Sens Travel Guide

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Very old 12C stained glass windows have been preserved at Sens. (It helps to know what stories to identify in each window and how to identify each one). We did not find such assistance and these are guesses. The richness of the colors here has never been surpassed.

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In 1500 Sens was still an influential ecclesiastical city with an Archbishop. Fontainbleau was active nearby and Paris was a small place (the modern Louvre as a palace was only started in 1545). In 1489 the Archbishop engaged Martin Chambiges to draw up designs for the transept (Sens had none) and statuary were then commissioned. In 1501 the building began on the North side and his son finished the South side in 1516. This is Flamboyant Gothic at its best and symbolizes the vigorous spirit of the times. Above the North Gable is Abraham (the door is so named) and above the South Gable is Moses.

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This is the first Gothic nave. It came about starting in 1142. The church had burned down in 1120 and rebuilding was soon started under Archbishop Henri le Sanglier . The outer walls were started in Romanesque style using the old stones (see a similar beginning and conversion at Le Mans in our Tips). But Sanglier was a close associate of Suger in St. Denis, and with spaciousness as his objective, the nave was set very wide , reducing the aisles to one per side. When it was decided to vault the nave they introduced a double bay pattern with arcades of alternating heavy pillars and columns (which increased the spaciousness). A hexapartite vaulting was required and the height was limited to three levels: the tall arcades, a triforium and clerestory. This was all done after Sanglier died, by the next archbishop. In the next century, the clerestory windows were enlarged and external flying buttresses were added (the latest innovation). There is a chapel at the north edge of the choir that is still Romanesque as well as some early glass windows (we illustrate one). The aisle continues around the choir as an ambulatory (simpler than the double one of Suger). This neglected Cathedral is well worth visiting.

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The Cathedral of St. Stephen's is the first Gothic Cathedral. (See our Intro for why it came first). The facade was finished last in the 1170's after the nave. There were fine column statues in the embrasures of the central portal but these were destroyed during the Revolution, except for St. Stephen on the trumeau, who was supplied with a red bonnet and whose book had "Les Lois" written on it, making him "Citizen Steve". The South Tower collapsed in about 1200 and was rebuilt to the original plan in 1230 and houses two immense bells. At the same time the clerestory windows were enlarged and flying buttresses were added. The North Tower was of lead and wood but did not survive the tastes of the late 19C. There is a large central radiant window with a small rose above it. The statues at the top and the tympanum are modern.