Val-de-Grâce (church)

The Church of the Val-de-Grâce is a Roman Catholic church in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The church was originally proposed as part of a royal abbey by Anne of Austria, the Queen of France, to celebrate the birth of her son, Louis XIV in 1638. It was begun in 1645 by the architect François Mansart, and completed in 1665 by Gabriel Le Duc. The abbey and church were turned into a hospital during the French Revolution. and then became part of the Val-de-Grâce Hospital, which was closed in 1979. The church is attached to the diocese of the French military, and is open to visitors at certain hours. Its dome is a landmark in the skyline of Paris.

History

The site of the church, to the south of the center of Paris, was a royal property since the 13th century. At the beginning of the 16th century it was purchased by the Connetable of Bourbon, who built a small chateau there, which took the name Hotel de Petit-Bourbon. In 1621 Queen Anne of Austria, nineteen years old, who had been married to King Louis XIII at age 13, purchased the estate and the chateau, with the intention of finding a sanctuary away from the noise and intrigues of the royal residence in the Louvre Palace. She transformed the Petit-Bourbon into a convent for a community of Benedictine sisters from the Abbey of Val-Profonde, and in 1634 she began construction of a much larger new church and abbey on the site given by the crown..

The project advanced slowly, because Anne had fallen from the favour of King Louis XIII, largely because she had not given him an heir. She maintained a secret correspondence with her family in Spain, and with the royal court of England and the House of Lorraine. She and her intrigues were soon discovered by the prime minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Her correspondence was monitored, and the King for a time forbade Anne to visit the abbey, But in 1638, Anne, at the age of thirty-seven, after twenty-two years of marriage, became pregnant with Louis' heir, the future Louis XIV of France, and with his birth everything changed for the Queen. .

Cardinal Richelieu died in 1642, and Louis XIII died a few months later. in 1643, Anne became Queen-Regent to her four-year-old son, now Louis XIV. In gratitude for his birth, Anne pressed forward with the construction of an entirely rebuilt church and monastery, "to spare no expense and to leave an eternal mark of her piety." The first stone was formally laid in 1645 by the infant Louis XIV. Anne engaged François Mansart as the project's architect, but Mansart departed after only a year in disagreement over the scope and cost of the project. Mansard's place was taken by Jacques Lemercier, then Pierre Le Muet. The church was finally finished in 1665 by Gabriel Le Duc. Le Duc was responsible for building the dome and cupola, the buildings around the Paris, and the baldaquin in the interior...

After the birth of her first grandchild, Anne retired to the convent of Val-de-Grâce, where she died five years later in 1666.

During the French Revolution in 1793 the Benedictines were expelled from the abbey, and the National Convention ordered the conversion of the abbey into a military hospital. The royal symbols were effaced, but the abbey was spared the fate of several nearby convents, such as those of the Ursulines and the Feuillantines, which were demolished. When the abbey was disestablished in 1790 the furniture was removed along with the organ. The baldachino was preserved, but the high altar was moved to the care of the Petis-Augustins, and the small figures of the baldachino's nativity crèche were installed at the Church of Saint-Roch.

The church was restored in 1818-19 and in 1827. Control of the church was returned to the Catholic Diocese..The high altar was rebuilt at the order of Napoleon III by Victor Ruprich-Robert. The priest at Saint-Roch declined to return the original Anguier crèche, so a duplicate was created, using three sculptors: Clement Denis sculpted the infant Jesus, Justin-Marie the Virgin, and Joseph was sculpted by Louis Desprez.

In 1979 the hospital was moved to a new facility, built on the former kitchen garden of the Benedictines. Today, besides the church, the old Abbey complex contains the museum and library of the Army Health Service, the school of the Val-de-Grâce, and hospital staff offices.

File:Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, and their son Louis XIV, flanked by Cardinal Richelieu and the Duchesse de Chevreuse.jpg, Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, and their son Louis XIV; the church commemorates his birth.
File:Perelle - La Veuë du Monastere Royal du Val de Grace, du Côté du Jardin.jpg, The monastery and church in the 1660s

Exterior

The design of the church was inspired by two Roman churches, Saint Peter's Basilica and the Church of the Gesù (1584).The plan of the church is a Latin cross crowned by a dome. The church is attached to the other buildings of the old abbey, but is distinguished from them by the height of the facade and its imposing dome. The two-story facade, with its double stages of twin columns supporting a pediment and flanking consoles, recalls church elevations from the first part of the 17th century, such as the Église des Feuillants, also designed by Mansart in 1623-24. More clear and sober than the Mannerists, Mansart's facade squares his façade with linked vertical lines using the columns and entablatures.

The facade of the new church also took inspiration from the "Jesuit style" or Baroque architecture, from the Church of the Gesù in Rome (1584). That church inspired Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis (1627-1641), the first church in Paris to break away from the Gothic style.

The portico of the church is supported by Corinthian columns, and the pediment of the church is decorated with the monograms AL (Anne of Austria and Louis XIII) and the Royal coat of arms. The architrave carries the inscription "Jesu. Nascenti, Virginique Matri" ("To Jesus new-born, and the Virgin Mother"), a reminder that the birth of Christ was long awaited, like the birth of Louis XIV. The upper level is supported by curving buttresses of stone and classical Corinthian columns.

The semi-circular place in front of the church was inspired by the first plan of Mansard for the church, which featured an obelisk. Ornate iron grills separate the church and place from the street and end in stone pavilions, while and two stone walls separate the courtyard from the other portions of the convent.

The convent was constructed with two wings. To the left of the church was a building containing the residence of the nuns, as well as apartments of women connected with the royal family; the three nieces of Cardinal Mazarin; Queen Christine of Sweden; Henriette of France, Queen of England; the Queen of Poland, and others. It also included the very modest apartment of the Queen herself. The exterior is decorated with the initials AL, for Anne and Louis.

File:P1010452 Paris V Val de Grâce reductwk.JPG, Facade and courtyard
File:Église du Val-de-Grâce - Paris - View from Rue Saint-Jacques.jpg, Facade and courtyard
File:Val de grace church facade.jpg, Upper Church facade
File:Exterior of Église du Val-de-Grâce 014.JPG, Portal, with the AL of Anne and Louis on the pediment

The Dome and Campanile

The dome was the work of the royal architect Jacques Lemercier, who took over the project after Mansart refused to carry out major modifications to his own design, Lemercier had designed the Pavillon de l'Horloge at the Louvre Palace, as well as the residence of Cardinal Richelieu at the Palais Royal. He had also designed the Saint-Sacrament chapel's spiral-coffered dome after Philibert de L'Orme's chapel at the Château d'Anet.

The dome is forty meters high, and was the tallest dome in Paris when it was built, but was soon passed in height by the domes of the Pantheon, Paris (60 meters) and the Les Invalides (107 meters). which it had inspired. It was modelled after the dome of Saint-Peter's Basilica in Rome, and was covered with lead with decos, which contain rative gilded bands. Above the dome is the campanile with a globe topped by a cross above it. The dome is surrounded by four lantern< which contain the bell of the church. The sides of the Dome are divided by contreforts, or buttresses, between which are the windows. which have alternating rounded and triangular frontons. The frontons are also abundantly decorated with sculptures, medallions, the royal fleur-de-lis, and the initials 'L' and 'A' for Louis nd Anne..

File:Paris Val-de-Grâce Kirche Kuppel 1.jpg, THe dome
File:Détail de l'Eglise du Val de Grâce.jpg, Detail of the dome

Interior

The interior of the church is full of light, and decorated with a harmonious combination of French classicism and Italian Baroque elements. Its decoration was influenced by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, particularly the baldaquin designed by Italian Baroque architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Bernini visited Val-de-Grace, and called it "The marvel of the Ile-de-France".

Rows of classical columns with Corinthian capitals form the arcades with rounded arches on either side of the nave. The spandrels of the nave are highly decorated with works of allegorical sculpture made by the brothers Francois Anguier (1604-1669) and Michel Anguier (1612-1686), and Philippe de Buyster

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases