Notre Dame du Port
Notre Dame du Port was built in the middle of the thirteenth century. It was an important district church because it was the parish church. It was at the entry of the town of Clermont-Ferrand.
Etymology: it comes from the Latin word « Portus » which means warehouse.
In the yard of Notre Dame du Port, there used to be a churchyard. Behind the church, there was a little monastery. The Romanesque architecture is typical. Outside the church, there is a tympanum above the door, which illustrates a scene from the Bible for illiterate people. On one side, there are three horses, three men and then, the virgin with her son Jesus Christ. On the other side there is an angel. We can see an inscription that describes the sculpture.
Inside, the church is composed of:
- a nave bordered by an aisle (North/South)
- lots of columns surrounding the choir and the ambulatory
- a very heavy barrel vault supported by little windows
- a gallery floor composed of half barrel vaults which buttress the central vault.
The color of the church is yellow, and it isn’t by chance: before the renovation, they found a lot of stones which had this color.
Around the ambulatory there are some capitals which represent famous scenes of the Bible:
- On one of them, there are two warriors. On the left, a woman who represents charity, and on the right, a man who represents avarice. « Charity and Avarice » is a book written in the fifth century. So, charity and avarice fight each other. Between their feet, there is a container where the avaricious warrior will put his money.
On the other side of the capital, is the end of the fight. The head of the avaricious warrior is on the floor.
This capital was sculpted by Robertus.
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On another capital, we can see Adam and Eve with the snake.
There is a painting which represents the Annunciation. It has always been in this church and it was painted by Philippe de Champaigne who was a Jansenist.
The other two scenes were painted in the eighteenth century.
Vocabulary:
church : une église
parish church : une église paroissiale
warehouse : un entrepôt
churchyard : un cimetière
nave : une nef
aisle : un bas-côté
choir : un choeur
ambulatory : un déambulatoire
heavy barrel vault : une lourde voûte en berceau
to buttress : contreforter
capital : un chapiteau
warrior : un guerrier
Valentine de La Rozière, Laurie Miramont, Widad Trraf et Laëtitia Verstraete
Lycée Blaise Pascal - Anglais - Année 2008/2009