Burgundy: The Splendid Duchy. Stories and Sketches in South BurgundyAllen, Percy
History
Burgundy: The Splendid Duchy. Stories and Sketches in South Burgundy
Allen, Percy
Burgundy (France) -- Description and travel
The Porte d'Arroux is distant only a few minutes walk from the Temple
of Janus, near the river, at the foot of the Faubourg d'Arroux.
Incomplete though it is, the grace and dignity of the fallen monument
yet contrast strongly with the squalor of its setting. It is backed,
on either side, by a medley of disreputable villas, and dilapidated,
half-timbered cottages, whose squalor is not without charm. To-day
hordes of ragged children play beneath the arches that once echoed to
the roll of chariot wheels, and to the tramp of lictors' feet.
[Illustration: PORTE D'ARROUX · AUTUN ·]
The Porte d'Arroux has four openings for traffic,--two large central
arches, by which chariots could pass in and out, and two smaller gates,
at the sides, for foot passengers. Each of the central arches is
grooved for a portcullis, which some authorities, including M. Viollet
le Duc, think were not added till the middle ages,[27] a supposition
that M. de Fontenay seems effectually to disprove by pointing out
that, since the Roman rampart at that period was broken down in many
places, any additional defences to the gates would have been a useless
precaution.
Autun, in mediæval times, comprised what were, in effect, two
distinct towns, both built within the Roman enceinte. These were the
Castrum, the centre of which was the Cathedral of St. Lazare, and the
Marchaux--still known by the same name,--in the lower part of the town,
north of the Place des Champs de Mars. Each of these towns was then
sheltered within its own walls and towers, of which portions are still
in existence.
The upper part of the gate consisted of a pierced gallery or arcade,
of ten bays,--seven of them still intact,--forming a Chemin de Ronde,
on a level with that running along the crest of the Roman wall. This
gallery, serving the double purpose of ornament and defence, could
be closed at any time by wooden shutters.[28] The gate was flanked
on either side by two rectangular towers (corps de garde) with
semi-circular apses projecting far beyond it, as though--in the phrase
of Eumenes, a local historian and orator of the late 3rd and early 4th
centuries--they were stretching out welcoming arms to those about to
enter the town.[29]
All who are interested in the development of Burgundian architecture,
should give careful attention to the Porte d'Arroux, which is certainly
the source of one of the most marked characteristics of the style,--the
use of the fluted pilasters, which, for some reason or other, seem to
have struck the fancy of the architects of this part of France. We
shall see this arcade imitated closely in the triforium gallery of the
cathedral of St. Lazare, and also influencing, in turn, the churches of
Cluny, Paray le Monial, Notre Dame de Beaune, and others.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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