Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne - Dijon, France - Cathedrals on Waymarking.com

[FR] La première église, construite sur la sépulture du saint, date de 535. Le monastère est créé en 871. Lorsqu'il constate, un peu plus d'un siècle plus tard, le délabrement de l'église, l'abbé de Cluny Maïeul décide de confier la reconstruction des bâtiments à Guillaume de Volpiano. Les travaux sont entamés en 1001. L'église de 100 m de long est alors la plus grande du monde chrétien.

Le monastère prospère jusqu'à son passage sous le régime de la commende, au début du XVIe siècle. Les bénédictins de l'ordre de Saint Maur relèvent le monastère au XVIIe siècle mais la Révolution vide l'église de ses richesses, même si elle en épargne les murs. Tout au long du XIXe, les bâtiments monastiques disparaissent pour laisser place à de nouvelles constructions.

La façade de Saint-Bénigne est très austère. Le porche est surmonté d'une galerie appelée galerie du Gloria (le prêtre y bénit les rameaux). Au second niveau, on trouve une baie à trois lancettes surmontées d'une rose. Au-dessus une seconde galerie lie les deux tours qui flanquent l'ensemble. Elle est coiffée d'un petit pignon. Les deux tours, hexagonales, sont agrémentées de tourelles. Malgré ses ornements, c'est le caractère massif de la façade qui l'emporte.

Sous le porche, on trouve un portail refait entre 1818 et 1822 : le tympan représente Jésus chassant les marchands du temple et un bas-relief relate la lapidation de Saint-Etienne. On ne peut que regretter la disparition du portail roman.

Le chevet de Saint-Bénigne a plus de charme que sa façade, même si sa construction peut sembler maladroite. En effet, les contreforts remplacent bien souvent des arc-boutants plus élégants, par manque de place. Cependant, la flèche de 100 mètres de haut (XIXe) et le toit multicolore (toit bourguignon) allègent l'ensemble.

[EN] The present Gothic cathedral was built between 1280 and 1325, and was dedicated on 9 April 1393.

The first church here was a basilica built over the sarcophagus of Saint Benignus, which was placed in a crypt constructed for it by Saint Gregory of Langres in 511; the basilica over the crypt was completed in 535. This building became the centre of a monastic community. In 871 Isaac, Bishop of Langres, re-founded it as a Benedictine abbey, and restored the basilica at the same time.

In 989 Bruno, Bishop of Langres, requested Mayeul, Abbot of Cluny, to send monks to re-settle the abbey, grown decadent, as a Cluniac house. In 990 William of Volpiano was appointed the new abbot. By 1002 the ruin of the previous building had been completely razed and construction began on a new Romanesque structure designed by William, consisting of a subterranean church round the sarcophagus of Benignus, a ground floor church for worship, and a rotunda, 17 metres in diameter, on three levels in the place of the apse, linking the two. Dedicated in 1017, this suite of buildings was decorated in the ornate Cluniac style, of which only a few traces survive.

In 1137 a fire destroyed most of the town of Dijon and damaged the monastery and its church. The repaired building was consecrated by Pope Eugene III in 1147.

In 1272 the crossing tower collapsed, destroying the whole of the upper church and severely damaging the subterranean one, and smashing some of the supporting columns of the rotunda. Then the abbot, Hugh of Arc, of a powerful Burgundian family, was able thanks to his contacts to mobilise enough support to begin the construction of a new Gothic abbey church in 1281. Progress was at first rapid, and at Hugh's death in 1300 the building was close to completion. Progress slowed, however, and the work was not finished until 1325. The new church, unlike its Cluniac predecessor, is noted for its plainness and severity.

The abbey was secularised during the French Revolution, but the church was made, firstly, a parish church, and then in 1792 the cathedral of the Diocese of Dijon. The rotunda was however destroyed at that time; all that remains is the lowest storey, which was excavated in the 19th century and has since been reworked as a crypt.

[English text from wikipedia, French from architecture.relig.free.fr]

Address: 3-5 Place Saint Bénigne 21000 Dijon France Religious affiliation: Roman Catholic Date founded or constructed: 1393/04/09 Web site: [Web Link]

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