SOME NOTES ON THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST NICOLAS AT MEURSAULT
The history of Meursault remounts to at least the 5th century. Of the first church, there is no trace. During the latter part of the 11th century, the church was a castle chapel under the parish of Monthélie. In 1085, Sir Frogier, Lord of Meursault, obtained permission from Aganon, bishop of Autun to bequeath the church to the abbey of Cluny. Struck by fire some time round 1470, the church was soon after rebuilded by the abbot of Cluny.
The present parish church of Meursault, dedicated to St Nicolas, is a large impressive, late mediæval building with a massive central tower, crowned by an octagonal crocketed spire with pinnacles and rising to a height of 57 m was erected in the 1480s. The tower houses three well attuned bells weighing 1,500, 500, and 400 kos respectively. The ancient bells were recast and the new blessed on 12th August 1844.
The exterior of the building is very simple, without other ornamentation than solid buttresses and a number of fear-inspiring gargoyles. The west façade with its generously spacious grilled porch is an obvious 19th century addition, dominated by a Madonna & Child, flanked by St Peter and St Paul. The arch carries the inscription : “Sint oculi tui aperti super domum hanc nocte ac die, Domine, ut exaudias deprecationem populi tui.” (May your eyes, O Lord, be upon this house day and night, and may you listen to the supplications of your people.)
The interior is a vaulted four-bay hall-church consisting of three naves of equal height, a most unusual, if not unique, design in Burgundy. The central nave continues into the sanctuary and has a flat east-end wall. The three bays have quadripartite vaults supported by slender octagonal columns in a typical un-adorned cistercian manner and the original transepts and the sanctuary have stellar vaults. The sanctuary floor is laid in a diamond pattern of local black and pink marble. ; the floor of the naves with tombstones and marble slabs.
The sanctuary has simple choir stalls and typical 18th century panelling. The current high-altar is neo-gothic in style with a spire crowning the tabernacle inspired by that on the tower. It replaced a baroque marble altar in the 1940s !
The side altars are also neo-gothic, with elaborate reredos, the one on the gospel side surrounds a spectacular 15th century burgundian polychrome stone Madonna-and-Child, originating from Champmol, the necropolis of the Dukes of Burgundy, near Dijon. One may note that the Infant Jesus is holding an open book, pointing with his right hand to a page. The book depicted in Marian iconography is not the Bible, as commonly believed nowadays, but the Book of Hours. When held by the Child Jesus, it is open at the office of None, the hour commemorating the crucifixion and death of Christ, thus depicting the Word Incarnate, on the arm of His Blessed Mother, contemplating the sacrifice necessary to save man and encapsulating in one devotional image the entire Mystery of Redemption. (Cf “Madonna and Child with Book” by Rafaello Sanzio (1483-1520) in the collection of the Norton Simon Art Foundation, USA.)
The side altar on the epistle side has a large 18th century statue of St Nicolas. Other statues include St Joseph, St Christopher, St Vincent (patron of the local vignerons), St Anthony of Lisbon, and Ste Thérèse de Lisieux. The Stations of the Cross are early 20th century oil paintings in massive oak frames.
The east-end stained glass window depicts St Benigne, the apostle to Burgundy, and St Nicolas, patron of the church. The window in the former northern transept represents the Annunciation, that in the southern the Sacred Heart with St George and St John-the-Baptist. All three windows are of typical late 19th century french design. There are two stained glass windows on the northern wall, typical of their period but not without artistic merit. The first illustrates the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin Elizabeth and the second the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord. Both are by Jacques Le Chevallier, dated 1947. The other windows are of little interest.
Apart from well conceived, discrete, modern lighting, there are three large mid-19th century glass chandeliers with sacred monograms on the pendants, one in each nave.
The pews are robust oak constructions of the earlier part of the 19th century. Following the re-ordering of the church in the early 1990s, the church now seats about 800 people, a reduction from 1,000 by 200.
On the outside of the sanctuary wall, there is an eucharistic oculus, now filled in but still clearly visible, through which the faithful could catch a glimps of the reserved Blessed Sacrament without entering the church. Until the removal of the cemetery from around the church in the 1840s, the ground was considerably higher and the oculus would have been at eye level.
