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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture From: Dr Jim Bugslag <[log in to unmask]> > Certainly one of the reasons that the church receives few visitors these days is because it is not open to the public and is not likely to be until it undergoes a major restoration. well, every time i went down there (it's at the bottom of a gentle grade, eventually going down to the Eure) in the '80s it was open but i always had the place all to myself. still, locking it up *could* cut down on the number of visitors, i suppose, in a theoretical sort of way. >The choir capitals are not "drastically restored" but, in fact, modern copies. drastic enough. >The originals, I believe, are in the Musee des Beaux-Arts at Chartres. i didn't know that, and have never seen them. amazing that they weren't just "spaced out" (what's the French for that very useful term for describing what happens to stuff like that?). in any event, though clearly 19th c. work, the form of the carving is a precious --and rare-- indication of what was going on, sculpture-wise-- in the region in the early/mid 11th c. it was rather distinct from what we see along the Loire --either at Tours or at, say, Fleury, at about the same time. certainly worth looking into. as far as i know, no one has really done that. though my thoroughly exhausting and metastatic Bibliography has these items: Barral i Altet, Xavier. “La crypte de Saint-Martin-au-Val à Chartres: Remarques sur le travail et la culture d’un groupe de sculpteurs du XIe siècle,” in Media in Francia. Recueil de mélanges offerts à Karl Ferdinand Werner à l’occasion de son 65e anniversaire (Maulévrier: Hérault, 1989), pp. nnn-nnn. which i've not seen, and: Lecocq, Adolph. “Notices historiques sur l’église et la crypte de Saint-Martin-au-Val,” MSAEL, I, 1858, pp. 289-304. [apparently in response to planned restorations: un monument d’une bien grande antiquité et d’une époque très-intéressant à étudier. Espérons que la restauration que va subir ce vénérable édifice ne lui enlèvera pas son genre spécial d’intérêt par de fâcheuses modifications. Formons des vœux pour qu’on ne vienne pas ici, comme en tant d’autres anciens monuments, tout changer et tout rajeunir. Sous le spécieux prétexte d’améliorations nécessaires, il serait à craindre qu’on enlevât à cette église les traces si curieuses de son antiquité. Son mérite ne consiste pas en effet seulement dans l’ancienneté de l’acte de naissance qu’il nous présente, mais aussi dans les preuves qu’il eu fournit encore au moment présent, et qui peuvent le faire considérer comme l’un des spécimens les plus précieux de l’état des arts dans notre pays, à une époque reculée: les monuments du Xe siècle étant fort rares, ou du moins très-peu connus.] c ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html