Abbaye de Gellone
The ancient Benedictine Abbaye de Gellone in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert was founded c. 800 by (now) St Guillaume de Gellone. It became a tremendously important pilgrimage destination because it houses a piece of the true cross, given to the abbey by none other than Charlemagne (Charles the Great) himself. For those not aware of such things, we are told that every time a piece of the true cross was cut off, the cross healed itself; hence the impressive amount of holy cross timber now spread across Europe. Sadly, we did not get to see this relic, but across the crucial centuries, it attracted pilgrims and serious money, making this abbey a very wealthy establishment.
As time passed, the abbey saw vast swings of the pendulum, going from great wealth in its early days to utter ruin by the Protestants (1568), then back into use until the Revolution of 1790, which saw some of the outer buildings be dismantled. The cloister's sculptures were (unbelievably) sold to a certain George Grey Barnard, an American collector of medieval art. Eventually parts of this and other structures were dismantled, the stones identified by number, and everything was carted off to New York City, where the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Cloisters now stands on upper Manhattan. This is the reconstructed medieval building in which the New York Pro Musica Antiqua performed medieval dramas, such as the Play of Daniel, while I was their Research Associate in the late 1960s early 70s. I was always thankful to be able to experience being in the impressive Cloisters and hearing professionals perform medieval music there, but now wish they had found other ways to build it.
Of course many thousands visit The Cloisters in New York City annually, far more than go to the real Abbey today in France. Much has been rebuilt as it should be, though the sculptures are long since gone. However, the earlier Benedictines thought sculptures were hardly necessary for worship, and they were right.
We heard seven Carmelite sisters sing their midday office, a series of psalms, scripture reading, prayers for the world (followed by "Kyrie eleison") and numerous "world without ends", mostly in French but the opening and conclusion were in Latin.
In the church's stone walls you see square holes where substantial timbers could be safely inserted for scaffolding during construction and restauration.
I always enjoy seeing and even feeling paving stones smoothed by millions of feet over the centuries, most either bare or shod in soft leather. I find these worn stones to be welcoming.
The structure's Romanesque design is clearly seen in the sanctuary. The ceiling is a half barrel, with all the massive stone weight being borne by the very thick walls having small windows. Such naves could not be very wide but the acoustics were marvelous for the chant we heard (even though the sisters went flat almost as soon as they got their pitch from a tiny electronic keyboard--a problem that was surely present everywhere in the middle ages, for monks were amateur singers).
We see far higher condos in Vancouver, but in the 800s, this was a very high structure indeed, drawing your eye toward heaven. Originally, the walls would have been covered with fresco paintings of bright colours, but they have disappeared with time in nearly every cathedral I have visited.
The village was voted by us to be the most beautiful mountain village we have ever seen, with narrow stone streets barely wide enough for a small car and too steep to encourage one to climb unless it was really important. Fountains brought water to the residents and abbey and are still running. I like to have the cool mountain spring water flow over my arms to cool them off. The weather has been ideal, 28C with good breezes. As far as I can tell, other than a few American fast-food places, there is no bad food in France (and even they serve wine).
Evan
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