Auxerre

We visited only two churches today and both were stunners.  That said, my clear favorite was the Abbey of Saint Germain.  When people ask me to name my favorite cathedral or church, it is a bit like asking someone to name their favorite child.  One loves them all and they are all different.  But the Abbey of Saint Germain has a crypt with wall paintings from the Carolingian era, images I have never seen even in a book.  It was quite moving to view this worship area, built between 841 and 859.       

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Frankish tribes ruled the area then called Gaul.  The chieftain Merovech became founder of the Merovingian dynasty and was eventually succeeded by Clovis, who converted to Christianity around 500.  Clovis’ descendants later became figure head kings and although they retained their titles,  power shifted to “Mayors of the Palace.”  One of these mayors, Pepin the Short, deposed the Frankish king and successfully petitioned the Pope to grant him the crown.  Pepin was succeeded by his son Charles, who became known to history as Charlemagne (748 – 814).  Charlemagne’s era is referred to as the Carolingian era and includes the time when his sons and grandsons ruled.

It is within this context that the crypts at the Abbey of Saint Germain were built and painted.  Far from being the dark ages, the period after Rome’s military fall left us beautiful mosaics and wall paintings, for the most part representing the spiritual life so central to the early Middle Ages.  Mosaics can better survive the challenges of time, but most wall paintings have long ago deteriorated or been destroyed.  Hence, this crypt is a very special place.  One must always remember that the goal of early medieval art was to communicate a spiritual truth, rather than provide a natural or realistic representation of the physical world.  That was left to later centuries when the Renaissance artists mastered the beauty of the flesh.