, the President of the General Council is Jean-Louis Destans of the Socialist Party. The main tourist attraction is Giverny where Claude Monets house and garden can be seen, the Abbey of Bec and the Château-Gaillard near Les Andelys are other important tourist attractions. The Château of Buisson de May was built by the royal architect Jacques Denis Antoine from 1781 to 1783
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Louviers
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Louviers is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in north-western France. Louviers is 100 km from Paris and 30 km from Rouen, in the area around Louviers, cut stones from the Paleolithic era have been found. Some of these are in the museum, alongside fragments of a mammoth tusk found not far from the cemetery. Other evidence of presence in the area at different periods of prehistory includes the menhir of Basse-Cremonville. Various objects from these periods - weapons, vases, stone, a few elements dating from the period of Ancient Gaul have been found at Louviers, a Celtic grave found in 1863 against the wall of the Église Notre-Dame, and several Gallic coins. A hypothesis of a fortified Gallic village has been formulated, the Louviers of Roman Gaul is, however, better known. It was not, however, unimportant, as judged by the fact that it appeared in neither the Antonine Itinerary nor the Tabula Peutingeriana. Under the Merovingians, Louviers had at least two cemeteries, but it is only from the 9th Century that certain events can be dated. On 10 February 856, King Charles II, father of the future Louis II, promised his son in marriage to a daughter of Erispoe, in return, Erispoe gave to Charles the duchy of Mans. This arrangement greatly displeased the Breton vassals, and was one of the reasons for the plot which followed the death of the Breton king the following year. It is the first time, at the end of the period, in 1026, this donation was confirmed by Richard II, Duke of Normandy. In 1184, the mills of the burnt down, and were rebuilt. In 1195, Richard Lionheart confirmed the charter of his predecessors, in 1196, Philip II of France and Richard Lionheart signed the Trêve de Louviers. In 1197, Richard Lionheart gave Louviers to the archbishop of Rouen, Walter de Coutances, in return for which, Richard received Les Andelys and with it, from this date up to the French Revolution, the archbishops of Rouen were counts of Louviers. Starting from around the beginning of the 13th century, the church of Notre-Dame de Louviers, was built, by 1240, the principal parts were finished, the choir, the nave and the transept surmounted by a lantern tower. The town continued to prosper up to the middle of the 14th century, thanks to its cloth industry, and it is possible that the population exceeded 10,000. Evidence of this includes the construction of a buildings, a bishops manor, houses of wood and of wattle and daub, and stone dwellings for the master drapers. In 1346 and again in 1356, the town was captured and sacked
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Church of Notre-Dame de Louviers
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The Church of Notre-Dame de Louviers is a parish church located in Louviers, a town in the Eure department. It is an example of Gothic church architecture in northern France. The north façade, and, especially the south façade and porch, are some of the best examples of late Flamboyant Gothic architecture in France. The plan of the church today is the result of major construction campaigns that began at the end of the twelfth century. The building features elements from both the High Gothic and Late Gothic periods and it is difficult to know its original form. Documentary sources do not provide a foundation date so scholars have relied on style. Over the course of the thirteenth century construction probably progressed westward after the completion of the eastern chevet. The nave, or central vessel of the church, is seven bays in length and was flanked by one aisle on each side. The elevation of the consists of three stories, nave arcade, triforium, and clerestory. The nave columns appear distantly related to Notre-Dame de Paris but closer prototypes can be found in the hemicycle of Rouen Cathedral, a triple bundle of shafts rest on corbels designed to resemble human heads. The shafts pass a very unusual trilobed triforium which was open to the space between the aisle vaults and aisle roof. The nave vaults spring about two-thirds up the clerestory but were probably lower before the parts of the church were modified during the expansion in the 15th and 16th centuries. The nave was restored between 2006-2013 based on traces of medieval paint, the church of Notre-Dame de Louviers underwent a dramatic expansion project during the Late Middle Ages. An entirely new aisle was added to the north between 1493 and 1496, according to historical documents, the architect was Jehan Gillot. Mr. Gillot worked in the Late Gothic period, and his design for the project shows this. Documentary sources imply that Gillot continued work on the new south nave aisle between 1496-1506 but this has yet to be proven, however, many of the same architectural forms were employed on the south side with the notable omission of the intersecting vault responds. The expansion of the nave necessitated the reworking of the parts of the church, which received a glazed triforium. A great deal of the medieval stained glass has been lost over time, however
