From, Beautiful Buildings in France & Belgium, Including many which have been destroyed during the war. Reproductions in Colour and Monochrome from rare old Prints and Drawings, by and after Prout, Boys, Coney, W. Callow, David Roberts, C. Wild and others, with descriptive notes, by C. Harrison Townsend, F.R.I.B.A.; New York: The Hubbell Publishing Co., 1916; pp. 50-53.
BEAUVAIS : TRANSEPT OF CATHEDRAL
(G. Simonau)
OMMENCED five years later than that at Amiens (see page 22) — that is, in 1225 — the Cathedral of St. Pierre at Beauvais is noteworthy for a general similarity of style to that of its neighbour, with which it was the intention of its builders that it should compete. But in their rivalry they seem to have set themselves a task beyond their powers. True, that of their mighty scheme they only put in hand the transepts and choir of a church “gigantic to the verge of temerity,” but the construction of even this portion was so far in excess of their skill that in 1284 its roof collapsed and led to its rebuilding. An ingenious strengthening of the pier arcade by additional columns and arches emboldened the builders to carry the clerestory to the height of 150
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feet, while the choir alone is 120 feet long, and its windows no less than 55 feet in height. “There are few rocks, even amongst the Alps,” says Ruskin in his “Seven Lamps of Architecture,” “that have a clear vertical fall as high as the choir of Beauvais.”
Simonau’s drawing shows us the South portal, which, it has been truly said, can of itself compare in size and magnificence with the façades of many other Cathedrals. Its wooden doors by Jean le Pot are masterpieces of that great carver’s work.
The fall in 1573 of the openwork spire, which rose above the crossing and reached the extraordinary height of 500 feet, seems to have been taken as a warning against too-ambitious projects of building, and since then little addition has been made.
The nave of the church, known as the “Basse Œuvre,” is that of the older Cathedral, erected at the end of the Xth century, and is of simple and severe design, almost Roman in its character.
Copyright © 2007 by Elfinspell