Parcours cistercien du nord de La Saône-et-Loire

‘All of them, even the most modest, are built according to the Bernardine plan with a flat chevet. The chapels, which also have flat apses, are situated in the transept arms. They are simple, unadorned buildings with small windows and flat walls. One of their key features remains the solidity of the walls, and there is a clear rejection of passing fashions. For this generation of churches, built from 1200 onwards, they were constructed by the same architects who designed the great abbey churches. There is a difference in level between the chancel and the nave. The windows are small and set in courses as in the 12th century, with a single rounded stone lintel. ‘The preference for solid masonry endures; the capitals are very simple and date back to around 1200, and so on…’ said Eliane Vergnolle, describing the Cistercian Gothic influence on 13th-century parish churches in Franche-Comté.

Martine PETRINI-POLI will talk to you about the Cistercians and these churches in Saône-et-Loire, rural churches with Cistercian-influenced architecture, which are often churches from the former archdeaconry of Beaune, of which Saint-Gervais-sur-Couches was a part; Saint-Loup-de-la-Salle, Chaudenay, Demigny, Fontaines, or churches from the former diocese of Chalon-sur-Saône (the abbeys of La Ferté and Maizières).

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