28th November 2011
Comte d’Évora
Historical notes based on Meursault autrefois by Madame Huguette Hugonnet-Burgin in Extrait des Mémoires de la Societé d’Histoire et d’Archeologie de Beaune, tome LXIV – année 1983.
The present parish church of Meursault, dedicated to St Nicolas, is a large impressive, late mediæval building with a massive central tower, crowned by an octagonal crocketed spire with pinnacles and rising to a height of 57 m was erected in the 1480s. The tower houses three well attuned bells weighing 1,500, 500, and 400 kos respectively. The ancient bells were recast and the new blessed on 12th August 1844.
The exterior of the building is very simple, without other ornamentation than solid buttresses and a number of fear-inspiring gargoyles. The west façade with its generously spacious grilled porch is an obvious 19th century addition, dominated by a Madonna & Child, flanked by St Peter and St Paul. The arch carries the inscription : “Sint oculi tui aperti super domum hanc nocte ac die, Domine, ut exaudias deprecationem populi tui.” (May your eyes, O Lord, be upon this house day and night, and may you listen to the supplications of your people.)
The interior is a vaulted four-bay hall-church consisting of three naves of equal height, a most unusual, if not unique, design in Burgundy. The central nave continues into the sanctuary and has a flat east-end wall. The three bays have quadripartite vaults supported by slender octagonal columns in a typical un-adorned cistercian manner and the original transepts and the sanctuary have stellar vaults. The sanctuary floor is laid in a diamond pattern of local black and pink marble. ; the floor of the naves with tombstones and marble slabs.
The sanctuary has simple choir stalls and typical 18th century panelling. The current high-altar is neo-gothic in style with a spire crowning the tabernacle inspired by that on the tower. It replaced a baroque marble altar in the 1940s !
The side altars are also neo-gothic, with elaborate reredos, the one on the gospel side surrounds a spectacular 15th century burgundian polychrome stone Madonna-and-Child, originating from Champmol, the necropolis of the Dukes of Burgundy, near Dijon. One may note that the Infant Jesus is holding an open book, pointing with his right hand to a page. The book depicted in Marian iconography is not the Bible, as commonly believed nowadays, but the Book of Hours. When held by the Child Jesus, it is open at the office of None, the hour commemorating the crucifixion and death of Christ, thus depicting the Word Incarnate, on the arm of His Blessed Mother, contemplating the sacrifice necessary to save man and encapsulating in one devotional image the entire Mystery of Redemption. (Cf “Madonna and Child with Book” by Rafaello Sanzio (1483-1520) in the collection of the Norton Simon Art Foundation, USA.)
The side altar on the epistle side has a large 18th century statue of St Nicolas. Other statues include St Joseph, St Christopher, St Vincent (patron of the local vignerons), St Anthony of Lisbon, and Ste Thérèse de Lisieux. The Stations of the Cross are early 20th century oil paintings in massive oak frames.
The east-end stained glass window depicts St Benigne, the apostle to Burgundy, and St Nicolas, patron of the church. The window in the former northern transept represents the Annunciation, that in the southern the Sacred Heart with St George and St John-the-Baptist. All three windows are of typical late 19th century french design. There are two stained glass windows on the northern wall, typical of their period but not without artistic merit. The first illustrates the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin Elizabeth and the second the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord. Both are by Jacques Le Chevallier, dated 1947. The other windows are of little interest.
Apart from well conceived, discrete, modern lighting, there are three large mid-19th century glass chandeliers with sacred monograms on the pendants, one in each nave.
The pews are robust oak constructions of the earlier part of the 19th century. Following the re-ordering of the church in the early 1990s, the church now seats about 800 people, a reduction from 1,000 by 200.
On the outside of the sanctuary wall, there is an eucharistic oculus, now filled in but still clearly visible, through which the faithful could catch a glimps of the reserved Blessed Sacrament without entering the church. Until the removal of the cemetery from around the church in the 1840s, the ground was considerably higher and the oculus would have been at eye level.
28th November 2011
Comte d’Évora
Historical notes based on Meursault autrefois by Madame Huguette Hugonnet-Burgin in Extrait des Mémoires de la Societé d’Histoire et d’Archeologie de Beaune, tome LXIV – année 1983.
