St. Maclou--page 1 (of three pages)

begun 1434; major additions, c. 1500-1514; consecrated 1521



REVISION OF MACLOU PAGES--RESCANS OF FILM IMAGES AND NEW DIGITAL IMAGES--SEPARATED BY ABOUT 20 YEARS IN TIME (digital images taken in 2007)





The bowed front

Although work was begun on this smallish (75 x 180 feet long) parish church in 1434, the curved entrance porch was not added until the first decades of the sixteenth century. In Rouen, the capital of Normandy, this late Gothic church has some parallels with the "Decorated style" in England. (Normandy was especially susceptible to English influence during the Hundred Years' War.) The richness of decoration, the perforated gables, and the use of curvilinear and pointed tracery (like flickering flames) are characteristic features of the French "Flamboyant style." The entrance porch appears to have five portals; however, the outermost portals are "blind." The portals are capped by steep gables which rise in height toward the center. The gables are connected by a balustrade. (See detail below.) Crockets (from the French word croquet=hook) project at regular intervals along the edges of the gables and buttresses.

 

The entrance and a topmost gable

 
 

The tower (a 19th century reconstruction of the original)

 
 

Center and right: Views of the buttresses with decorative crockets and finials

 

View of the "blind" portal on the entrance porch and the nave; detail of a nave window

 

Views from the back; a side entrance



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© 2014 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.