Part 3

However, the north front of the nave suffered most (_photo above_). In addition to the opening made at the west end, the stone-work and roofing were injured throughout their entire length. Only the last two windows next the transept retained their mullions, the others being more or less completely destroyed. Of the flying-buttresses and abutment-piers, very little remains standing.

VISIT TO THE TOWN

_On leaving the Cathedral, follow the itinerary on page 13._

The surroundings of Soissons, like the cathedral, suffered severely from the bombardments. In the Place de la Cathédrale (or Place Mantoue), the Rue des Minimes and the Place du Cloître are =broken roofs=, and in the Rue du Beffroi, =ruins= of houses.

At n^o 6 of the Place de la Cathédrale, in front of the bombarded Presbytery, stands a much damaged 13th century =tower= (_photo opposite_) all that remains of the old Bishop’s Palace, rebuilt in 1638, of brick and stone, at the south of the Place between the Rue de l’Évêché and the Rue des Minimes.

In the court of the Bishop’s Palace (_reached through the Rue de l’Évêché_), near the Rue des Minimes, there still stand about 15 yards of the old =Gallo-Roman wall= which surrounded the town (_hist. mon._)

The wall has a facing of dressed stone interrupted at frequent intervals by a string-course of red bricks.

_To reach the Place du Cloître take the Rue de l’Évêché, round the chevet of the Cathedral._

The =Place du Cloître=, at right angles to the north portal of the Cathedral, was formerly lined by the houses of the Canons. Of these old dwellings there remain =three bays in tierce-point= (13th century), on the first story of a house (_N_^o 14) in the _Place_ (_on the left of the photographs on this page_).

Opposite are two =Renaissance façades=.

Most of the houses in the _Place_ were badly damaged by shells aimed at the cathedral.

Fortunately, these three remarkable façades escaped injury.

_Take the Rue du Collège on the left_, devastated by incendiary bombs from aeroplanes (_photo opposite_); at the end of a blind alley stands the =door of the college= (_hist. mon._) (_Photo below_) built between 1740 and 1760.

Doric pillars support a large frontal with decorative carving representing _Pallas_ and _Ceres_.

This door is intact, but the college buildings suffered severely.

Several shells penetrated the walls and roofing, exploding in the dormitories and class-rooms and destroying all before them.

_Follow the Rue du Collège as far as the Rue des Cordeliers_ (_first on the right_) _which leads to the_ =Grand’Place= (_photo below_). Here are 18th century houses (_N_^{os} 9-11), the early 19th century =theatre= and a late 19th century ornamental =fountain=.

The theatre suffered severely from bombardment, its roof being completely destroyed, but the fountain escaped injury.

_Take the rue Saint-Léger as far as the Church of Saint-Léger, the houses round about which have been destroyed_ (_photo above_).

CHURCH OF SAINT-LÉGER

This church was formerly part of an abbey founded in 1152 in memory of Saint-Léger, Bishop of Autun, assassinated in 678 by the Mayor of the Palace, Ebroïn.

The nave and west front were rebuilt in the 17th century, after the sack of the monastery by the Huguenots in 1567. It is now secularized.

The nave, separated from the rest of the building by a wall, was used before the war as a hall for public meetings, while a geological museum was to have been installed in the transept and choir.

The façade is 17th century.

The central semi-circular porch is supported by twin columns with Ionic capitals.

Its large doorway, surmounted by a broken triangular frontal, is flanked by fluted pilasters.

Above the porch rises the two-storied tower. The first story has a single semi-circular bay on each front, and is divided by Corinthian pilasters. The second story has two twin bays and fluted columns with Corinthian capitals at the corners.

The whole east front of the upper story was demolished by the bombardments (_photo above_). The windows and corner columns fell on the roof of the nave, breaking it in many places.

The nave, with double side-aisles, was reconstructed in the 17th century, and is of little interest. Three of its vaulted bays have fallen in (_photo below_).

The two-armed transept, as well as the choir which terminates in a canted chevet (_photos opposite and below_) were less injured. They date from the 13th century, but have been restored. They have pointed vaults, and are lighted by high and low windows separated by a narrow triforium. The windows of the transept-ends and of the choir are double and surmounted by a rose-window; those of the apse are single and framed outside by abutments. The wall at the end of the north arm of the transept, at the back of which were the monastic buildings, has no opening, but that of the south arm is entirely open. The exterior façades of both arms end in a gable pierced by narrow slits and are flanked by buttresses in the form of polygonal turrets. The east buttress of the north arm was badly damaged by a shell.

