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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 829357" data-attributes="member: 53455">The abbey of Saint-Pierre de Champagne (2023)Dedicated to Saint Peter, the abbey church of Champagne is not located, as one would think, in the bubbly-producing hills of northeastern France, but much further south, on the banks of River Rhône, between Lyon and Valence, in the old province of Vivarais.Stylistically, this large church, standing right next to the busy and noisy thoroughfare that Highway 86 is today, is very homogeneous and was built around 1150, replacing an older, 11th century church of which two capitals have been re-used in the nave. Numerous sculpted fragments from the previous church were also gathered as demolition progressed and reinserted haphazardly in the new one. But built by whom exactly, and for what exact purpose? That is much more mysterious.From the scant written evidence that has come to us, we can surmise that it was originally built by the Albon family of powerful local lords, probably for regular canons of one or the other obedience. In 1275, it had become a priory of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Chef. In 1172, the canons of the chapter of the Saint Maurice Cathedral in Vienne had given a number of churches to the abbey of Saint-Chef, but the charter doesn’t specify which ones. If we are right in thinking that the Champagne church was originally owned by canons, it is possible that those canons were the ones from the Vienne chapter, and if so, the Champagne church may have been among those turned over to the abbey in 1172. Furthermore, it has been noted (in particular in my Zodiaque collection reference book, Vivarais et Gévaudan romans, by Robert Saint-Jean) that the Champagne church offers many similarities with the abbey church of Saint-Chef, in a more accomplished version, as the former came half a century after the latter.The link between Saint-Chef and Champagne, however, did not last. Because of deep and enduring management problems at Saint-Chef where the monks could not elect a new abbot, the archbishop of Vienne was first appointed as abbot ad perpetuitam by a papal Bull of John XXII in 1320. A second Bull, in 1328, took away from the abbey the Saint Peter Priory, under the pretext that its income was not sufficient to support the prior and his monks. The church then became a simple parish church. However, let’s not forget that, at the time, the Rhône River was the border between the kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire: the archbishop of Vienne had his seat on the left bank, on the Empire side, while the Saint Peter Priory was on the right bank, on the kingdom side; the archbishop may have wanted to be able to take refuge in France in the event things went sour on the Empire side... which would explain why the priory compound was indeed fortified at the same time!Seriously damaged during the Wars of Religion in the 1560s, the church undertook important repairs during the early 1600s: it is then the the three cupolas on squinches roofing the nave were put in place in lieu of the previous Romanesque barrel vault. The church, much too big for such a small village, continued to degrade over the decades. By 1750, the upper floors of the tower-porch that framed the western entrance were in ruin, and one century later, what was left of that tower-porch was razed to allow for the enlargement of what was then the royal road number 86. This veritable act of vandalism prompted the authorities to protect the monument in 1854 by listing it as a Historic Landmark.A systematic restoration took place between 1888 and 1894, during which (it is a rare enough occurrence to be duly noted and lauded!) all the add-ons erected after the end of the Romanesque period were eliminated. The original church was saved. In 1968, three regular Augustinian canons from a Swiss convent came and settled in Champagne, reviving the Saint Victor offshoot of the Augustinians which had been dead since the French Revolution. They proved extremely successful and in 1976, Pope Paul VI elevated the priory to abbey status. Today, the church is both canonical and parochial.However, the very exceptional characteristic of this abbey is that, because the original monastery buildings had been destroyed after the French Revolution and replaced by ordinary village houses, the Augustinians had to build anew where there was space available, i.e., a couple hundred meters away from the church...! Thus, there is no proper enclosure, the canons live in the middle of the village, and walk across it to go attend to their duties. This is much too in sæculum for my taste, and not a proper way to practice the life of a so-called “regular” canon. I understand the appeal that the church may have had, but my opinion is that, owing to the present-day configuration of the village, it should have been deemed unsuitable. Likewise, the liturgy of this congregation does not truly meet with my approval, the same way “reality TV” doesn’t: a floor-heated church, cleverly designed lighting everywhere, a discreet and elaborate sound system... quite a bit too Hollywoodian for me. But obviously, just like reality TV, it does have its appeal.The photo below shows the whole length of the nave, seen from the part of the tribune that runs along the inner façade of the church. On each side, you can see the openings that give some light into the nave, and in front a similar twin-arched opening in the diaphragm arch shows a glimpse of the wall above the triumphal arch, if you look carefully.Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light, single exposure.[ATTACH=full]415579[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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