Basilica of Notre-Dame, Boulogne
Basilica of Notre-Dame, Boulogne Basilique Notre-Dame de l'Immaculée Conception | |
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Minor basilica | |
Location | |
Location | Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, France |
Geographic coordinates | 50°43′34″N 1°36′54″E / 50.72611°N 1.61500°E |
Architecture | |
Type | Church |
Style | Classical |
The Basilica of Notre-Dame, Boulogne, otherwise the Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (
History of the site
The site of modern Boulogne was occupied by the Romans and was used by the Emperor Claudius as his base for the Roman invasion of Britain. By the 4th century, the town, known as Bononia, was a major port of the empire.
The first Christian building on the site was probably built by the Romans during the 4th or 5th century, on the peak of the hill that forms the modern haute ville.
According to legend, in about 633, while
In around 1100 a new church was built on the site and over the next few centuries underwent numerous changes, such as the addition of a choir in the 14th century. In 1308 it was the location of the wedding of Edward II of England to Isabella of France, an event commemorated by a memorial in the crypt.
Boulogne Cathedral
In 1567, on the creation of the
Of the original cathedral, only the impressive Romanesque crypt from the medieval building survives.
Reconstruction
Under the
A local priest and self-taught architect, Benoît Haffreingue, vowed to rebuild the destroyed cathedral to restore the honour of Our Lady of the Sea and return the episcopal seat to the city. After a vigorous campaign he was able to gain the support of many, including Victor Hugo and François-René de Chateaubriand, and soon had considerable public opinion behind him.
Construction of his design began in 1827 with the building of the rotunda and continued for nearly fifty years. The dome that now dominates the town was finished in 1854 and its western towers were completed in the 1870s. However, despite the support that Haffreingue's campaign gathered, the bishop's seat was not returned to Boulogne and the building thus never regained its status as a cathedral. In 1879 the rebuilt church was declared a
The building
Notre-Dame was built to a new design inspired by both Classical and Renaissance styles, and bears many similarities to St Paul's Cathedral. The area beneath the dome was initially designed to form the complete church, but additional funding allowed the expansion to the nave and transept that form a Latin cross. This gives the finished building the unusual internal appearance of being formed by two distinct churches, each of which is equally beautiful.
The tall nave is dominated by its rows of slender
The crypt
When Haffreingue began work on the new church in 1827, the workmen discovered a crypt that had lain unknown for centuries, having probably been filled in during the 1544 siege of Boulogne by
With 19th-century masonry accompanying the original medieval work, the many rooms also include the foundations of a Roman temple dedicated to
The crypt includes a chapel in which the body of José de San Martín, the South American liberator, was buried between his death in 1850 and its return to Buenos Aires in 1861.
References
- ^ Guide Touristique. Boulogne-sur-Mer: Office de Tourisme. 2008. p. 6.
- ^ This is still on display; pilgrimages to visit the relic continued into the twentieth century. On the final Monday of August, since 1854, a modern replica of the statue has been paraded around the city. The statue wears a soleil, a resplendent headdress that is worn by the townswomen during the parade.
- ^ Bonser, Wilfrid (Nov., 1920) "Three Annual Fetes at Boulogne." Man 20: 169-171
Sources
- Official guide literature of Notre-Dame de Boulogne