Saint-Nicolas church in Nérac-Wikipedia

L’ Saint-Nicolas church is a Catholic church located at Place Saint-Nicolas, in Nérac, in the French department of Lot-et-Garonne in France ^{[ first ]} .

First Saint-Nicolas church [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The town of Nérac settled on the left bank of the baïse IX ^{It is} century. A priory dependent on Condom Abbey was built there. In 1096, Pope Urban II consecrated the church dedicated to Saint Nicolas.

The building deteriorated over time. The bell tower collapsed in 1697. From 1749, its use as a place of worship was prohibited for security reasons. Masses are celebrated in the Cordeliers chapel.

The notables will decide to rebuild a new church on the site of the old priory church with the help of the intendant of Guyenne Claude-Louis-Aubert of Tourny, son of Louis-Urbain-Aubert de Tourny ^{[ 2 ]} .

Construction of the new church [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

First work campaign [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The construction of the Saint-Nicolas church was undertaken in 1758. The realization was funded by local taxes, in particular, on wine. It is placed under the direction of a local architect, probably Dauzas ^{[ 3 ]} whose name appears in a request to the Council of State, in 1759. The first works started with private donations from the Intendant Claude-Louis of Tourny, the nuns of the Nérac hospital, the Commander of Argentens. Then the intendant obtained that part of the taxation of the size, capitation and twentieth of the Nérac district are assigned to this construction. The work was interrupted in 1761 for an unknown reason.

Second works campaign [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Local authorities then addressed the new steward, Charles Robert Boutin. The latter has Personal Architect The Parisian architect François Dominique Barreau de Chefdeville, pupil of Boffrand and follower of neo-classical architecture, who returned from Rome after 1753. Having stayed in Rome with Charles-Louis Clérisseau, Charles de Wailly And Marie-Joseph Peyre, he is one of the supporters of “Greek” architecture. He retained a party in the shape of a Latin cross with a portal decorated with a French ion order with colossal pilasters by taking over a party adopted by the architect Servandoni for the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris. After the arrival in Nérac de Sauvageot, employee of chefdeville bar, the April 8, 1762 , work begins. After the death of Barreau, in 1765, the intendant of Bordeaux, Robert Boutin, appointed Oudot de Maclaurin, disciple of Barreau, to finish the construction of the Saint-Nicolas de Nérac church. It simplifies the church to limit its construction cost. Robert Boutin left the stewardship of Bordeaux in 1766. The money is lacking and the work stopped in November 1767 . The city removes the taxes of wine taxes. Charles Robert Boutin left Bordeaux in 1766 where he was replaced by the intendant François Fargès de Polisy who is more interested in the cost of the church than his architecture. He will press Oudot de Maclaurin to offer less expensive quotes, in particular for the vaulting of the church.

Suspension of work [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The replacement of municipal officers in 1765 brought among the members of the office of the church of the descendants of former Protestant families of Nérac. They will play on the protests of the inhabitants against the taxes raised for the construction of the church to delay its construction. The boxes are empty.

Sauvageot leaves the site for Paris because its salaries are not paid. An agreement is finally found allowing its return to Nérac the April 27, 1769 . But he fell seriously ill during the winter of 1769.

A new manager of the generality of Bordeaux is appointed the December 3, 1770 , Charles d’Esmangart. He obtained from the King’s Council in 1771 that the wine tax was restored as well as the taxes on the taxes and on a part of the tithe of the bishopric of Condom. The work can resume. The intendant asked Sauvageot, in December 1770 , to raise the most economical vault possible

Third works campaign [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The wine taxes are restored by royal prescription in 1771. The work was resumed and lasts until the consecration according to the plans of Sauvageot made taking into account the inventions of bar between 1760 and 1762, and the remarks of Maclaurin. The bell towers recall that built at the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris by Maclaurin in 1768. However, Christine Beauvalot-Gouzi pointed out that the bell towers already appear in the plane made by chefdeville bar in 1761. In addition, in correspondence between Sauvageot And Oudot de Maclaurin, there is never any question of the bell towers. These bell towers were therefore made according to the plans of Chefdeville bar of 1761 and Oudot de Maclaurin was inspired by it to modify the plans of Servandoni to the Saint-Sulpice church.

