In which… yes, more cathedrals from Doris.
Nevers cathedral has a very interesting structure. You may remember that we Brits are pretty certain we need to face East when we address our God (although some people seem to think that another Abrahamic religion has an odd obsession with the subject) while Europeans are happy to swing around from North to South. But the Nevers cathedral started with a west-facing altar, and after many hundreds of years of extensions and upgrades, ended up like a pushmi-pullu with an altar at both ends – one Romanesque, the other Gothic.
This one survived the various wars of religion but sadly succumbed to friendly fire in July 1944 from the RAF who were aiming their bombs at the ironworks in Varennes-Vauzellles, a couple of miles to the North, when two of them missed.
Most of the cathedral and all of the windows ended up in a big pile in the middle of the church.
The resultant reconstruction project is still going on some 80 years later but has now rebuilt the east end with some interesting coloured windows and… importantly for Doris… some very natty little models of the formwork (wooden frames) for building Gothic vaults.
And a chance to see the French-style vaulting brickwork – I believe the English vaults align their bricks differently but fortunately for you I have forgotten the precise details.
As Nevers is famous for its expertise in faience (painted pottery), the stations of the cross are also worth a closer examination.
Onwards and dinner-wards.
Have to agree that the wooden model is very pleasing. So has Doris developed the computer model for Gothic vaulting formwork yet? Surely that will be a necessary part of fully appreciating Salisbury Cathedral….😏