The Architecture of Provence and the RivieraMacGibbon, David
History
The Architecture of Provence and the Riviera
MacGibbon, David
Architecture -- France -- Provence; Architecture -- France -- Riviera
this massive and impressive edifice. The exterior of the cathedral has
undergone many changes. The Bishop’s Palace adjoins it on the south, and
covers a large part of the south wall. The whole series of buildings
connected with the cathedral, have at one time been enclosed with a
strong wall, built in regular courses, left rough on the surface. Some
portions of this work are visible in the outer wall next the street at
the west end. There, intermingled with a great deal of modern addition
and alteration, may still be traced the remains of two windows (Fig.
131) of the twelfth or early thirteenth century, with circular arches
springing from carved caps. In the jambs of one of these windows the
caps still surmount projecting shafts standing on corbels, but they have
disappeared from the other. The details are given in Fig. 133. Several
of the original small windows of the basement, however, remain
unaltered. They have the circular heads and the deeply splayed external
ingoing of the period.
The east end of the cathedral (Fig. 132) is very remarkable. The apse,
which is circular within, is only slightly rounded externally, and is
carried up to a considerable height as a tower of defence, and armed
with an embattled parapet at the top, supported on bold corbels with
machicolations between them.
Fréjus Cathedral is thus another instance of the numerous fortified
churches so characteristic of the South, and formed part of the general
fortified enclosure which protected the Bishop’s Palace and the other
ecclesiastical buildings connected with the see. Adjoining the apse
considerable remains of the ancient Bishop’s Palace may still be traced,
shewing (amidst modern alterations) work similar to that of the west
end, and containing coupled pointed windows and doors with round arches.
The enclosing and fortifying of the precincts seem to have been carried
out at a time subsequent to the erection of the cathedral. This explains
the peculiar form of the tower over the apse, and likewise the manner in
which the ancient baptistery is enclosed in a similar mural envelope.
The work was probably executed, to judge from the style, early in the
thirteenth century. In that
[Illustration: FIG. 133. FRÉJUS CATHEDRAL--SOUTH OR ENTRANCE FRONT.]
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