Troyes Cathedral. Left and centre, three tiers of windows around the nave. Right, rose window in south transept.
Troyes, capital of the Aube département, calls itself the stained glass city. ‘The saying goes that France is home to 80% of the world’s stained glass windows, that 80% of French stained glass windows are located north of the Loire, that 80% of the stained glass windows north of the Loire are in the Champagne region, and that 80% of the stained glass windows in the Champagne region are in the Aube département ‘ - this from the city’s tourist web site. The opening of Troyes’ stained glass museum is imminent, meanwhile a wonderful map and series of leaflets leads you from cathedral to basilica to church after church, some of them (mercifully) locked as you begin to overdose on the best medieval and renaissance stained glass you could hope for.
After all the modern stained glass we’d been seeing, the windows in the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul in Troyes were a reminder of another side of stained glass - the one where you stand in wonder at the intricacy of the pattern making and then stay for hours finding the stories, the characters and the landscapes in the windows.
Troyes Cathedral. Left, the south side of the nave. Right, windows in the chapels on the south side of the nave.
Forgetting to take my proper camera (apologies for mentioning this again!) gave me more time to stand and stare and to focus on pattern rather than on finding favourite details. I loved looking at the rows of striped leading filled with stories and parables high up on the south side of the nave (above left) and then looking down to the chapels at ground level with a whole variety of rich styles and colours in windows made from the 13th to 19th centuries. The most useful leaflet imaginable tells you the date, the makers’ names when known and the date of restoration of each window. Best of all was a window in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception made in 1524 in the workshop of Jean Soudain (below right).
Troyes Cathedral. Left and centre, C13th glass in chapels around the apse. Right, window of the Immaculate Conception.
St Urban Basilica, Troyes.
You get a more concise stained glass experience inside the Basilica of St Urban, a massive but delicate gothic church a short walk away from the cathedral. This church was begun in 1262 at the expense of Pope Urban IV, a native of Troyes. The stained glass windows are from the late thirteenth century, they soar above the alter, creating a luminous area that shines right out of the church (above). This effect comes not only from the height of the bands of windows, but also from the large amount of pale grisaille glass that is used around the strip of bright figures. The ornaments in the borders are simple and heraldic, with flashes of rainbow chevrons that contrast with foliage patterns on the white glass ground. Another set of windows (below right) has an all over circular pattern, stronger than the little figurative scenes they encircle. All these windows with their jazzy details are seen through an interior screen of empty stone windows that contribute to the effect of a delicate cage.
The windows of St Urban Basilica.
Church of St Madeleine, Troyes. Centre and right, creation window (c.1500).
The map took us through medieval streets to St Madeleine, a church with a claim to being the oldest and most beautiful in the city. The atmosphere is quite different, intimate and rich with an astonishing carved stone rood screen right across the centre of the space and a series of incredibly fine windows in the apse. It’s great to be able to get close to these and to read the stories, strip cartoon style, of the creation (above right), the lives of Saints Eloi and Louis, The Passion of Christ (below right), and a wonderfully composed and painted Jesse’s Tree (below) in a design that scrolls across the mullions and leading stripes. Seeing this series side by side shows up the stylistic differences, some with captions under each picture and some with words floating on banners. The designs are organised around elaborate top tracery, different in each one and daringly complicated with figures using up every scrap of glass as they tell the story right to the top of each window.
Windows in the church of St Madeleine, Troyes. Centre, Jesse’s Tree (c.1500). Right, The Passion of Christ (c.1490).