Moissac Travel Guide

 hquittner Says:  The Abbey Church of St.-Pierre was demolished by the English in the 110 Years War but luckily the cloister was ignored. It was rebuilt in the 15C in Gothic style, reutilizing some Romanesque walls and the Narthex up to the bell-tower. The entrance from the Narthex preserves... 

 hquittner Says:  The Narthex is built with heavy ogival vaulting. Like the cloister, its support columns have decorated 11-12C capitals. The entire narthex looks cleaned and possible a little restored. The capitals show the progress of sculptural technic. The earliest are acanthus forms.... 

 hquittner Says:  The friezes at the top of the East and West walls of the South Porch are respectively related to the 4 carved panels below them. On the West wall the story of Dives, the rich man, begins with him at table and in an inset to the left below poor Lazarus dying of starvation,... 

 hquittner Says:  The west side wall of the Porch deals with sins of avarice and unchastity. The parable (Luke: 16: 19-31) starts at the inner (right) end of the frieze at the top with the story of Dives, the rich man, who ignores Lazarus the beggar. (This scene is covered in a Tip on the... 

 hquittner Says:  The story on the east wall of the porch starts at the lower level on the left (inner) side with the Annunciation to Mary. To the right is the Meeting of the pregnant Mary and Elizabeth. The two carvings on the upper level show the three Magi at the left, approaching the Holy... 

 hquittner Says:  The Upper Porch is crenellated like a fortress (and may have served as such). High up are two small statues: St. Benedict (left) the founder of the Cluniacs and Roger (Bishop and Abbot here 1115-31). Higher up at the edge, Gabriel sounds his horn. Along the coping are... 

 hquittner Says:  The trumeau is a large marble block with 4 treated sides and scalloping to blend wth the inner jambs (but with 5 rather than 4 curves). (It is probably of later origin as its style suggests, but was written about as old in the 14C). On the southward face are 3 pairs of... 

 hquittner Says:  Below the tympanum is the entrance to the Narthex from the Porch. The treatment is another first in church art. It shows a scalloped doorway treatment (four curves laterally and 5 centrally). At the center is a carved trumeau made from a single block (covered is a Separate... 

 hquittner Says:  The tympanum is probably the first monument of this type ever created (finished before 1115). It is composed of 28 carved limestone blocks, snugly arranged. The whole tympanum measures 5 m in width and 0.68m in height. The blocks rest on a sturdy carved lintel, a long... 

 hquittner Says:  The Abbey of Moissac and its church, St. Pierre (Peter), were built , starting with a cloister on the North side completed by 1100. The purpose was to serve as a safe resting point beyond Toulouse for pilgrims on the “Southern” Road to Compostela. The belfry porch was... 

 hquittner Says:  There are piers at the four corners of the cloister. On the two gallery faces of each pier is a large slab of stone bearing a bas-relief carving of 7 of the Apostles and Paul. They are almost full height and all have different attitudes and features and subtle variations of... 

 hquittner Says:  The capitals are the major element of the Abbey. They are alternately double (over two short colonnettes) or single (over one). This gives a varying but almost uniform pattern to the enclosure. The impost blocks appear to have been carved first and then installed when... 

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