Tuesday, September 10, I left Villa Thébaïde early in the morning to
go to
Loges-Margueron 10210 France, to pay homage to my parents at
the family grave. I greeted a cousin of my generation. Of course I
made the pilgrimage to places of memory.
Then I undertook a
journey back in time to learn about the art of stained glass, the
highlights of religious buildings! Heritage of the Christian
roots of France, with all due respect to atheists of all
persuasions,
Marxist atheism and its avatar, Stalinist
communism of the Soviet Union, did not survive the fall of the USSR
in 1989, leading to the galloping return of Christian orthodoxy and
its contemporary consequences.
The naivety of most of the leaders
of the European Union abandoned the regal tasks of protecting the
vital interests of their country, relying on the shield of the
United States,
NATO, their awakening was painful following the
invasion of Ukraine .
War and its substrate, violence, are
consubstantial with human nature originating from the animal
kingdom. Humanity shows many examples of this, particularly
associated with religious imperialism. During the wars of religion
in France, Armand Amalric, papal legate, ordered Simon de Montfort,
armed wing of the French royalty, during the crusade against the
Albigensians, the Cathars: "Kill them all, God will recognize his own" .
“Si vis pacem para bellum” But let’s not be fooled,
war and violence are never eradicated!
The sun irradiating
the glass roofs of religious monuments, rose windows, constitutes a
magical moment thanks to the spectrum of light through the colored
stained glass window participating in the symbolism of light:
“Divine light, God, and physical light (manifestation of God). The
stained glass windows were then responsible for transforming
physical light into divine light, in other words bringing the divine
presence into the cathedral” (Wiki)
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On September 10, 2024, I went on a pilgrimage to the Loges Margueron to honor the burial of my parents. As with every trip, I visited a cousin of my generation to ask for news of the family. We placed the puzzle on the chessboard where each piece is a named person from our generation with the date of birth. Last year, two women, nonagenarians, from my youth had disappeared. Currently, there are only five pieces of octogenarians left, three women and two men. How many will remain during my next visit, in person? My funeral urn will be placed in the family vault.
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| Family vault |
I continued towards
Troyes
to stay two days at the IBIS hotel in order to visit, on Wednesday September 11,
La Cité du vitrail
,
inaugurated in December 2022, in the former Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte des
Comtes-de-Champagne. I devoted the morning to visiting the City of
Stained Glass and in the afternoon I visited a few churches
mentioned by the Stained Glass Route guide, 70 churches in Aube!
JI took the opportunity to revisit my hometown, Troyes, where I
did my secondary studies before continuing them in Paris. The city
has been restored, in particular the historic center of the Counts
of Champagne with its half-timbered houses. Unfortunately, the
unbridled modernity of heavy traffic and numerous pedestrian streets
makes the visit exhausting. Fortunately, parking is available to
users, unfortunately far away for a person with reduced mobility.
While preparing my trip, I discovered that the city of Troyes had
created a Cité du vitrail inaugurated in 2022. Of course, with a few
clicks on the Internet, I enriched my knowledge of the art of
stained glass as well as the stained glass route of 70 remarkable
buildings in the Aube department. My time being limited, I selected
two notable churches and the church of Sainte-Madeleine located in
Troyes with its very famous and very rare Gothic stone rood screen.
I devoted the morning of 11/09/2024 to the Cité du Vitrail and the
afternoon to the churches.
There are few stained glass museums in
France despite the sumptuousness and the largest number of stained
glass windows in Europe. There are three, the International Stained
Glass Center in Chartres, the Cité du Vitrail in Troyes and the
Stained Glass Museum in Poitiers, which I visited on the way back
home.
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The Cité du Vitrail is housed in the 12th century Hotel-Dieu-le-Comte. The visit begins with the apothecary with its earthenware pots and pharmaceutical boxes from the 16th century. Very cleverly, the visit extends from the 5th floor accessible by elevator as well as the lower floors. The layout is educational about the art of stained glass, then the floors are dedicated by century and a screening room whose films are not released on Blu-ray! One morning is barely enough to go through the rooms. The galleries below present the photos taken with the Android Smartphone.
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| Hotel-Dieu-le-Comte |
The church of Villenauxe-la-Grande, the stained glass windows are the expression of abstract and multicoloured contemporary art by David Tremlett and the Simon Marq workshop. I had visited the church of Conques including Pierre Soulages, I admit I am not ecstatic in front of this work, certainly respecting the rule of the regular monks.
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| Villenauxe, Saint-Pierre |
The church of Pont Sainte-Marie, the jewels that I had never seen during my adolescence! Bay n°20 is the subject of Internet articles and it is currently being restored and will be exhibited at the Cité du vitrail in the second half of 2025 before being reinstalled.
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| Pont Sainte Marie |
I ended my day in Troyes by visiting the Sainte-Madeleine church, having sung there during my schooling at Urbain IV college until the second year of high school. I had never visited it except for the view of the imposing rood screen from the organ.
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| Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte |
Before leaving Troyes on 12/09 I went to what was the family home to see its dilapidated state due to lack of maintenance, the clutter of the courtyard with wrecked vehicles and the disorderly occupation of the hall by a bodybuilder. It was heartbreaking, never to return to the place of his childhood.
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| Family house |
Thursday September 12 I left Troyes at dawn for
Poitiers which has
the stained glass museum
inaugurated in 1988 in Curzay-sur-Vonne.
I stayed two days at the IBIS hotel to visit
it
and the center of Poitiers on Friday September 13.
 it
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The journey to Poitiers is mainly by motorway which I travelled at a senator's pace while admiring the landscape of rural France. I arrived at the end of the afternoon at the hotel in the city centre, the access to the car park of which is a feat of bravery; it is better to have a vehicle with electrically folding mirrors and to get off carefully. The next day I went to the Stained Glass Museum in Cursay-su-Vonne by the departmental road which smells of agricultural France, the narrowness of the road at 80 km/h and the congestion of monstrous tractors, already seen during the demonstration of the peasants, the unfortunates. The museum is small and not comparable to the Cité du Vitrail. The ground floor exhibits some medieval and contemporary works including a replica of Klimt's Kiss seen many years ago at the Secession Museum in Vienna, Austria. The first floor, without a lift, shows some modern works without much interest.
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| Poitiers Musée du Vitrail |
The afternoon was devoted to visiting the cathedral, traffic is hellish
due to the narrow streets, the number of one-way streets not listed by
the GPS and the closed car parks. The cathedral is impressive both
externally and internally, with stained glass windows of great beauty
and old paintings.
Disappointed at not being able to visit other
religious monuments, I returned to the hotel to face the descent from
the car park, although the climb is easier.
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| Poitiers cathédrale |
Saturday September 14, on the way home, I decided to make a safety stop halfway through at the IBIS hotel in Saint-Étienne.
The journey from Poitiers to Trans, by motorway from end to end, is more
than 800km I decided to take a rest halfway in Saint-Étienne. I was home
on Sunday early afternoon.
The objective of this trip was a test of
aptitude to travel by car and to visit monuments and museums on
crutches. The test is conclusive, certainly the hardship is proven and
the evenings are sexy-follies in the arms of Morpheus.
Only happiness !
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| Morpheus and Isis |
For a complete approach to the art of stained glass in France, the International Stained Glass Centre in Chartres must be included in the tour, and of course a visit to the cathedral.
Sunday September 15 the highway took me to Le Muy exit 36 for Trans-en-Provence. The round trip was approximately 2200 km.
