Carolingian nave, which had been destroyed by a fire on the feast of Mary Magdalene
(July 21, 1120) in which over 1,000 worshipers perished. The new church was dedicated
by Pope Calixtus II in 1132. It was at Vézelay on Easter Sunday of 1146, on the north
slope of the monastery, that Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade and here
that Thomas Becket excommunicated King Henry II in 1166; from here, Richard I the
Lionhearted and Philip II Augustus set off in 1190 for the Third Crusade. Just a few years
earlier, ca. 1185, Abbot Girard d’Arcy had rebuilt the choir in Gothic style.
The Romanesque nave presents spatial shapes and systems of construction different
from those of pilgrimage churches like Conques and Toulouse. Interior volumes are
much squatter and are crowned with domical groined vaults. This allows clerestory
windows to penetrate into the vaults. The transverse arches of alternating stones and the
domical vaults give each bay greater independence.
The elevation of nave arcade, blank wall, and clerestory seems to have derived from
the priory of Anzyle-Duc, although the nave of Vézelay is more decorative and coloristic.
Anzy-le-Duc, with no flying buttresses, helps one visualize the exterior of Vézelay in its
original appearance.
The continuity of the masonry along the north flank of Vézelay may indicate that the
first campaign from 1096–1104 included the outer walls of the nave and narthex up to the
sills under the nave and narthex windows. By 1004, more of the Romanesque east end
was probably finished. The burning of the small, wooden-roofed Carolingian church in
1120 could not have damaged the Romanesque choir, narthex, and nave walls. Thus, the
sculptural programs of nave façade or narthex portals and outer façade could have begun
before 1120.
The three portals inside the narthex of Vézelay comprise one of the most impressive
sculptural ensembles in Romanesque art. The large central portal depicts the Ascension
of Christ combined with the Mission of the Apostles. The tympanum shows Christ
flanked by the Apostles. His power to save humankind (left side with quiet clouds and
open books) and condemn (right side with stormy clouds and closed books) is clearly
revealed; the lintel, showing Lydians, Greeks, Africans, and others, manifests Christ’s
goal to preach and convert. Archivolts, containing the signs of the zodiac and occupations
of the months, frame Christ as the supreme ruler of space and time. Side portals include
the Adoration of the Magi, Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity (south portal) and
Ascension and Christ meeting Apostles on the road to Emmaus (north portal). The
freeing of the Holy Land as a result of the First Crusade of 1095 and the necessity of the
Second Crusade, 1146–47, are both reflected and prophesied in the central portal.
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