Shell holes are visible in the walls of the chevet and in the vaulting of the south arm of the transept.

Through the north aisle of the nave of the church the old =cloister= of the abbey, built at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries, is reached. The north and east galleries alone remain.

Each gallery comprises four bays, the pointed vaults of which are supported on one side by brackets, and on the other by a cluster of slender colonnettes.

To the east of the cloister is the old 13th century chapter-house, disfigured. It is lighted by three windows and has pointed arches resting on columns with crocketed capitals.

The walls of the cloister and chapter-house bear numerous traces of the bombardments.

The first door on the right in the east gallery of the cloister leads to a =crypt= below the church, built at the beginning of the 12th century and about 40 feet in length. It consists of two galleries with two bays, the groined ribs of which are carried on square pillars flanked by columns with cubic foliate capitals.

This crypt is prolonged, on the east, by a polygonal apse lighted by small tierce-point windows and having pointed vaulting which was rebuilt in the 13th century on the plan of the apse of the upper church (_photo below_).

_Leaving Saint-Léger, turn to the left and follow the Rue de la Congrégation as far as the_ =Hôtel-de-Ville=.

The Hôtel-de-Ville occupies the old Hôtel de l’Intendance, built in 1772 on the site of the old castle which belonged to the Counts of Soissons in the Middle-Ages. Struck in various places by large calibre shells, it suffered considerable damage (_photo above_).

Its Museum and Library did not escape damage and were, moreover pillaged, while some of the pictures in the museum were lacerated. However, many objects were removed in time to be saved.

The =museum= contains some fine sculpture, including: the tympanum of a 13th century portal taken from the Church of Saint-Yved-de-Braisne, representing _The Descent of Christ into Hades_; another defaced 14th century tympanum from the cloister of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes; a Romanesque storied capital: _Abraham sacrificing Isaac_ (_photo p. _41); other 12th century capitals with foliage; the carved lintel of a Renaissance mantelpiece; the memorial statue of an Abbess of Notre-Dame, etc.

The other rooms of the museum contain objects of the pre-historic or Gallo-Roman epoch (e.g. Gallo-Roman dish in chased silver), an important collection of medals and ceramic ware, picture galleries, casts, etc ...

The Library contains over 50,000 volumes and 200 manuscripts. Among the latter should be noted: a beautifully illuminated 12th century Missal of Saint-Médard; a Bible of Saint-Yved-de-Braisne (12th century); the Charters and Records of the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes; a very fine manuscript of the first half of the 14th century, with miniatures: _The Pilgrimage of Human Life_.

_On leaving the Hôtel-de-Ville, follow on the left, the Rue de la Congrégation, then take the first street on the right_ (Rue du Coq-Lombard) _and go round the block of buildings on the right, bounded by the Rue du Coq-Lombard, Rue de Bauton and Rue des Francs-Boisiers which leads back to the Rue de la Congrégation._

This is one of the best preserved corners of old Soissons. In spite of later structural alterations, several houses built between the 14th and 17th centuries bear traces of their original construction. One of them (n^o 5 in the court) has a curious doorway with a carved 14th century tympanum.

A carved panel over the doorway represents the King of Spain bidding farewell to the King of France. This doorway leads to a tower of the same period (restored), the upper part of which was struck by a shell.

At n^o 11, in the Rue de Bauton is the _Palais-de-Justice_, partly destroyed by shell-fire.

_On leaving the Rue des Francs-Boisiers_ (_see_ ruins of burnt houses), _follow the Rue de la Congrégation on the right, then the Rue du Commerce (its continuation) as far as the Place Saint-Pierre_: _on the left_ are the ruins of the old Church of Saint-Pierre-au-Parvis.

=The old Church of Saint-Pierre-au-Parvis= (_Hist. Mon._)

The apse, transept and three bays of the nave of the church, secularized at the time of the Revolution, were pulled down in 1800.

The two remaining bays of the nave were greatly damaged during the war by the explosion of a store of grenades. The roof and most of the vaulting have been destroyed.

Only the main front and the lower part of the south front (fine specimens of the Romanesque style of the middle of the 12th century) escaped with slight injury (_photo p. _42).

_At the corner of the Place Saint-Pierre and the Rue de la Vieille-Gagnerie_ there are two semi-circular windows of great beauty, visible from the interior of the house no. 19–21.

Supported by four small columns with storied capitals representing monsters and fantastic animals, these two windows (now blocked up and serving as a wall for the first-floor room of a restaurant) are all that remains of a large church which belonged to the old Abbey of Notre-Dame.

