Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: New Jerusalem

This was the center of the former diocese, founded by the legendary Saint Restitut, who had travelled to France with the "Three Marys". Two of his successors were Saint Torquatus and Saint Paul, after whom the town later was named. A church was erected over their tombs. A cathedral dedicated to the Virgin and Saint Paul that existed mid 9th century (and sometimes connected to Charlemagne) got destroyed when the Saracen and in the 920s Hungarian troops raided the area. The cathedral, seen here, was erected from 1120 on. Around 1180 the nave was completed, it was consecrated in the early 13th century. Severely damaged during the Wars of Religions it lost the importance, when after the Concordat of 1801 the long history of the "Diocese of Tricastin" ended. Since then the cathedral serves the parish. Jean-Maurice Rouquette ("Provence Romane") describes this cathedral as the "perfect example" for the "art roman provençal", the specific style of Romanesque architecture that developed in this region. When during the late 19th century the altar was moved out of the apse and the old floor level was excavated this mosaic was found. In 1999 a second part was found. Though most details were destroyed some parts can be preserved and are now displayed. The center part depicts JERUSALEM. Now this may well be the "Heavenly Jerusalem", the biblical "New Jerusalem", but there is as well a theory, that this is a picture of the "real Jerusalem". The apse was built 1120/1150. Since 638 Jerusalem was under Muslim control. In 1095 Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus requested military support against the Seljuk Turks. Following that Pope Urban II hold a speech on November 27 1095 during the Council of Clermont. This speech was the starting point of the First Crusade. From then on armies of crusaders walked down the valley of the Rhone - and passed through this area. This mosaic may have shown them - like a banner - where they all were heading to. In case this theory is right - the large church can only be the "Church of the Holy Sepulchre" founded by Constantine the Great and completed in 335. It got severely damaged in the early 11th century but rebuilt some decades later. The "Church of the Holy Sepulchre" was taken by the crusaders on 15 July 1099. No crusader could consider his "pilgimage" complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. So this had a highly symbolic value.

The abbey at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (originally known as Fleury Abbey) was founded on the banks of the Loire river mid 7th century. It is one of the oldest abbeys of the Benedictine rule in France. The story starts in 672, when some of its monks traveled to Montecassino (Italy), dug up the remains of St. Benedict of Nursia (+ 547) and his sister St. Scholastica and brought them home. After the relics had reached at Fleury Abbey it which was renamed Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire - and due to the relics became a major place of pilgrimage. Of course, this did not help when the Normans rowed up the Loire and burned the buildings of the monastery. But the convent recovered and rebuilt. A famous school and a scriptorium existed here in the late 10th century. The erection of the church started around 1071. When the church was consecrated in 1108, the long nave was not completed. The abbey thrived, but times got rougher. In 1562, the abbey was pillaged by Huguenots. The buildings were restored, but looted and destroyed again during the French Revolution. Saint-Benoît's monks left the abbey and so the history of the convent ended after more than 1100 years. The abbey church had escaped destruction and got restored in the 19th century. In 1944, the convent was refounded the abbey buildings were rebuilt by Benedictine monks after World War II. So the history of the convent was just interrupted for about 150 years. "Tour de Gauzlin", the massive porch tower seen here, is named for Abbot Gaucellin who commissioned it, around 1020. The tower serves as a porch for the west entrance, the upper level houses the Chapel of St. Michael, a feature that can be found in many westworks from that time. The tower even had a third level, that was was removed in the 16th century. This was done as a punishment to the convent after the monks had entered into a conflict with the church hierarchy. It may well be, that this tower, having three portals on each side, was build as a model of the "New Jerusalem", following the Book of Revelation. Revelation 21.12-14 "It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb."

The village was known already Aymeric Picaud, when he wrote the Codex Calixtinus ("Iter pro peregrinis ad Compostellam"). Inside the parish church "Virgen de la Calle" is this wonderful 12th century baptismal font. The carving, influenced by moorish art, may depict the "New Jerusalem", capital of the "Messianic Kingdom".