Saint-Saturnin Church of Cusset
| Saint-Saturnin Church | |
|---|---|
Église Saint-Saturnin de Cusset | |
 Saint-Saturnin in 2014 | |
 | |
| 46°7′55″N 3°27′26″E / 46.13194°N 3.45722°E | |
| Location | Cusset, Allier, France |
| Address | 1 Pl. Radoult de Lafosse, 03300 Cusset, France |
| Country | France |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Jean-Baptiste Lassus and later Hugues Batilliat |
| Years built | 1857-1867 |
The Church of Saint Saturnin in Cusset is a church located in the town center of Cusset in the south-east of the Allier department. It was built between 1857 and 1867 in an early Gothic style, and still functions as the city's main religious building today.
History
A Romanesque church dedicated to Saint Saturnin was built at the end of the 11th century on this location, the heart of the royal city that was then Cusset.[1] It was remodeled in the Gothic period. The city municipality decided in 1857 to have it demolished because it was considered too dilapidated and too cramped to maintain,[2] opting for a new church to be built instead. The construction of a new church building was entrusted to Jean-Baptiste Lassus, a renowned Parisian architect and specialist in Middle Ages architecture[2] from whom he had already taken inspiration for the construction of other churches: The Basilica of Saint Nicolas in Nantes, The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Moulins, the church of Saint-Pierre in Dijon, etc. For the Cusset church, he was inspired by the Gothic style of the early 13th century.[2] Shortly after Jean-Baptiste Lassus arrived in the area in 1857, he died at the age of fifty. The architect Hugues Batilliat from the neighboring town of Vichy took up his plans a few years later in 1861, and the church was completed in 1867.[2][1]
Napoleon III, who frequented the nearby spa resort of Vichy and visited Cusset in 1861 or 1862, financed the construction of the bell tower.[3]
The church's first mass was celebrated on August 15, 1867 and was consecrated the following year on May 16, 1868, by Monseigneur de Dreux-Brézé, the bishop of the diocese of Moulins.[1]
The building was decreed a historic monument on February 26, 2013, the protection covering the entire church including its altars, pulpit, and all other fixed elements.[2][4]
The building is listed as a historical monument by decree of February 26, 2013, the protection covering the entire church including the altars, the pulpit and all the other fixed elements.[2]
Description
The church is built on a basilical plan[4] out of limestone from quarries in the region, with a square, spire-topped bell tower attached to the west transept.[2] The six-bay nave is lined with two side aisles and faces north, with a non-protruding transept, a choir loft, and chapels.[2] This unusual orientation is due to the urban density in Cusset at the time of the church's construction.[4]
Inside the church, the high ribbed vaults of the nave fall on massive circular columns with capitals.[2] The decor consists of capitals individually sculpted with unique decorations, corbels of falling arches inspired by the sketches of Villard de Honnecourt, a master of medieval architecture in the thirteenth century, and the tympanums of the exterior and interior doors, by sculptures of Saint Saturnin blessing a bell and King David playing the harp.[2] Natural lighting is provided by oculi with rosette tracery pierced in the heights of the nave and pointed arch bays pierced in the side aisle walls.[2]
The stained glass windows are the work of the Auvergne master glassmaker Émile Thibaud with great diversity in the iconography.[2] The furniture– pulpit, confessionals, gallery staircase, sacristy furniture– is mainly composed of neo-Gothic style elements in polished wood.[2]
Gallery
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Place Victor-Hugo, the central and historic square of Cusset and the Saint-Saturnin Church -
The square and main entrance to the church, place Radoult-de-Lafosse -
The bell tower -
The church nave
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References
- ^ a b c "Saint Saturnin Church". City of Cusset. 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "POP: la Plateforme Ouverte du Patrimoine". Ministère Français de la Culture. Archived from the original on 29 November 1998. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ "Eglise Saint-Saturnin de Cusset". Allier Auvergne Tourisme. Retrieved 18 January 2024..
- ^ a b c "Saint-Saturnin Church: A conference and a concert to celebrate 150 years". La Montagne. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
