ARCHITECTURal frame and sculpted decor

After passing through the narthex covered by a lower and rather oppressive vault, the visitor may soon perceive the impressive height of the building, the rhythm of the central nave, heightened by its narrowness. Little by little, after considering architecture first built for and focused on prayer, one may discover the principal elements of the structure, the simple lines: centered archways, vertical supports, and little ornamentation apart from the capitals, so as to accentuate the rigorous and severe general aspect.

At the transept crossing, four massive pilasters rise up, in single lines, towards the supporting arches of the cupola octagonal frame, suspended over the void. Beyond the crossing, the sanctuary is composed of a straight bay following the line of the nave, and at the same height. It is completed by a horseshoe-shaped choir, vaulted with a lengthened cul-de-four.

Surrounding the choir, magnificent iron gates from Romanesque time can be admired. They are composed of scrolled wrought iron, ending in sharp spikes, which top the all ensemble at almost three meters high. Their original use was to protect reliquaries from theft. Pilgrims used to gather beyond these gates, in the ambulatory, where stone benches would allow them to rest from their long and strenuous walks. Notice also that the ambulatory is composed of seven bays. This symbolic number is already found in the choir archways and eastern chapels, and seem to characterize the circular structures of the abbey-church. Was it just a coincidence?

The upper-gallery or tribunes offer striking plunging views. Their function is mostly architectural, and less for public use. In fact, they assure the general stability of the edifice. Set above the side-aisles, their quarter-centered vaults push against the beginning of the nave barrel arch and the crossings, on each side, where the thrust is the most important. Along their length, they play a quite similar role to the Gothic arched buttresses, continuously shoring up forces. This technique which appeared almost simultaneously in Conques, Toulouse in the basilica of Saint-Sernin and also in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, had consequences on both the nave height and the lightness of the side walls. The tribunes are widely opened by series of twin-bays, set under discharging arches.

Compared with the buildings' architectural unity and functionality, the sculpted decor is equally rich and diverse. It can be admired either, in each fascinating capital, testimony of the medieval sculptors' talents and imagination, or in the extraordinary sculpted tympanum of the Last Judgment, a masterpiece of the 12^th century.