Tate

(Front-right side of the Cathedral of Saint Etienne)
 * __Cathedral of Saint Etienne__ ** [[image:Front-right_Side.jpg width="609" height="457"]]

Background The Cathedral of Saint Etienne is located in the city of Bourges, France. The Cathedral started construction in the late 12th century and was completed mostly by 1250; This Cathedral along with the Chatres Cathedral are considered the first Cathedrals of the High Gothic Era. Throughout the years the Cathedral endured collapses, modifications, additions, and pillaging, but it still stands today. This Cathedral was built to replace an old Gallic-Romanesque style church; the new Cathedral was to show the power and grandeur of the Archbishops of Bourges, who were vassals of the King.

The North tower was completed in 1260. In the early 14th Century the walls of the South tower began to crack and the tower began to lean and put pressure on the main nave. In order to fix this a giant buttress was created on the south side to prevent a collapse. Between 14th and 16th centuries chapels were added and a rose window was placed above the west door.

On December 31st 1506, the same problem that occurred in the South Tower happened to the North tower; however, the North tower collapsed and took down with it part of the vaulted roof. This was fixed by 1542.

In the 19th century finials were added to the roof and buttresses, which some think ruined the simplistic beauty of the Cathedral.

Information Architecture > Stained-glass Windows
 * Facade
 * Five Portals on the west side
 * Center Doorway's Tympanum of the Last Judgement
 * Rose Window
 * Central Nave
 * 15 meters wide by 122 meters long by 37 meters tall
 * This cathedral was unusually tall, which is why it necessitated such large flying butresses
 * The arcade was 20 meters high
 * Uses sexpartite vaults
 * Ambulatories
 * Double ambulatories that wrap around the central nave
 * Inner one is 21.3 meters high
 * The height of this ambulatory is much heigher than typical ambulatories
 * Outer one is 9.3 meters high
 * The height difference makes it so the cathedral does not need transepts on the sides, instead of transepts there are side doors and porches
 * Each ambulatory corresponds to a portal on the facade as well as connects to the northern and southern porches
 * These porches have romanesque style carvings and sculptures
 * Two Towers
 * Asmyetrical
 * North Tower
 * Also known as the "Butter Tower" because the church offered funders an exemption from lent
 * South Tower
 * Originally intended to contain bells, but structurally it was never able to support them, even after the repairs
 * Called the "Deaf Tower
 * Apse
 * Rounded
 * Much of the visible base is intended to be underground; however, it shows because of the difference in ground height due to the fact that the cathedral is on a hill
 * Crypt
 * Crypts were extremely uncommon in cathedrals; the crypt was created to compensate for the level difference of the ground underneath the altar in the apse
 * White marble tomb of Duc de berry lies in the middle of the crypt
 * This
 * Of the original 25 windows 22 remain today
 * Some of the windows have lost their bottom panels because of additions in the altar in the 17th century
 * However the panels were replaced in the 19th century but with medieval style stained-glass windows

Media

(Floor Plan 360 View)

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(Video showing some of the stained-glass windows)

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(Map of the Cathedrals location)

Sources Works Cited Arms, Dorothy Noyes. //Churches of France//. New York: The Macmillian Company, 1929. Print.

Behringer, Charlotte, et al. //Cathedrals//. Trans. Angus McGeoch. Munich: I.P. in Munich, 1998. Print.

“Bourges Cathedral.” //Sacred Destinations//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. .

“Bourges Cathedral.” //World Heritage Centre//. UNESCO, 28 Oct. 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. .

“Bourges Cathedral.”// World Heritage Site//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. .//

France, Bourges Cathedral//. Leonard Frank, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. .

Luong, Q T. “Bourges, France.”// Terra Galleria Photography//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. .

“Saint Etienne Cathedral.”// ArchInForm//. N.p., 7 Oct. 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. .