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  Servandoni’s first project for the Saint-Sulpice church

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  Last Servandoni project for the facade of Saint-Sulpice church

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  Saint-Sulpice church.
  On the right, the Clocher Tour produced by Oudot de Maclaurin. On the left, that produced by Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin

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  Clocher of Saint-Nicolas church

The construction was directed on site by the Parisian architect Jean Sauvageot.

We know 8 plans of the church:

• 4 preserved in a special collection. A Cut, profile and elevation of the gate, the gallery and the chapel of the font bears the date of October 15, 1561 . It is signed by one of the commissioners of the Nérac office. You can see the bell towers. Two other plans concern the chapels of the transept and are dated October 20, 1762 .
• 4 produced by Sauvageot in 1771, kept in the national archives. They take up most of the chief of chefdeville bar ideas.

To continue to finance the construction, the granting on the wines is extended in October 1778 , aid was taken from the royal lotteries in 1781.

Dates to make the construction of the church:

• Beginning of the realization of the vault of the nave: 1773,
• Transept pediments, external bolt walls: 1775,
• Vaults of the finished chapels: spring 1776,
• Vault of the choir started in 1776 was completed in June 1778 at the same time as the cover,
• denticle sculpture of the external frieze: 1782,
• Finishes between 1783 and 1787: oysterie, canopies, furniture.

From February 1774 , Sauvageot works for stewardship in Bordeaux from where he runs the site through the site manager Philippe Poiret.

In September 1778 , the Director General of Finance Necker responds to the steward of Bordeaux on the completion of the church at the time of opening up to worship: “It would be enough to put this church in state, to celebrate the divine service. […] There is more than one church in the capital where the parish office has been celebrated for a long time, although the works from the outside are imperfect. »»

The structural work of the church is not fully completed (the towers are not built and the interior capitals are not sculpted) when it is consecrated by the bishop of Condom, the 20 mars 1787 . This is the first example in France of a neo-Palladian style church.

During the revolution [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

During the Revolution, it became a temple to the supreme being. The Catholics recovered the church in 1795.

Fourth works campaign [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

It was only completed after 1852. The parish priest Joseph-Emmanuel de Vivie obtained authorization to complete the church in 1855. The campaniles provided on the plans of 1771 and the plan of 1761 are built in 1855. The Corinthian capitals of the facade as well as the very protruding cornice which carries the pediment date from the Second Empire. The capitals of the interior pilasters are sculpted at the same time. The church was decorated in 1855-1856.

The building was classified as historic monuments in 1988 ^{[ first ] , [ 4 ]} .

When the church was opened to worship, it had no interior decoration, white and colorless canopies, according to the taste of XVIII ^{It is} century.

In his report to the Minister of the Interior of 1831 on the monuments of the departments of Oise, Aisne, Marne, North and Pas-de-Calais, Ludovic Vitet recalls that all the churches were painted, Including light and indicates that the latest research on the monuments of ancient Greece show that they were painted, including the outside ^{[ 5 ]} . In Agen, bishop Jean-Aimé de Levezou de Vesins created a diocesan commission of religious monuments to disseminate the culture of the arts to priests. He writes a Curlary letter to the priests of his diocese touching the restorations of the churches , in 1857. Painting was considered an element of catechesis. We prefer wall paint and stained glass windows on easel.

The parish priest will choose to illustrate a discourse around the themes of fault and salvation by the acquisition of our faults by the sacrifice of Christ.

The murals of the choir representing the genesis, the worship of the Trinity, the evangelists, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, scenes of the life of Christ and Saint Peter and Saint Paul, were produced in 1856 by the painter Gustave Lassalle- Bordes (1815-1886) ^{[ 6 ]} .

