Autun Things to Do

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It requires a detailed guide to find all of the original capitals still on the cathedral or to recognize any additions or copies, let alone hw to interpret them.Such a document is for sale. There are 6 capitals supporting the great tympanum of the West Facade that are from Gislebertus, 3 on each side above carved columns. The carving of columns is a new idea and will soon appear in the Closter at Monreale in Sicily. Columnar statues will also shortly be used in St. Denis and Chartres and there are some here in the Rolin Museum. The more medial carvings under the lintel are later additions. Going from left to right through the entire group: 1) Wolf & Crane (Aesop Fable) 20 Abraham Sends Away Hagar & Ishmael 3) Elders of the Apocalypse; (rt) 4) Presentation at the Temple 5)St. Eustace's Conversion 6) Jerome and the Lion

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There are other items of interest in the church besides the marvellous capitals. A Chapel half-way down the North side contains a 16C stained glass window of the Tree of Jesse. Almost all of the glass in the cathedral is relatively new but this window is said to be 16C and is quite vivid. Also in the apsidial chapel on the northeast end is a marble statue of the Virgin and Child from the late 15C.

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This large structure is located just to the North of the Cathedral in a square. It is quite tall (and we did not have a wide angle lens). There is a complete picture of it in a Things Tip by Pieter11 (#2 of his set) entitled "The Old Center". The fountain was built in 1543. It has two domes and the columns have the classical orders. There is a pelican on top (a copy). The original has been moved to the Rolin Museum. It looks like it was there for the horses but it is pretty.

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The old mansion is approached through an interior courtyard and besides the exhibits, the rooms maintain many of their period appointments: doorways and mantels. They have collected several fine 15C sculptures and paintings and modern works too to supplement the Gislebertus and associates treasures. We saw a fine Deposition, a John the Baptist and a St. Catherine (attributed to Jean de la Huerta), all quite good.

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The old mansion is approached through an interior courtyard and besides the exhibits, the rooms maintain many of their period appointments: doorways and mantels. They have collected several fine 15C sculptures and paintings and modern works too to supplement the Gislebertus and associates treasures. We saw a fine Deposition, a John the Baptist and a St. Catherine (attributed to Jean de la Huerta), all quite good.

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This gate is one of two that still remain as part of the Gallo-Roman walls of ancient Augustodunum. Fragments of the walls alsosurvive. It has two large arches for vehicles and two smaller ones for pedestrians. The top level is an arcaded gallery with 10 arches bearing Ionic pilasters.

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The Cathedral of Autun houses more than 65 figurated capitals created by Gislebertus and his assistants from about 1125-45 (50 years after they first began to be made at Moissac and Toulouse). There are a few others on the outside doors. In the Chapter House, reached from inside the church, are about a dozen capitals that were removed from the apse when it was redone. Centuries later copies of some of these have been replaced there when it was realized what a terrible mistake in artistic appraisal had been made by removing them! Be sure to see the originals in the Chapter House; they are some of the best! This is perhaps the finest display of Romanesque capitals in the world. What makes Gislebertus' work so remarkable is his precision, spatial planning and his glimpses of expressivity. Prior to these Tips, only two capitals have appeared in the Autun pages: the Hanging of Judas and Solomon Destroying the Temple (find them). Our first picture is the Angel and the Wise Men's Dream, Two King's on the Tree of Jesse (picking the fruit?), Nole Me Tangere, The Second Temptation of Christ and the Flight into Egypt. Some of these are not in the Chapter House. We will create two Travelogs of more of the capitals with descriptions

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A number of works from the talented Gislebertus have been destroyed by the prelates of Autun who found them immoral or not to their tastes. In 1766 a contractor was hired to demolish the North Portal which had a tympanum and associated figures on the Resurrection of Lazarus. The stone was reutilized in nearby new construction and recent remodeling has unearthed Eve and two other pieces from what must have been a part. Other works of the period have also been found and as there are no diagrams or sketches of the intact church only attributions by style are possible while meanings are speculation. One such piece is an Assumption of a female. It is not believed to be Mary but may be the Magdalaine. The other statues assembled also may contemporary or later. (Remember that free standing statues have not yet been found from 1140). The West Portal trumeau pieces have never been found either and their form is also unknown.