Romanesque Art in Southern Manche: Album Part 4

060. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. Location. The village of Saint-Pair-sur-Mer is located on the coast, 3.5 kilometers south of Granville.

Saint-Pair-sur-Mer was a prosperous town and the vital center of the region until the construction of Granville in the 15th century. Many people moved to Granville then, at the expense of Saint-Pair.

Saint-Pair grew again in 1880 with the development of seaside resorts.

Medieval roads--a coast road and a sh.o.r.e road--were used by pilgrims from Saint-Pair to Mont Saint-Michel, and are still used today by "modern" pilgrims and visitors.

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061. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The church is under St. Pair's patronage, and the second saint is St. Gaud. The church is a place of pilgrimage dedicated to the wors.h.i.+p of St. Gaud, whose sarcophagus was found in 1131 during the building of the Romanesque church. Much later, in 1880, the Romanesque nave was demolished to be replaced by a much larger nave and a transept to accommodate the many paris.h.i.+oners of this popular seaside resort. The enlarged church was consecrated on August 26, 1888.

Photo by Claude Rayon. [Claude-18]

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062. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The church is shown here from the north-east to get a view of the whole building. Photo by Marie Lebert. [Marie-07]

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063. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The old Romanesque church, after a drawing from E. Biguet published in the journal Le Pays de Granville dated 1934. The Romanesque nave was demolished in 1880 to be replaced by a much larger nave and a transept. Photo by Alain Dermigny. [Alain-034]

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064. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The church plan before 1880, as we can imagine it. The total external length was 37,5 meters. The external width of the nave was 11,1 meters (this hasn't changed). Plan by Marie Lebert.

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065. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The plan of the present church. Regulary oriented from west to east, the building has a two-row nave with a porch, a large transept and a three-row choir with a semi-circular apse. The external length of the whole building is 57,1 meters. The external width of the nave is 11,1 meters. The square tower rises at the crossing of the transept. The transept arms are opened by two apses on their eastern side. The choir opens north on two chapels, one towards the apse and one towards the tower. At the angle formed by the south transept arm and the choir, a rectangular building houses the sacristy. Plan by Marie Lebert.

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066. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The Romanesque tower. We can accurately give a date to the tower foundations, which is very seldom. We know that they date from 1131, thanks to a contemporary ma.n.u.script mentioning the discovery of St. Gaud's sarcophagus in the choir during the digging of the foundations. The same ma.n.u.script gives the name of the architect ?

Rogerius Altomansiunculo--who supervised the works. To know an architect's name is quite unusual too, because most architects of the time were remaining anonymous. Photo by Claude Rayon. [Claude-19]

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067. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The Romanesque tower is square, and its two floors are topped by an octogonal spire. A group of two blind arches adorn the first floor, at the north and south. Large twin bays adorn the second floor on all four sides. Divided by a small column with a square abacus and a square base, these twin bays are topped by a semi-circular arch molded with a simple torus and resting on attached columns. Photo by Alain Dermigny. [Alain-035]

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068. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The Romanesque tower. The two floors of the tower. Photo by Claude Rayon. [Claude-20]

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069. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The Romanesque tower. Inside, the tower rests on four ma.s.sive symmetrical piers supporting four slightly triangular arches. These arches surround the groin vault beneath the tower. Photo by Alain Dermigny. [Alain-036]

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070. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. Sketch of the south-western pier of the tower.

This pier is as follows: east, west and south, it is salient. North, an attached pier surrounded by two attached columns rests on a stoneboard.

Molded as a champered band, the impost topping the pier forms the abacus of the capitals of the two columns. The capital baskets are carved, with a square base topped by a chamfer. The pier rests on a broader square base with chamfered edges. Sketch by Marie Lebert.

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071. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. Detail of the north pier of the tower. Resting on a stoneboard, an attached pier surrounded by two attached columns is topped by an impost molded as a chamfered band. The impost also forms the abacus of the capitals. The capital baskets, in granite, are carved with angle hooks. Photo by Alain Dermigny. [Alain-037]

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072. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. A carved capital basket. Under the tower, a capital of the north-west pier has a granite basket roughly carved in low relief with the bust of a man whose head is big. His right arm is raised and his left arm is folded over his chest. An oak branch is visible on the right. Photo by Alain Dermigny. [Alain-038]

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073. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. A carved capital basket. Under the tower, another granite basket is carved with an angle hook in low relief. The capital baskets of the north-west, north-east and south-east piers are all adorned with angle hooks of this kind. Photo by Alain Dermigny.

[Alain-039]

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074. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. St. Pair's sarcophagus. A stone altar dating from the 19th century covers the sh.e.l.l limestone sarcophagus of St.

Pair. St. Pair (482-565) founded a chapel with St. Scubilion, the foundations of which are still present underneath the choir of the present church. St. Pair also gave his name to the village previously known under the Roman name Scessiacus, or Scissy. St. Pair and St.

Scubilion's sarcophagi were found in 1875, during the excavations made by abbot F. Baudry. Photo by Alain Dermigny. [Alain-040]

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