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  Choir decoration

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  Decoration of the apse vault

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  Choir painting: the evangelists writing the Gospels

The painted patterns of the chapels were made by Victor Seignoret according to drawings by Joseph Villiet.

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  Chapel of the Virgin

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  Motifs of side chapels

The theme of the tempting serpent being in the paintings symbolizes the heresy against which it was necessary to fight. In a city marked by Protestantism, this theme was not indifferent, especially since the parish priest had engraved around the choir the phrase of the prophet Isaiah 53-8: Because of the crime of my people (because of the crime of my people I hit them).

In 1997, a fire in the boiler room, after the end of the repair of the roof, led to the complete restoration of the interior of the church, including the refurbishment of electricity and lighting. This restoration made it possible to highlight the richness of the colors of the paintings of Gustave Lassalle-Bordes.

If the architecture of the church reflects a return to the fashion in fashion at the end of the XVIII ^{It is} century, the decoration takes up the characteristics of the second empire style of the second half of XIX ^{It is} century.

The church has a set of canopies vertery between 1856 and 1868 by the Bordeaux painter Joseph Villiet ^{[ 7 ]} .

The organization of the canopies is very different from that produced by Joseph Villiet in other churches. There is a great character in the center surrounded by small scenes recalling the main episodes of his life. Joseph Villiet often uses green and red. This representation was probably chosen by De Vivie to continue in stained glass the great characters represented on the frescoes.

The choice of characters from the Old Testament for the nave canopies was justified by Vivie in 1856: ” All are figures of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist ».

The stained glass windows represent important characters – patriarchs, prophets and kings – who have marked the history of the people of God. From the portal, on the left, Abel (bay n ^O 17), Melchispilit (Bay n ^O 15), Joseph (many n ^O 13) and Daniel (Bay n ^O 11), and on the right, Noah (Bay n ^O 18), Abraham (many n ^O 16), Élie (Bay n ^O 14) and David (Bay n ^O 12). The characters placed in the center of the canopies are surrounded by scenes from his life and great saints of the church with biblical quotes. The first six nave canopies rose in 1856. The last two, David and Daniel, rose in 1862.

The choir stained glass represents the passage of the old to the new alliance. On the left, Moses (Bay n ^O 3) who transmitted the law, precedes Christ, Savior of the world (very n ^O 1), New Moses, which gives the Eucharist. On the right, the high priest Aaron (bay n ^O 4) Represented with objects and scenes of Hebrew worship, is followed by the church (bay n ^O 2) Providing the sacraments and salvation through Christ.

The church includes two side chapels ^{[ 8 ]} . On the left, the Saint Joseph chapel where stained glass windows representing, Saint Joseph Charpentier, the death of Saint Joseph and Christ in the Garden of Oliviers. On the right, the chapel of the Virgin, with Mary presented at the temple, the communion of Mary, the coronation of the Virgin by the Trinity.

Above the gateway and the gallery, representation of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descends on the Virgin and the Apostles. The stained glass of the mystical press which was above the door disappeared.

The stained glass windows were restored in 2002-2004, with removal of the panels, cleaning and delivery to lead.

The church has an organ built around 1852 by the organs postman Jules Barthélémy Magen (1818-1882), of Agen, pupil of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll ^{[ 9 ]} . It was completed in 1862 by addition of new games and modification of the facade.

It was noted in 1932 then 1952 by the organs postman Maurice Puget and restored in 1983 by the organ factor Alain Leclère ^{[ ten ]} .

Composer Louis Raffy was an organist.

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Christine Beauvalot-Gouzi, The Saint-Nicolas church in Nérac , 1996; p. 54 (ISBN  2-9510809-0-5 )
• Stéphane Thouin, A new look at Saint-Nicolas de Nérac , p. 58-63 , Le Festin, winter 2005, n ^O 52
• François-Georges Pariset, Saint-Nicolas de Nérac , p. 120-124 , In Archaeological Congress of France. 127 ^{It is} session. Agenais. 1969 , French Society of Archeology, Paris, 1969

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