This convent, founded in the 7th century, was rebuilt in 18th century.

The new buildings, completely disfigured by interior alterations and having no further historical interest, were used as barracks during the war. They were destroyed by the bombardments and fire.

_Take the Rue de la Gagnerie, turn to the right into the Rue de la Bannière, then again to the right into the Rue Notre-Dame_, at the end of which is the =Maison de l’Arquebuse= (_hist. mon._), built in 1626 for the Guild of the Soissons Gunsmiths, and now devoted to military purposes (_photo below_).

It is a lodge of brick and stone surmounted by a very steep roof, and containing a large hall lighted by ten bays. Its main front is embellished with ornaments of war.

The entrance, built in 1638 by order of Marshal d’Estrées, is Ionic in style and surmounted by an entablature decorated with trophies.

The upper part of the entablature at the north-east corner of the doorway was destroyed by a shell, while others injured the roof of the lodge.

_Take the Rue des Feuillants opposite, then Rue Saint-Martin on the left, to the Place de la République_, where are the Bourse du Commerce (1898) and the Monument to the Defence of Soissons in 1870 (inaugurated in 1901).

_On the south side of the square and bordered by the river Crise_, there is the fine garden of the Horticultural Society at present in very bad condition.

_Follow the Rue de Château-Thierry, alongside the garden, then its continuation, the Boulevard Jeanne d’ Arc, which makes a sharp bend, to the_ =Abbey= _of_ =Saint-Jean-des-Vignes=.

=ABBEY OF SAINT-JEAN-DES-VIGNES= (_Hist. Mon._)

Founded in 1076, the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries of the Middle-Ages.

The liberality of the Kings of France, bishops, nobility and middle classes enabled the monks in the 13th and 14th centuries to erect a large abbey-church and important monastic buildings, the plan of which has been preserved in an engraving of 1673, _reproduced below_.

The plan is that followed almost invariably for monastic buildings. In the middle is the abbey-church. The monastery buildings proper: the rooms of the Regulars to which strangers are not admitted, the Novices’ quarters, the dormitories and refectory, are grouped round the four galleries of the cloister, which extend from the south front of the church.

On the east side of the cloister is a smaller cloister, abutting on which are the strangers’ rooms: the refectory and dormitories.

Behind, stands the isolated hospital with its own chapel. Near the entrance is the Abbot’s house, and further to the east, the store-rooms.

The entrance was fortified, and a continuous wall with roadway, loop-holes and watch-towers, completely encircled the Abbey.

Beyond this wall stretched the vineyards and agricultural estates of the monastery. Although despoiled during the Hundred Years War, and later during the religious wars, the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes remained rich and flourishing until the Revolution when the monks were expelled. Some years later (1805), an imperial decree issued at the request of the Bishop of Soissons, ordered the demolition of the church, the materials of which were to be used for repairing the cathedral. The protests of the inhabitants induced the Bishop to have the main front preserved.

The Façade of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes before the War.

Three late 13th century portals surmounted by gables open in the façade. Under the central portal are two =mutilated statues=: _on the right_, Saint-Augustin; _on the left_: Saint-John-the-Baptist clothed in the skin of an animal.

A graceful clerestory gallery, continued at the back round a wide platform, which at one time formed a gallery above the grand nave, separates the central portal from the large rose-window set in an irregular arch. The latter has lost its interior net-work of mullions and is surmounted by a gable. The gallery and rose-window are late 14th century.

A two-storied tower crowned by a spire rises above each of the side portals. The first story dates from the end of the 14th century. The upper part, which differs in each tower, is more than a century later.

The south tower (_on the right of the photo below_), was about 230 feet in height.

The north tower, finished in 1520, was higher (about 244 feet) and more massive.

On the first story in the niche next the large rose-window, a statue of the Virgin faces a statue of the Angel of the Annunciation, which stands on the opposite buttress of the south tower.

Both stories of the north tower, separated by a Flamboyant gallery with very sharply pointed gables, are pierced with large bays divided by a mullion.

On the west side, against the mullion of the upper bay, is a figure of Christ crucified.

The octagonal spire, surrounded by four turrets, is pierced on each face by three openings of different sizes, the largest being under-most, while its angles are adorned with projecting crockets.

The façade of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes after the bombardments.

Previously, in 1870, the façade of the church had been badly damaged. The German shells set fire to a store of hay housed under the porches, the splays of which were destroyed (_p. _46).