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Nantes
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Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River,50 km from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with almost 300,000 inhabitants within its limits. Together with Saint-Nazaire, a located on the Loire estuary. Nantes is the seat of the Loire-Atlantique département and of the Pays de la Loire région. Historically and culturally, Nantes belongs to Brittany, a former duchy, the fact that it is not part of the modern administrative Brittany région is subject to debate. Nantes appeared during the Antiquity as a port on the Loire and it became the seat of a bishopric at the end of the Roman era, before being conquered by the Breton people in 851. Nantes was the residence of the dukes of Brittany in the 15th century. The French Revolution was a period of turmoil resulted in an economic decline. Nantes managed to develop a strong industry after 1850, chiefly in ship building, however, deindustrialisation in the second half of the 20th century pushed the city to reorient its economy towards services. In 2012, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Nantes as a Gamma- world city and it is the fourth highest ranking city in France after Paris, Lyon and Marseilles. The Gamma- category gathers other large cities such as Algiers, Orlando, Porto, Turin, Nantes has often been praised for its quality of life and it was awarded the European Green Capital Award in 2013. The settlement is mentioned in Ptolemys Geography as Κονδηούινϰον and Κονδιούινϰον, during the Gallo-Roman period, this name was latinised and adapted as Condevincum, Condevicnum, Condivicnum, Condivincum, etc. Condevincum seems to be related to the Gaulish word condate meaning confluence, at the end of the Roman period, Condevincum became known as Portus Namnetum and civitas Namnetum. This phenomenon can be observed on most of the ancient cities of France throughout the 4th century, for instance, Lutecia became Paris, city of the Parisii, Darioritum became Vannes, city of the Veneti. Portus Namnetum evolved in Nanetiæ and Namnetis in the 5th century, the name of the Namnetes people could either come from the Gaulish root *nant-, from the pre-Celtic root *nanto or from the other tribe name Amnites, which could mean men of the river. The name Nantes is pronounced and the city inhabitants are called Nantais, in Gallo, the romance dialect traditionally spoken in the region around Nantes, the city is called Naunnt or Nantt, according to the various spelling systems. The Gallo pronunciation is the same as the French one, although northern speakers pronounce it with a long, in Breton language, Nantes is known as Naoned or An Naoned. The latter, meaning the Nantes, is common and reflects the fact that articles are more frequent in Breton toponyms than in French ones
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Loire-Atlantique
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Loire-Atlantique is a department on the west coast of France named after the Loire River and the Atlantic Ocean. Loire-Atlantique is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790, originally, it was named Loire-Inférieure, but its name was changed in 1957 to Loire-Atlantique. The area is part of the historical Duchy of Brittany, and contains what many still consider to be Brittanys capital. However, when the system of French Regions was reviewed by the Vichy Government, whilst these administrative changes were reversed after the war, they were re-implemented in the 1955 boundary changes intended to optimise the management of the regions. There has since been a series of reflecting a strong local mood to have the department reintegrated with Brittany. Loire-Atlantique is part of the current region of Pays-de-la-Loire and is surrounded by the department of Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, Maine-et-Loire, Upper Brittanys indigenous language is Gallo, a romance language related to French. The number of Gallo language speakers has been in decline since the early 20th century. The language is neither official nor taught in primary or secondary education, the Breton language, a Celtic language, native to Lower Brittany, was historically spoken in the western area of Loire-Atlantique, and up to 1920 in Batz-sur-Mer. This area has a rather Breton toponymy, for instance, Guérande originates from the Breton Gwenn Rann, the folklore and musical traditions of eastern or Lower Brittany are generally similar to those of western or Upper Brittany. The département operates the Lila network of buses, which link its villages, towns. The urban areas of Nantes and Saint-Nazaire operate their own urban transport networks, by rail, the regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire link major towns and cities of the Pays de la Loire and adjoining regions, including those of the département. Nantes is on the TGV network, with high speed trains running to Paris by the LGV Atlantique in just over 2 hours, Nantes Atlantique Airport, located 8 km to the southwest of the city of Nantes, serves the département and surrounding areas. It is the biggest airport in northwestern France, linking with several French, North African and European cities and it is currently planned that this airport will be replaced by a new Aéroport du Grand Ouest, situated 30 km to the north-west of Nantes in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. The €580 million project was approved in February 2008, with construction expected to start in 2012 and an opening date in 2015
