Collégiale, puis cathédrale Notre-Dame, actuellement église paroissiale Notre-Dame
Church
Collégiale, puis cathédrale Notre-Dame, actuellement église paroissiale Notre-Dame, located in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.7474, 2.2529
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00108403
The majestic Gothic cathedral of Saint-Omer, Notre-Dame unfurls eight centuries of history between its towering naves, Renaissance chapels and a medieval rood screen of rare elegance in the Pas-de-Calais.
History
Standing in the heart of the old town of Saint-Omer, Notre-Dame church is one of the largest and most ambitious Gothic religious buildings in northern France. A former collegiate church founded by the canons of Saint-Bertin, elevated to the rank of cathedral when the diocese of Saint-Omer was created in the 17th century, then returned to its parish vocation after the Revolution, it alone embodies the rich history of a town long disputed between France and the Spanish Netherlands. What distinguishes Notre-Dame from the great cathedrals of the North is the visible stratification of its construction campaigns: the eye glides from the late Romanesque of the twelfth century to the flamboyant efflorescence of the fifteenth, via the sober verticality of the radiating Gothic of the thirteenth. Each transept and side chapel tells the story of a different period, patronage and artistic ambition. In this way, the building is an open-air lesson in architecture, where Northern Gothic meets the inflections of the Flemish school. A visit to the church is a rare treat: the sculpted stone rood screen that closes the choir, the medieval stained glass windows, some of which still display 14th-century grisailles, and a collection of sculptures and epitaphs that transforms the nave into a veritable museum of Flemish funerary art. The side chapels contain painted altarpieces, recumbent figures and heraldic epitaphs that bear witness to the piety of the great families of Audomar. The urban setting adds to the charm of the visit: the collegiate church is set in an unspoilt area of Flemish brick and bluestone houses, just a stone's throw from the Hôtel Sandelin museum and the town's canals. The late afternoon light, filtering through the high windows of the choir, transforms the interior space into a spectacle of colour and shadow, ideal for meditation as well as photography.
Architecture
Notre-Dame de Saint-Omer has a Latin cross floor plan with an ambulatory choir and radiating chapels, typical of the great Gothic collegiate churches of northern France. The central nave, flanked by double aisles, reaches a height of more than 25 metres under vault, supported by powerful cylindrical pillars with engaged columns. The unfinished, asymmetrical west facade - the south tower was never completed - bears witness to the long construction period. The north tower, in the late flamboyant style, is adorned with pinnacles, gables and stonework of remarkable finesse. Inside, the stratification of styles is clear to the naked eye: the first bays of the nave retain the sobriety of 13th-century Gothic, while the side chapels open onto Flemish-inspired barrel vaults. The stone rood screen, one of the few still in place in a church in the north of France, divides the liturgical choir from the nave, with its arcades sculpted with foliage and hagiographic figures. The stained glass windows, although partially rebuilt in the 19th and 20th centuries, preserve precious medieval panels in the choir's triforium. The furnishings include several monumental epitaphs in black marble from Hainaut, alabaster altarpieces of Flemish origin and the Romanesque baptismal font, which is one of the oldest surviving items in the building.
Related Figures
Saint Erkembode — évêque de Thérouanne (VIIIe siècle), dont le tombeau vénéré est conservé dans l'église et attira des générations de pèlerinsCharles Quint — dont la politique ecclésiastique transforma la collégiale en cathédrale en 1567 après la destruction de ThérouanneFrançois-Joseph de Baillet de Latour — évêque de Saint-Omer au XVIIIe siècle, mécène des derniers grands aménagements baroquesProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, qui supervisa le classement de 1840 et l'inventaire de l'édificeEugène Viollet-le-Duc — qui, dans son Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française, cite Notre-Dame de Saint-Omer parmi les exemples remarquables du gothique nordiqueLes chanoines de Saint-Bertin — commanditaires de la collégiale originelle, dont le scriptorium et le mécénat artistique façonnèrent l'édifice du XIIe au XVe siècle
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Collégiale, puis cathédrale Notre-Dame, actuellement église paroissiale Notre-Dame located?
Collégiale, puis cathédrale Notre-Dame, actuellement église paroissiale Notre-Dame is located in Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Collégiale, puis cathédrale Notre-Dame, actuellement église paroissiale Notre-Dame built?
Collégiale, puis cathédrale Notre-Dame, actuellement église paroissiale Notre-Dame dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Collégiale, puis cathédrale Notre-Dame, actuellement église paroissiale Notre-Dame open to visitors?
Collégiale, puis cathédrale Notre-Dame, actuellement église paroissiale Notre-Dame is currently closed to visitors.