The crypt of Saint-Gilles, begun in 1116, was constructed to protect the tomb of St.
Gilles and to facilitate access for pilgrims to his grave. Because of the slope of the site
from northeast to southwest, the crypt is three aisles wide in the two western bays and
two aisles in the four eastern bays. A groin vault covers the central bay, containing the
tomb. The crypt has a western extension under the central portal. On this extension and
on the western wall of the crypt are burial inscriptions, dated ca. 1129. A study of the
articulation of the piers and the design of the ribs reveals that the nave of the crypt was
built from west to east, with the groin vault over St. Gilles’s tomb constructed first. The
Saint-Gilles crypt is an impressive Romanesque statement, and its powerful ribbed vaults,
a Gothic structural system, are meant to crown the low, rectangular spaces and support
the church above, not to light the interior.
Whitney S.Stoddard
[See also: MEDITERRANEAN TRADE]
Hamann, Richard. Die Abteikirche von St. Gilles und ihre Nachfolge. 3 vols. Berlin: Akademie,
1955.
Horn, Walter. Die Fassade van St. Gilles. Hamburg: Evert, 1937.
Lassalle, Victor. “L’influence antique dans l’art roman provençal.” Revue archéologique
Narbonnaise 2(1970):73–74, 69–79, 90–92, 99–102.
Schapiro, Meyer. “New Documents on St. Gilles.” Art Bulletin 17 (1935):415–31.
Stoddard, Whitney S. The Façade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. Middletown: Wesleyan University
Press, 1973.
SAINT-GUILHEM-LE-DÉSERT
. Founded in 804 as the Benedictine abbey of Gellone by St. Guilhem d’Aquitaine, the
count of Toulouse who was the hero of the Guillaume d’Orange epic cyle, the monastery
was renamed later for its founder. Thanks to the relics of the saintly Guilhem, his place in
epic history, and the monastery’s location along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de
Compostela, Saint-Guilhem prospered and reached its apogee in the 11th and 12th
centuries, when the present Romanesque abbey church, the third on the site, was built.
The church was built in three phases: the nave and side aisles were finished ca. 1075, in
time for the church’s consecration in 1076; the transept and the chevet, with its three
apsidal chapels, were constructed between 1077 and the end of the century; the narthex
was built in the second half of the 12th century. A bell tower was added in the 15th
century. The exterior is decorated with Lombard bands. The sober four-bay nave, 59 feet
high but only 20 feet wide, is covered by plain barrel vaulting supported by wide
doublures that rest on pilasters extending directly to the floor, emphasizing the sense of
verticality. The interior is lit by large windows above each of the bays. Some remains of
the cloister, which originally had galleries on two levels, flank the south side of the
church; others can be found at the Cloisters in New York City.
William W.Kibler
Alzieu, Gérard, and Robert Saint-Jean. Saint-Guilhem le Desert. La Pierre-qui-vire: Zodiaque,
1973.
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