In 1914, it suffered fresh injury, both spires being struck by shells. The south tower lost its upper part, the remaining portion being torn open at the base. The other tower was badly indented near its point, while the carvings of the buttresses were injured. The whole façade was moreover pitted by shell-splinters.

The damage caused in 1918 was considerably greater. In some places the stone-work of the portals and towers was entirely destroyed, and in others indented more or less deeply. The fine and delicate carvings of the towers were also smashed. The north tower suffered most. A breach, jeopardizing its stability, was made almost the whole way up, and the upper part of the spire fell to the ground, like the other spire had done four years before. The interior vaulting which connected the two towers, partially fell in.

At the back of the façade (_photo above_) which was also struck in several places, there are still traces of the first bay of the old nave of the abbey-church, pulled down under the Empire.

The Great Cloister of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes.

Under the south portal stands a 13th century doorway, with vaulting and tympanums decorated with finely carved foliage, which led from the abbey-church to the great cloister.

Of the great 14th century cloister, only the south and west galleries remain. Each has seven bays with pointed arches resting, on one side, on brackets ornamented with foliage or human figures, and on the other, on piers surrounded by small columns (_photos above and below_).

The large arches in tierce-point, ornamented with fine mouldings and separated by highly-wrought buttresses, formed an inner arcade composed of two bays surmounted by a rose-window. Traces of it are left in three bays of the south gallery (_photo below_). The arches formerly contained windows.

The cloister, especially the south end, was often struck by German shells, one piercing the vaulting of a bay, another damaging the carvings of the exterior buttresses.

The Refectory.

The refectory (_photo below_), erected at the end of the 13th century, was spoiled after the Revolution by its conversion to military uses.

The refectory, over 130 feet in length, contains two naves with pointed vaulting. The pointed arches rest on fine columns with foliate capitals, which are buttressed outside by piers engaged in the stone-work. Like all monastery refectories, it has a raised and vaulted platform, from which one of the monks read aloud during meals.

The refectory, used as a store-house, is divided into two stories by a floor which runs below the capitals of the columns.

Outside the refectory, on the side next the cloister, were six large rose-windows, since transformed into small rectangular windows, and on the west front, eight tierce-point windows, now blocked up.

At the base of the loft-roof, set at intervals, are dormer-windows, whereof one Renaissance.

The roof, damaged in places, was completely destroyed by the bombardments over several of the bays. A large breach, already repaired, was made in the end bay on the east side. One buttress was destroyed and the adjacent part of the framework of one of the rose-windows broken (_photo above_).

The great cloister communicated on the east with a small cloister, rebuilt about 1550 in Renaissance style, of which several bays of the south gallery remain standing.

Lastly, on this side of the façade of the church, to the east, is a building, re-erected in the 16th century for the Abbot’s residence, but which has been completely disfigured by its adaptation for military purposes. It is flanked by an octagonal turret containing a staircase.

* * * * *

_On leaving the Abbey, take the Rue Saint-Jean on the right, as far as the Place Dauphine_, in which is the =Sous-Préfecture=, housed in a mansion built at the beginning of the 19th century. It was struck by numerous shells.

_Take on the left the Rue de Panleu_ which runs alongside the buildings of the old =Grand Séminaire= (late 17th century), whose 18th century chapel is decorated with beautiful painted and gilded woodwork, greatly damaged.

Many shells fell on the Grand Séminaire, causing serious damage. A great part of the roofing was destroyed and in places large openings were torn in the walls.

At the north-west end of the park of the Grand Séminaire, excavations made in the 19th century, now filled in, uncovered the remains of a Roman amphitheatre. These remains indicated a theatre of very large dimensions, measuring about 470 feet across its greatest width, while the theatre at Orange measures little over 300 feet.

_Return to the Cathedral via the Rue de la Buerie, a continuation of the Rue de Panleu. On the right is_ the Rue des Minimes with its burnt houses (_photo above_).

FIRST ITINERARY—VISIT TO THE SURROUNDINGS

Starting-point: Place de la Cathédrale.

_The following itinerary includes the defensive works of Saint-Crépin-en-Chaye and Le Mail, the first French and German lines from Pasly to Saint-Paul, and the bridge-head on the right bank of the Aisne, in front of the Faubourg Saint-Waast._

* * * * *

Starting from the =Cathedral=, follow the streets indicated by =continuous lines= in the direction of the arrows.

The =numbers= indicate the =pages= where the corresponding =photographs= will be found.

Numerous defensive works surrounded this chateau and the farm belonging to it. These buildings, now entirely in ruins, occupied the site of an abbey founded in the 12th century.