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Nantes Cathedral
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Nantes Cathedral, or the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul of Nantes, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France. It is in the Gothic architectural style, the construction of the cathedral began in 1434, on the site of a Romanesque cathedral, and took 457 years to finish, finally reaching completion in 1891. The cathedrals foundation stone was laid on 14 April 1434, by John V, Duke of Brittany and Jean de Malestroit, the first architect in charge was Guillaume de Dammartin who was later replaced by Mathurin Rodier. The construction began with the west façade, the aisles of the nave, leniaud et al. divide the building process in five phases. The first phase took place between c.1434 and c, in this period the west façade and the tower bay were built, as were the south aisle of the nave with its chapels, and the south arcade pillars. The bases of those pillars resemble the ones of the choir of Mont-Saint-Michel, the arms of Duke John, who died in 1442, were placed in the staircase to the balcony, above the ducal portal, on the south side of the southern tower bay. The vaults in the belfry of that tower were decorated with the arms of Bishop Guillaume de Malestroit, the triforium of the tower bay was constructed in an earlier and different style than the one of the nave proper. Bronze decoration of the central portals doors was undertaken in 1482, the second phase took place from c.1470 to c. During this time the nave, the aisle and its chapels were built. They were completed by 1485 or slightly later, the west wall of the north transept and the north-west crossing pier, perhaps up to capital height, were also constructed in this period. In the third phase, c. 1500–1516, the glass in the great west window was installed, in 1500 took place the vaulting of the first bay of the nave. The financial support came from Bishop Guillaume Guegen and the architect was Jacques Drouet, the last phase is the post-medieval one. It spanned from c.1626 to 1630 and led to the completion of the nave high vaulting, the south transept was completed sometime between 1631 and 1637 or perhaps later, in a sympathetic Gothic style. Louis Le Vau recommended to the Chapter at Nantes, in about 1650, the rest of the north transept and the choir, under the direction of St. Felix Seheult, were finished between 1840 and 1891, at a time of keen revival of the Catholic faith. The edifice was damaged by Allied bombing during World War II, on 28 January 1972, a gigantic fire started on the roof. Firemen managed to bring it under control, but the frame was severely damaged. This event led to what was undoubtedly the most complete interior restoration of a cathedral in France, the elevation and the regularity of the plan of the cathedral are French. The plain façade is largely compensated for by the polish of the interior of the building
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Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
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Saint-Jacques Tower
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Saint-Jacques Tower is a monument located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France, on Rue de Rivoli at Rue Nicolas Flamel. What remains of the church of St. Jacques La Boucherie is now considered a national historic landmark. The closest métro station is Châtelet, the towers rich decoration reflects the wealth of its patrons, the wholesale butchers of the nearby Les Halles market. The masons in charge were Jean de Felin, Julien Ménart and it was built in 1509 to 1523, during the reign of King Francis I. The church, with the exception of the tower, was demolished in 1793, in 1824 it was being used as a shot tower to make small shot. It was repurchased by the City of Paris in 1836 and declared a Monument Historique in 1862, a statue of the saint was installed on the top of the tower during the 19th century. During the Second Empire, the architect Théodore Ballu restored the tower, placing it on a pedestal and designing a small city park around it. This coincided with the construction of the rue de Rivoli and the avenue Victoria nearby, a meteorological laboratory is also installed at the top of the tower. The tower inspired Alexandre Dumas to write the play La tour Saint-Jacques-de-la-boucherie in 1856, Nicolas Flamel, a patron of the church, was buried under its floor. The tower was surrounded by scaffolding and obscured by sheeting for some years as surveyors investigated the condition of the stone, recent findings show that most of the stone and its ornamentation originates from the late-medieval era of the towers construction, and was not added by the 19th-century restorers. Unfortunately, the survey also indicates serious cracking, the top three quarters of sheeting was taken down in March 2008, revealing a renovated upper section of the tower. From October 2008 to February 2009, the scaffolds and sheeting were completely removed, finally, on the 18 April 2009, the park was re-opened to the public. Fontaine du Palmier Place du Chatelet
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