Cévennes Mountains (France); France -- Description and travel
How did the builders of those days construct churches and donjons on
the tops of these obelisks? The Rabbis say that an angel can pirouette
on the point of a needle, but the work done here is more wonderful than
that of balancing for a few minutes on an acute point, for the masons
had to fill in all the rifts of the rock so as to form a terrace on
which to build. They must have been let down in cradles. As to the
tower, it was probably built up from within, as is done nowadays with
a factory chimney. On a lower level than the doorway are the ruins of
the habitation of the chaplain who served the church. He could obtain
plenty of fresh air there to fill his lungs, but could not get exercise
to circulate his blood, save by running up and down the stair in the
face of the rock.
On the way up to the chapel may be noticed recesses cut out of the
cliff. These formerly contained statues of saintly helpers in all kinds
of difficult and unpleasant situations. Among these was S. Wilgefortis,
a young lady with beard and moustache, much invoked by women with
vexatious husbands, who wanted to be rid of them. A fine statue of her
is in Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster. The Huguenots destroyed all
these figures in the niches. They were restored and again broken up at
the Revolution, but have not been reinstated.
In the same hamlet of l'Aiguilhe is a circular Romanesque chapel,
called the Temple of Diana, but which is actually a structure of the
twelfth century. It is now undergoing repair.
The church of St. Laurent has been given a modern gable with pinnacles
to the west front out of keeping with the character of the original
architecture. The western doorway was once rich, and had on it two
ranges of angels, twelve in each. The Huguenots broke the figures
in their hatred of everything beautiful, and mutilated the delicate
foliage as well.
The church has a broad nave with narrow side aisles. It contains a
carved stone organ gallery once rich with statuary, but the niches
are now empty. On the north side in the aisle is the tomb of Du
Guesclin, who did more than any other, except the Maid of Orléans, to
drive the English out of France. Even this monument did not escape
the iconoclastic rage of the Calvinists; but it has been judiciously
restored.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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