Saint-Denis-en-France, Saint-Denis
capitals in each phase
Building Data for Saint-Denis-en-France, Saint-Denis
- Type: Abbey
- Affiliation: Benedictine
- Region: Ile-de-France
- Department: Seine-St-Denis
- Coords: 48.935, 2.3598
- Surveyed: 1969, 1977, 1980-83, 1992-98, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2015, 2017
Capitals for Saint-Denis-en-France, Saint-Denis
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The building sequence is based on my on-site analysis of the construction history,
using the techniques developed on the cathedral of Chartres called toichology, and described in a number of publications.
The analysis of some of the smaller churches are more approximate than I would like, and need further analysis.
I have used 'phase' rather than 'campaign' to to identify a contiguous zone with similar elements.
A campaign would be defined by recognisable breaks and construction joints in the fabric: there may be a number of phases within a campaign.
One benefit is that separate programs by subcontractors, such as carvers, may be isolated, which is particularly useful in complex sections, such as portals.
Every phase has been assigned to a decade, so there may be more than one phase in a decade.
While this is certainly imperfect, it will allow us to explore all the data, including costs, across time.
This is an on-going process, so as the data continues to be analyzed, the chronology and costing analysis will be further refined, and the synopsis updated.
Clicking on any of the decade graphics will display all buildings that had work being done during that decade.
The building sequence is based on my on-site analysis of the construction history, using the techniques developed on the cathedral of Chartres called toichology, and described in a number of publications. The analysis of some of the smaller churches are more approximate than I would like, and need further analysis.
I have used 'phase' rather than 'campaign' to to identify a contiguous zone with similar elements. A campaign would be defined by recognisable breaks and construction joints in the fabric: there may be a number of phases within a campaign. One benefit is that separate programs by subcontractors, such as carvers, may be isolated, which is particularly useful in complex sections, such as portals.
Every phase has been assigned to a decade, so there may be more than one phase in a decade.
While this is certainly imperfect, it will allow us to explore all the data, including costs, across time. This is an on-going process, so as the data continues to be analyzed, the chronology and costing analysis will be further refined, and the synopsis updated.
Clicking on any of the decade graphics will display all buildings that had work being done during that decade.
Phase 2 - 1120s [1125] - narthex (b)
Narthex foundations dug through soil and chalk to an uncertain depth, though photographs show some 9 courses of ashlar. The original bases were six courses lower than where they are today, as the floor was raised in 1806. The bases have concave facets around the roll: an extremely rare detail, found elsewhere only in the earliest parts of the north tower at Chartres and the castle at Etampes. The lower façade was built from regular beds of masonry measuring almost exactly the Roman foot of 295mm When examined over its entire height of 99 courses and one considers the pauses required while the mortar in the multitude of arches set, the rate of construction would have been about 8 courses per year, which was about average at that time.
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Rationale for dating : Dating analysed in AVISTA "Boundaries" article 23-28; for convenience dating is arranged in annual increments with an average construction rate of six to seven courses a year: analysed in "The Ark" 5:1173-; these dates have formed the foundation for the works of many carvers.
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Phase 3 - 1120s [1129] - w portal 1
West portals stage 1 with bases that were intended to be above head height. From discrepancies in the junctions between the jamb friezes and the decorated shafts (now in the Cluny Museum) the toichological evidence suggests these panels were carved over two (or three) campaigns during this and the previous years, during which time the height of the side panels was raised and, at a later moment, the central lintels lowered. The evidence lies in the decoration around the upper panels and the jamb figures, in the widths of the stones and their frames and in the necessary pauses while the upper stones were placed. One indication is the curtailed canopies over the upper jamb figures that would have been carved in an earlier campaign. Each vertical group of stones is illustrated separately as each group seems to have been the work of a different carver. These are more easily distinguished in the left portal than the centre or the right. For illustrated pdf go to blue navigation bar Explore Carvers/Articles/CARVED PORTALS/Anomalies ....pdf.
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Rationale for dating : Portal stages discussed in MCS #08:16-23 and #29. and in Articles in the Portals section. Phases are not the same as campaigns; a phase represents a section of work with details and capitals distinct from the adjoining, whereas a campaign is a period of construction under the control of one master separated by coursing breaks and observable changes in profiles.
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Phase 4 - 1130s [1130] - w portal 2
There are thin shafts flanking the jamb sculpture and the figures, entirely replaced. The remains are scattered, mostly in the in the Musée de Cluny. We do not know which locations they had. In those that flank the doorways it looks like additional ashlar was inserted to make for changes in heights.
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Rationale for dating : 1128/30 ex imposts discussed in #29:22-
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Phase 5 - 1130s [1130] - w portal 3
west portals stage 3 central capitals and imposts and start of erection of lateral archivolts; the intended height of the central portal was considerably reduced on erection as can be seen in the curtailed canopies over the upper jamb figures that had been carved earlier, as well as the adjacent right capital.
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Phase 7 - 1130s [1131] - narthex aisle (a-)
lower capitals for aisle ribs, large single stones, placed at the same time as the erection of the lateral archivolts and their encasing buttresses.
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Phase 8 - 1130s [1132] - narthex aisle (a)
upper aisle capitals to support doubleau and arcade arches with up to four layers of voussoirs.
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Phase 11 - 1130s [1132] - narthex raised vault
additional capitals on east side of central piers to raise the vault spring on this side only, on the opposite side springing remains at lower level; this may have been during the pause while the masons were waiting for the mortar of the vaults to harden; during this period they may have been able to continue with the arch structure of the central vaults, but little would have happened along the encasing walls.
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Phase 14 - 1130s [1135] - narthex side openings
capitals and arches over the openings on each side of the central space about the same time as the sills to the tower windows.
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Phase 15 - 1130s [1135] - west exterior
west exterior window head with frieze and completion of the upper vault in north bays ready to receive the chapel; there would have been a pause while the mortar in the cells set and during this time they may have continued to work on the towers, the vaults underneath having properly set by this time.
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Phase 19 - 1130s [1139] - west towers (w)
Chapel vaults, plastered and painted ready for the consecration; maybe a little later the tower vaults and window heads, and completion of western rose.
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Phase 20 - 1140s [1140] - choir (b)
choir foundations and bases, possibly begun earlier, with evidence for at least two, if not three, crews in the different layouts for the buttresses in the lowest courses.
Rationale for dating : Analysed in "The Ark" 5:1275; the dating of the choir is not based on the oft-repeated assumption that Suger completed this project to the main roof, an assumption that ignores Suger's actual words and had been questioned by Crosby himself, but is based on a similar construction rate to the narthex; the evidence is set out in my article in Avista, 1998.
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Phase 24 - 1140s [1142] - choir drums (a)
Choir intermediate piers; capitals carved by a separate crew to the previous.
Rationale for dating : Analysed in "The Ark" 5:1275
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Phase 25 - 1140s [1143] - choir windows
Chapel window arches and external capitals.
Rationale for dating : Analysed in "The Ark" 5:1281
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